Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 89

Because Jesus Is Our Stability, We Can Be Open-Handed with Our Friends

We all have friendships. These can include genuine healthy ones, social media friendships, idolizing friendships, self-seeking friendships, and other friend-ish relationships. In her book Friend-ish: Reclaiming Real Friendship in a Culture of Confusion, Kelly Needham skillfully points us toward true biblical friendships. She shows us the beauty and necessity of biblical friendships and the ways friendships can assume the wrong place. With good-hearted and wise counsel, Kelly helps us see friendship as God intends it to be.

Hope you enjoy this excerpt from the book. —Randy Alcorn

When you are in friendship to give, you hold friends with open hands. Though this is one of the most challenging aspects of selfless friendship, it’s one of the most important. Because at the end of the day, we have no right to demand commitments from other individuals. While local churches do provide a committed community for us to be a part of…, as friends, inside or outside the church, we are individuals who answer to God.

Therefore, Christian friendship calls us to cultivate deep and meaningful relationships without individual obligations. This is the scariest part of friendship for most people. For many, it feels safer to wait until someone has committed to us before we share our hearts. But…the Bible gives us no space to create commitment or obligations in this arena. This is why Jesus must be our stability. It is our friendship with him that enables us to cultivate depth with others while remaining open-handed.

I have several really close friends who have recently moved away. We used to live five minutes away from each other, and now two of these women are on the other side of the Dallas-Fort Worth area (read: one hour away) and one is now twenty-five minutes away. Their respective moves have had a huge impact on the way we enjoy our friendships. The time and frequency with which we meet has been drastically reduced, something I’ve often grieved. But I have no right to demand that they continue to be present in my life in the same way they did when we all lived in the same town. I must hold them with open hands by allowing them the space to be obedient to God and to cultivate new friendships locally.

This happens all the time as friends of ours make familial transitions, get married, and have children and grandchildren. With each new season there are new responsibilities. And so with each new season there are new limitations and priorities. Our job in friendship is to be givers, seeking to fight for our friends’ obedience to God in these priorities, not take away from them by demanding they meet our needs.

The most Christ-like thing my friends have ever done for me is encourage me to obey God in new seasons by being flexible in what our friendship looks like due to the new responsibilities God gives me. They are only able to do this because their worth does not come from our friendship, but from Christ.

Our friends do not answer to us; they answer to God. He is their king, their Lord, their first loyalty. It is not right to put ourselves above God in others’ lives. If, in God’s purposes and sovereignty, he changes their season of life, their availability, their responsibilities, it is our role as a friend to encourage and support that, even if it means a loss for us. This is the sacrificial love we are called to in friendship.

Being open-handed also means we allow our friends to have other friends. We do not own them; they do not own us. They do not belong to us. So when and if new relationships crop up in their lives, we can celebrate that, not grieve it. And when seeing our good friends cultivate new friendships produces insecurity in us, we run to Jesus and take another drink of living water so that we can continue coming to the arena of friendship with a spirit of giving, not taking.

If being this open-handed in your friendships feels terrifying, it may be a sign that friends have too high a place in your life. When our souls are well fed at the fountain of living water, we can continue extending friendship through the ebb and flow of these life changes.

But being open-handed doesn’t mean being unemotional. The loss of a good thing is always worth grieving, and friendship is a really good thing. When a friend moves away, tears rightly reflect the value of that friendship. When new responsibilities in our lives limit our connectedness in certain friendships, sorrow is normal and good. Good friends grieve to be separated. As David wept to leave Jonathan, so we should grieve the losses we experience in friendship, but those losses should not undo us. Healthy friendship grieves with open hands, allowing and encouraging our friends to go where God leads. It’s when we tighten our grip and demand our friends stay near us that we can know our grief is not flowing from a good place.

Learn more about Kelly's book Friend-ish: Reclaiming Real Friendship in a Culture of Confusion.

Photo: Christianpics.co

God Has Given You a Unique Platform

If you are working a “secular” job, you are not second class in God’s Kingdom. You are no less called or gifted than a pastor or a missionary. Your ministry is to represent Jesus in your own sphere of influence and to provide financial support that enables others to do the work God equips them to do.

So if God has wired you to be good at what you do—whether business or art, manufacturing or farming, music or medicine, or anything that allows you to freely help the needy and further the cause of Christ—rejoice! This is a great use of your life.

Leaving your job for “full-time ministry” may not be a step up for the Kingdom of God but a step down. God may have given you the ability, right where you are, to help churches and missionaries reach those God has called them to, as well as the ability to reach others in your own unique sphere of ministry.

Whether you are a grocery clerk, an assembly line worker, a salesperson, a nurse, a flight attendant, a stay-at-home mom, or a professional athlete, or whether you have a primary ministry of prayer or encouraging people, God has given you a unique platform. In all likelihood, no pastor or missionary will reach your neighbors, teachers, coworkers, coaches, or teammates. We each have our own God-given mission fields to serve every day. So use your platform for the glory of God, and then give generously to the causes of evangelism, justice, and mercy that are close to His heart.

God doesn’t just call His people to the far reaches of the Earth for His Kingdom. He also equips many servants to support and supply workers and to meanwhile represent Him in their own territory right where they live and work. Whatever He has called you to do, do it with your whole heart, giving generously out of the overflow He’s entrusted to you.

May each of us live daily in such a way as to look forward to hearing the Lord say to us, when we meet Him face to face, “Well done, you good and faithful servant! . . . You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!” (Matthew 25:21, GNT).

Adapted from Randy's book Giving Is the Good Life.

Photo by Luis Melendez on Unsplash

The Faces of Choice Video Reminds Us Abortion Is About a Child, Not a Choice

I have met abortion survivors who have told me their stories, just as I have met people conceived in horrific acts of rape and incest. In each case these are precious people, made in the image of God, with the same value in His sight, and the same right to live as the rest of us.

The following powerful video, produced by Faces of Choice, features adults and children of different ethnicities but with one thing in common: they are abortion survivors. (The group had planned to have the ad shown during the Super Bowl, but Lyric Gillett, their founder, says Fox ultimately rejected the ad.)

May God use this video to awake viewers to the reality that abortion isn’t just another issue; it’s about a baby. It’s not about a choice; it’s about a child. It’s not about politics; it’s about a human being cre­ated in the image of God.

Browse more prolife articles and resources, as well as see Randy’s books Why ProLife? and ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments.

The Ethics of Ghostwriting: Does It Matter Who Actually Wrote a Book?

Years ago, I wrote a critique of the practice of ghostwriting in Christian publishing, which put me in multiple difficult discussions with publishers and ghostwriters alike. I also joined several dozen other Christian writers in signing a letter to our publishers expressing our ethical objections to ghostwriting.

Just what is ghostwriting? It’s when someone else writes a book that is credited to a celebrity as if he or she wrote it. The rationale is that because the real writer’s name isn’t well-known and marketable, the book won’t sell well unless it’s released under the celebrity’s name.

I’m not talking about the legitimate process of coauthoring, in which authors invest varying levels of work and expertise into the writing. Nor am I talking about books that, after being written, need substantial editing provided by the publisher. By ghostwriting, I’m talking about when the actual writer’s name is not on the cover, or when a person’s name is on the cover (even as a coauthor with the real writer) who did little or nothing to write the book. It’s perfectly fine to say this is a book about X written by Y. X’s name can be more prominent that Y’s since it’s about him or her. BUT what’s not fine, in my opinion, is to put X’s name as the author of the book when they’ve done nothing to actually write it.

I know of cases where the celebrity didn’t write a word and only skimmed through the book for the first time late in the editing process. The book may be about them or say things they agree with. But is it honest to present them as the book’s author?

Ask the average person what it means when a name is on a book cover, and they’ll tell you it means the person actually wrote it. That’s what book buyers believe. Hence, the book is sold to them under false pretenses. I’ve been told, “The ghostwriter knows what he’s agreeing to, and if he doesn’t need to see his name on the book, that’s up to him.” But the question isn’t what the ghostwriter or celebrity believes—it’s what the potential book-buyer believes, and is led to believe.

Isn’t it reasonable for both Christians and non-Christians to be able to buy a Christian book with the confidence that the person identified on the book and publicized as the author actually wrote it?

There have been some improvements in the years since we sent that letter to Christian publishers, but as the following article from WORLD News Group points out, there are still no industry standards. My thanks to journalist Jenny Rough for this carefully researched, well-written, and informative article. (And yes, Jenny actually DID write it!)

Invisible Hands

Anyone can be an author nowadays, but knowing who wrote the book may be a different story

by Jenny Rough

Writer Angela Hunt works fast. In her 30-year career, she’s published over 180 books. “I may not be the best writer in the world, but I do try to be fast and professional,” she says. In the early days, she took whatever assignments she could. “I wrote magazine articles, catalog copy, you know, anything anybody would pay me to write.” One day a ministry representative asked Hunt to ghostwrite the biography of a famous preacher. She accepted the gig, and her career as a ghostwriter took off.

Ghostwriting is when one person writes a book, but it’s published under somebody else’s name. It’s an umbrella term that covers two big branches. In the first, the writer’s name doesn’t appear anywhere on or in the book; the writer is a true phantom. In the second, the writer’s name appears somewhere, usually in the acknowledgments or on the title page, but credit isn’t obvious (here, some prefer the trendier term collaborative writer).

Ghosts write for authors who don’t have the time, desire, or ability to craft a book. Ghostwriter Frank Ball says a lot of people have no idea what it takes to write a book: “They assume, I can write this in my spare time over the weekend.” But writing a book involves multiple drafts of obsessively arranging and rearranging words, agonizing over sentence structure, and thinking deeply to develop a narrative arc. A speaker who excels at verbal communication doesn’t necessarily have writing talent. Same with Biblical counselors—they might be great at talk therapy, but their writing can be bogged down with clinical language. Ghostwriting has long been the standard practice of the industry in both secular and Christian publishing houses. 

You’ve probably heard of Gary Sinise, the Hollywood actor who played Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump. But have you heard of Marcus Brotherton? Brotherton wrote Grateful American, Sinise’s book about converting to Catholicism and his military service work. Over the years Sinise poured his time and energy into founding Steppenwolf Theatre Company and honing his acting chops, not his English composition skills. When it came time for his book, he looked for help. 

“It would have to be someone who could hear my voice and tune in naturally and easily to what I was trying to communicate,” Sinise says. Sinise and Brotherton had lengthy conversations over FaceTime and met in person four times so Sinise could talk out his story. Brotherton, who received title page and acknowledgments credit for Grateful American, has also written books for Atlanta megachurch pastor Louie Giglio. He describes his job as “taking a person’s work, whatever it is, and developing that into a written message.”

Not all authors are as transparent as Sinise, who talked openly with WORLD about the partnership. Literary agent Madeleine Morel works with about 100 professional ghostwriters, including a coterie of ghostwriters who specialize in what she calls “soft God” books in the Christian market. Her unscientific guess is that 60 to 70 percent of books on The New York Times nonfiction bestseller list are ghostwritten. Joey Paul, senior acquisitions editor for Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, thinks the practice is less common with Christian nonfiction books. (Paul defines ghostwriting more narrowly than Morel does and would exclude certain collaborative projects from the term.)

Adam Bellow, formerly of Broadside Books, the conservative nonfiction imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, says almost all politicians’ books are ghosted, and that Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz had ghostwriters for books he published. He notes that most ghostwriters earn about $30,000 to $60,000 for a book but that some may receive as much as $250,000 plus participation in royalties.

Having a skilled writer at the keyboard is smart, but critics of ghostwriting say trouble pops up when it’s unclear to book buyers that the author and writer are two different people.

Read the rest.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Addressing the Exodus of Young People from the Church

This article is well done and is on a vital subject I’m deeply concerned about: the numbers of young people leaving the church, in what this article calls “the church exodus crisis.” I encourage pastors, parents, and those serving with youth to read this and take it to heart. —Randy Alcorn  

Rediscovering Evangelism: Curbing the Exodus of Christian-raised Teenagers from the Church

This article was written by Samuel Bodnar , a junior at Indiana University studying journalism and religious studies. He conducted three interviews for a class project:

Isabella McCoy scowled at her church’s dusty, stained glass windows. No more early Sunday mornings. No more midweek Bible studies trapped beneath the church’s leaky and splintered floors. No more judgmental people who know little about their faith. She tried seeking answers from her parents, her youth group leader, even her pastor. Nobody answered her objections to the Bible. Nobody equipped her to defend her faith against non-believing friends. McCoy, a born and raised churchgoer, was done. She has joined the 70 percent of Christian-raised teenagers who have abandoned their faith. Prominent Christian figures hesitate on labeling students like McCoy as “Christian.” Once one joins the body of Christ and experiences His love and power, they never leave.

However, playing semantics with terminology distracts from a legitimate crisis getting worse by the day: young men and women raised in the church are walking away and few are returning.

Dozens of studies have highlighted the mass exodus of high school and college students from Christianity. Yet, few expound upon resolutions to this issue. Here are a few individuals within ministry-type occupations striving to stifle this trend with suggestions for students, parents, pastors and college ministries:

Jack Hibbs, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills (CCCH) in Chino, Calif.

Christian-raised teenagers are not equipped, not involved with their church and not in a real relationship with Jesus, according to Hibbs. It is these deficiencies that allow skeptical students and college professors to easily rattle the beliefs of ill prepared Christians.

“We are putting them in the lion’s den without the pure fundamental of the Bible,” Hibbs says.

Not Equipped : Hibbs sees Scripture as the roadmap that guides everyone through taking opportunities and responding to tragedies. Without the proper navigation tools, however, students going into college will be unable to defend their faith or make disciples. According to a LifeWay survey cited in Ken Ham and Britt Beemer’s “Already Gone,” only ⅓ of Christian-raised college students who left the faith actually plan on returning. For this California pastor, parents and youth ministries must challenge students with the tough questions and provide resources they can learn and share.

Hibbs invites apologists to his congregation and encourages his high school pastor to teach apologetic tactics like the moral and cosmological arguments. He also challenges parents to read up on early church history and material that soundly defends the authority and inerrancy of Scripture.

“You’ve got to hand the baton,” he says.

Norman Geisler, the late author, theologian and founder of Southern Evangelical Seminary, joins Hibbs in the belief of passing the baton. For him, however, he reminds the body of Christ about answering— and teaching others to answer— with tact and humility.

“Humility is how it’s done and content is what’s being done,” he says. “We need to concentrate on winning the soul not the argument.”

Not Involved: Growing up, Hibbs’ church brought the congregation to the streets of Newport Beach for evangelizing. Initially, the experiences were uncomfortable and scary. Over time, however, they taught him about why Jesus sent His disciples to preach the good news without Him.

“Students need a faith that does,” he says. “They aren’t connected with active ministries and have never shared the gospel to see the power of God at work.”

Hibbs wants parents acting as vehicles. They should remind their kids that what they are doing glorifies God and to stop second guessing if sharing the gospel with strangers “feels right.”

“I want to be the most loving person in the world knowing I’ll be hated,” Hibbs says. “I want them to leave everyone with a picture of Jesus.”

No Relationship: When a believer shares their testimony, it often contains moments of doubt and struggles involving abuse, drugs, sexual urges, etc. No matter the sins before accepting Jesus, a redeemed son or daughter can articulate how God has transformed their heart throughout their “faith crisis.” “You can be religious because it’s recreational, cultural or convenient but that’s not what counts,” Hibbs says. “Overcoming a faith crisis involves a genuine encounter with Christ that changes them internally and externally.” A personal relationship with God follows from a healthy devotion life. Long time believers hear this echoed repeatedly but students going into college don’t know what it means. Youth pastors and parents should start and continue asking their students about their prayer life and how their actions reflect God’s heart to others. Hibbs believes if more students can acknowledge how God delivered them, they would be more grateful to Him and less resistant to serve, pray to and praise Him.

Jim Warner Wallace, author and apologist

As a cold case homicide detective, Wallace uses circumstantial evidence to carefully constructs his cases. Through analyzing eyewitness statements of people he never met and researching case information that’s decades old, he has been able to help convict men and women of their crimes. Interestingly enough, he did this job as an atheist during a portion of his career.

Although unanswerable questions can frustrate this detective, Wallace explains how examining Christianity’s direct and circumstantial evidence from nearly 2000 years ago brought him to Jesus.
“I had to remove presuppositional bias the same way we ask juries not to be locked in one side,” he says. “Today, believers need to take away the lame excuses and answer the objections of today’s age.”

What Wallace believes can help combat the church exodus crisis is a refocus on talking about evidence itself. He encourages incoming college freshman, their youth pastors and parents to familiarize themselves regarding objections brought against the faith and avoid first search results on Google. Proper preparation to answering objections is key.

“Give two whys for every what,” he says. “The internet is full of whats and pastors and parents should be able to convey why the student should care.” Christian-raised teenagers should distinguish facts from false information. They need to be coached on how to approach basic questions with well-constructed, reasoned responses. To do this, Wallace says a distinction between teaching and training should be made.

“Teaching imparts knowledge but training requires an activity,” he says. “We need to provide for our people by getting them involved in evangelism so they can do life together and serve actively.” By preparing the youth ministry groups of today to understand what it means to examine evidence, they will produce credible answers to raised objections. If mature believers encourage students to evangelise and properly understand the evidence behind their beliefs, Wallace thinks they will be well equipped to defend the faith and make disciples on their college campuses.

Dr. Frank Turek, author, apologist and founder of Cross Examined

Similar with Hibbs and Wallace, Turek recommends introducing apologetics at churches so the body of Christ can strengthen itself and be prepared to share it with the youth. That 70 percent margin, Turek believes, would probably decrease.

“Suppose the past 50 years churches had been teaching apologetics. What would the number of students leaving actually be?”

Exactly how much the exodus percentage would decrease is unknown. Nevertheless, Turek professes it would make a decent impact on the numbers. Throughout the year he travels the country giving presentations from his and Geisler’s book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. The hope behind presenting through his Cross Examined ministry is showing church congregations and college campuses that Christianity is true beyond a reasonable doubt.

By fortifying the faith of believers and challenging skeptics to reconsider their positions, Turek and his ministry demonstrate the importance of taking the gospel to everyone. There is one issue, however, with presenting the truth behind Christianity. Teaching truth will only accomplish so much.

“I can’t force people to accept the truth,” Turek says. “I can’t force people not to deny the truth. You can’t bring everyone to Christ but you can bring Christ to everyone.”

Turek recognizes that some non-believers carry volitional reasons for why they reject Christ. Intellectually, the faith can make sense, but some suppress the truth so they can live the lifestyle they desire.

For Turek, he wants mature Christians to make sure that qualms with a particular aspect of Christianity are intellectual, not volitional. If it’s intellectual, apologetics and a firm biblical knowledge will help answer the questions. If the qualms are rooted in volitional reasons, Turek poses this question:

“If Christianity were true, would you become a Christian?”

Asking the youth in today’s churches and teaching them to use this question in their interactions with non-believers will help the body of Christ understand the position of non-believers and respond informatively. Along with Turek, fellow apologist Josh McDowell also acknowledges these non-believers’ reservations and encourages the body of Christ to speak the truth in love
moving forward, even in the face of negativity.

“Almost all other people in their faith are commanded to love the lovable, but as a Christian, you’re commanded to love the unlovable,” McDowell says. “It’s so great being a Christian.”

For more information about strategies to help you teach Christian worldview to the next generation, please read So the Next Generation Will Know: Training Young Christians in a Challenging World. This book teaches parents, youth pastors and Christian educators practical, accessible strategies and principles they can employ to teach the youngest Christians the truth of Christianity. The book is accompanied by an eight-session So the Next Generation Will Know DVD Set (and Participant’s Guide) to help individuals or small groups examine the evidence and make the case.

This article originally appeared on Cold-Case Christianity and is used with permission.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

What Will It Be Like to See Our Savior Face to Face?

The God who lives in unapproachable light became approachable in the person of Jesus (John 1:14). In fact, it was Jesus Himself who made God visible to us: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18).

Consider the dialogue between Philip and Jesus in John 14:8-9:

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

Jesus also says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). This is all a precursor to what God promises we’ll experience after the resurrection, on the New Earth: “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face” (Revelation 22:3-4).

“Without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). For us to see God would require us to undergo radical transformation between now and then. And that’s exactly what will happen. By faith in Christ, God’s children already have His righteousness, which will allow us into Heaven (Romans 3:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Because we stand completely righteous before God in Christ, once we’re glorified and forever made sinless, we’ll be able to see God and live.

That’s why the most astonishing sight we can anticipate in Heaven is not streets of gold or pearly gates or loved ones who’ve died before us. It will be coming face-to-face with our Savior. To look into Jesus’ eyes will be to see what we’ve always longed to see: the person who made us and for whom we were made. And we’ll see Him in the place He made for us and for which we were made. Seeing God will be like seeing everything else for the first time.

I sometimes ponder what it’ll be like to see Jesus, to fall on my knees before Him, then talk with Him and eat with Him and walk with Him as a resurrected person living on a resurrected Earth. Like Job I’m struck with the realization that “I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”

In my novel Deadline, the character Finney, having just entered Heaven, meets His Savior face to face:

At the back of the crowd stood one being glowing with a soft light that did not blind, but attracted and captivated the eyes. He smiled at Finney, who trembled with joy at the immediate realization of who it was.

This was the ageless one, the Ancient of Days, who is eternally young. He stepped forward.… He who had spun the galaxies into being with a single snap of his finger, he who could uncreate all that existed with no more than a thought, extended his hand to Finney, as if the hand he extended was that of a plain ordinary carpenter.… For the moment, it was impossible to look elsewhere, and no one in his right mind would have wanted to.

“Welcome, my son! Enter the kingdom prepared for you, by virtue of a work done by another, a work you could not do. Here you shall receive reward for those works you did in my name, works you were created to do.”

And then, with a smile that communicated more than any smile Finney had ever seen, the Great One looked into his eyes and said with obvious pride, “Well done my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord!”

As the crowd broke out in cheers, Finney felt overwhelmed, and dropped to his knees, then flat on the ground, face down, as if the knees were still too lofty a position before the Lord of Heaven.

Deadline , Dominion , and  Deception on Sale from EPM

Right now, you can purchase Randy Alcorn’s novels Deadline, Dominion, and Deception for $8 each (53% off retail $16.99), plus S&H.

Offer ends Thursday, January 30 at 12 p.m. PT (noon).

“Great book (Deadline)! I read this years ago and loved it. I ordered this time for a gift. This book totally changed my perception of what the afterlife might be like. It is also just a very gripping storyline. I highly recommend it.” —Reader Review 

Photo by Florian Cario on Unsplash

Why We Rescued, and the Encouraging Growth of the Prolife Movement in the Thirty Years Since

In her recent article for The Gospel Coalition, “Why There Are Way More Pro-Life Protesters Than You Think,” Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra wrote about how the prolife movement has grown and changed over the years, starting back in the late 1980s with rescuing, which I, John Piper, and many others were a part of. (In fact, Piper and I “met” over the phone after we had both rescued for the first time on the same day, he in Minneapolis and I in Portland. We talked about the impact of rescuing on the churches where we were pastors.)

Warning: this blog is about twice as long as usual, because it’s more of an essay and commentary designed to give insight into a movement that played a big role in churches and was actually the reason that my life took the direction it did, starting with the founding of Eternal Perspective Ministries. That happened in 1990 when I had to resign as a pastor due to the lawsuits from abortion clinics. I don’t want to do this in two parts, so here it all is. I hope you find it interesting and helpful.

Sarah interviewed me and  I suggested others for her to contact about our involvement in civil disobedience on behalf of unborn children, including our friends Kathy and Ron Norquist. She also quoted from Liberty University English professor Karen Swallow Prior, who was involved with rescues in the early 90s across the country from us, in New York.

It is, admittedly, difficult for many people in 2020 to understand our actions then, as there is much that has been lost in translation or misunderstood over the past thirty years (indeed, our involvement was greatly misunderstood by many even back in the day, e.g. prominent evangelical pastors declared our actions as violating Scripture). I hope the following will provide some further clarification for those who wonder, “What exactly did you do, and why were you compelled to do it?” and “Was it worth it, and if so, why doesn’t rescuing happen now?”

What We Did

Rescuing was a peaceful, nonviolent, and united action in which people placed their bodies in front of the entrances of an abortion clinic. The purpose was to prevent access to the clinic and thereby to save the lives of unborn children who would otherwise be killed shortly after their mothers entered the building. (In the photo above, from The Gospel Coalition article, I’m in the back row, second from the right.)

We never shouted at or spoke harshly to the women who came for abortions. In fact, we signed a pledge card in which we promised not to raise our voices. The most central and basic components of our rescues were praying and singing.

Most, though unfortunately not all, rescue groups gave careful attention to developing standards of behavior. The group I rescued with had printed guidelines which were reviewed carefully before a rescue and enforced during it. Among them were these:

Please don’t talk with or shout at the police, passers-by, abortion-mill personnel or anyone else. Violators will be asked to leave if it becomes a problem.

Always walk, do not run. Ignore hecklers.

Do not lock arms or hold on to each other if police are arresting. Never block access to police.

We are not at war with the police, abortionists, escorts or hecklers. All our actions go back to the primary goal of saving babies’ lives and mothers from being exploited. We must keep focused on our goal of serving the Lord. This is not the place to enact any “personal agenda” one may have.

In addition, before participating in a rescue with this group, every person was required to sign the following pledge:

I pledge to be Christlike in my behavior and to cooperate with the leaders, spirit and goals set forth by Advocates for Life. I will remain peaceful and nonviolent in word and deed during all the activities associated with the rescue. Having prayerfully considered this pledge, I sign it with the determination to fulfill it as an obligation before God.

Why We Did It

The most critical premise behind rescuing was that the unborn is a human child, created in the image of God, as valuable in the sight of God as any born person. By the time their mothers reached the abortion clinic, the unborn were within minutes of being torn to pieces. We believed that physically preventing entrance to the clinic was the only remaining nonviolent avenue to save the child’s life. By that time, there was nothing more that could be done by the prolife educational and political organizations (which I worked with and supported) or the pregnancy centers (which I loved—I served on the board of the first one in the Pacific Northwest) to save these children’s lives.

Of course, mothers denied entrance still had the option of rescheduling an appointment at another time, at the same clinic or a different one. But the rescue accomplished several vital things. First and foremost, it bought time for the unborn child. The child didn’t die that day. Second, there was a good chance the child would not die at all. The mother might decide not to have an abortion, or to indefinitely delay rescheduling an abortion.

One abortionist complained that when a rescue occurred at his clinic, 20 to 25 percent of the women canceled their appointments and never came back. Years ago Planned Parenthood stated that 20 percent of women who missed their initial appointment for an abortion, regardless of the reason, did not come back to any clinic, and did not end up getting an abortion at all. That was one of their arguments against rescuing, and of course it became one of our arguments for it.

While the main goal of rescuing was to obey God by saving lives about to be killed, rescuing had secondary objectives as well. These included identifying with the victims, making the public aware of the holocaust, appealing to the conscience of society, and eventually effecting change in the laws. Our actions also appealed to the consciences of abortion clinic staff. In some cases, people were delivered from the darkness of child-killing through the influence of rescues.

In her article, Sarah quoted Karen Swallow Prior, who expressed this well: “I don’t look back with regret at all or think I wouldn’t do it over…. Some things mitigate or make that different now, but still—it was the right thing to do. We were not only preventing abortions, but we were also raising consciousness about abortion.”

The decision to rescue was difficult and the personal costs were sometimes great. But I and others were compelled by God’s Word: “Rescue from death those being led to slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11). And, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves . . . defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8–9, NIV). The theme of intervening on behalf of the weak and vulnerable, of protecting the helpless from the abuses of others, is central to literally hundreds of passages, and is one of the most dominant themes in the entire Bible.

I asked myself if I really believed these unborn children were human beings, mercilessly slaughtered in my own city every day. If so, why wasn’t I doing what I told myself I would be doing if they were older and bigger people as in Nazi Germany? Abortion was killing innocent people. Why wasn’t I doing for them what I would do for other innocent people killed in other ways?

Sarah quoted my good friend and brother Ron Norquist in her article:

“Before rescues, there was the idea of the humanity of the unborn,” he said. “The one thing the rescues did was solidify the fact—these are actual human beings being led to slaughter. Proverbs 24:11 says to rescue them.”

Norquist, who was an insurance agent at the time, “didn’t really know what Jesus would do, because he didn’t have that situation. But I thought there was enough in Scripture that we should at least do something nonviolent with our own body, like you would if they were taking two-year-olds in there.”

As I wrote in my book Is Rescuing Right, I couldn’t escape either the biblical or historical examples of believers breaking the law to save lives. I was touched deeply by Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s courage, publicly criticizing Hitler and calling upon the German church to stand up for the Jews. (In fact, though he was a lifelong advocate of peaceful actions in the name of Jesus, he was ultimately hung by the Nazis because of his involvement in a plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler.) Francis Schaeffer’s call to defend the unborn affected me profoundly. (See this article for a longer summary of Scriptural and historical perspectives on rescuing and civil disobedience. If you have time and are interested in reading more, here is the text of closing arguments I prepared for the court case in which a group of prolifers and I were ultimately found guilty.)

One important clarification: civil disobedience is not revolution. Revolution is violent and sweeping in its implications; civil disobedience is the breaking of a specific law in a context of general respect for the law. Rescuing acknowledged the purpose and legitimacy of government. It was not clandestine. It was not violent. Compassion for the victim, not hatred for the victimizer, motivated us.

Suppose you heard that I drove a car ninety miles an hour down a freeway. Was I right or wrong? I was wrong, of course. After all, I broke the law. If you heard that a policeman had pulled me over and cited me you’d say, “Fine, he deserved it.”

But suppose you found out later that lying in the back of the car was my young daughter, who had a ruptured appendix. She could have died any minute, and I broke the law in an attempt to get her to the doctor to save her life. Would this additional factor affect your opinion about whether my action was right or wrong? Of course it would. As long as you focus on the law, on the speed limit, on why Christians must always obey such laws, you will condemn my action. But when you remember the little child in the back seat, it changes everything. The child about to die makes all the difference.

Was It Worth It?

Between May 1988 and May 1989 Operation Rescue, a national organization founded by Randall Terry, documented 224 cases of babies whose lives were definitely saved through rescues. This does not include lives saved in rescues unaffiliated with Operation Rescue, or the many situations impossible to follow up and document. The total number for that one-year period was almost certainly in the thousands, but even if “only” in the hundreds, isn’t that still significant?

On a busy Saturday in our area there was one clinic that could do forty abortions. If a rescue closed the clinic for the day and 20 percent didn’t reschedule an abortion there or elsewhere (using Planned Parenthood’s figures), then that was eight lives saved. If the clinic was closed only half the day, then maybe it was four lives saved. If it was a smaller clinic or we were arrested early, maybe it was “only” two lives saved.

Multiply that by six or twelve or twenty rescues a year in one area, then multiply again by over a hundred other places in the country where rescues were being regularly done. The number saved may still have been small compared to the number killed, but what kind of price tag do we put on a few thousand children, a few hundred, or even a dozen?

One time a woman from my church told me she’d scheduled an abortion, then the night before she saw us on the news, blocking doors at the clinic, and also saw me standing there reading from a Bible. As a result God spoke to her heart, and after thinking it through decided to have her baby. I would see her and her child or other family from time to time even years later.

When I was involved with rescuing, I met a young couple with a beautiful baby in their arms. Some months earlier they’d come for an abortion. They listened to a sidewalk counselor. They’d decided to let their baby live. And through the contact with Christians they’d come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Not only is the baby alive—she’s growing up in a Christian home. I remember thinking, “If being part of this makes me a fanatic, it’s a label I’m willing to bear!”

The year and a half that I participated in rescuing brought many difficulties, including multiple arrests, a night in jail, and ultimately the $8.2 million judgment against me and a group of prolifers. However, in the midst of these difficulties my family and I deeply sensed the presence and approval of our Lord Jesus. He faithfully walked ahead of and beside us. We experienced peace and joy. These transcended every difficult circumstance that came out of our choice to rescue the unborn.

What Changed, and the Prolife Movement Today

As Sarah shared in her article, the negative media coverage and the legal consequences of rescuing became much greater as the movement continued:

From 1977 to 1989, more than 24,000 prolife protesters were arrested at abortion clinics.

The high number of arrests continued into the ’90s, then dropped off abruptly: In 1993, there were 1,236 arrests. In 1994, 217. In 1995, 54. By 2000, there were none.

“There were two serious obstacles that shut down sit-ins or diminished their effectiveness, and pushed protesters in a different direction,” Americans United for Life (AUL) attorney Clarke Forsythe told TGC. One was the media coverage, which “did not favor” the demonstrators. The other was the threat of legal prosecution, which culminated in the passage of the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

But God was at work even in this. As Sarah explained, this opposition helped the prolife movement find new strategies and even grow explosively. When rescuing gained public attention in 1987 and 1988, through the large Operation Rescue interventions, this served to rejuvenate a sagging prolife movement. Even those prolife organizations that were not supportive of rescuing benefited from the renewed interest in saving unborn children.

Today, thousands of prolife organizations around the country and throughout the world provide free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, counseling, support groups, childcare classes, financial management education, babysitting, diapers, children’s clothes, and housing. Most of these centers have dozens of volunteers, some of them hundreds, donating not only time spent with clients, but also everything from clothing to maintenance to service to office supplies and computer support. I served on the board of one such center, on the steering committee to get another started, and have spoken at dozens of them across the country. Though their services cost them a great deal of money—as opposed to making them a great deal of money—there are many more pregnancy resource centers in the United States than there are abortion clinics. (See this excellent article.)

Add to these tens of thousands of churches donating time, money, food, house repairs, and every other kind of help to needy pregnant women, single mothers, and low-income families. Countless prolifers adopt children, open their homes, and volunteer to help children after they’re born. I’ve seen a wide variety of prolife ministries close-up. In nearly every case I’ve walked away impressed with the difference they’re making. Together these efforts comprise the single largest grassroots volunteer movement in history.

In addition, there are still prolifers who go to clinics to pray and act as sidewalk advocates to women who come to get abortions. Except where court injunctions have created no-access zones in front of clinics, sidewalk counseling is perfectly legal. In fact, advocates can stand on the perimeter of the forbidden zones and still talk to most of the abortion-bound mothers. They are not arrested, prosecuted, jailed, or sued. Others can join them, holding signs that offer help and support. God has used these efforts to save unborn children and help women. (See this article by Kathy Norquist and Sidewalk Advocates for Life for more information.)

For a variety of reasons, it has been thirty years since I last engaged in civil disobedience. But I believe God called me to that one method for a period of time, just as He called me to work with pregnancy centers years before that. Now our ministry gives substantial funds to support the prolife cause. I still speak up for the unborn in mes­sages, writings, and personal conversations. This will always be a cause close to my heart, because I believe it is close to God’s heart.

Overall, the prolife cause has grown and gained greater visibility in the last three decades. Sarah shared these encouraging statistics in her article:

In 2015, the number of protesters reported by abortion clinics rose dramatically from where it had hovered since the mid-’90s (usually between 5,000 to 10,000 a year), to more than 20,000. The next year, it was more than 60,000. The next year, 78,000.

Last summer, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) said the number of protesters reported by abortion clinics exceeded 99,000 in 2018—the most, by far, ever seen in the United States.

She also writes:

It’s hard to say what’s working—the pro-life legislation, the presence of protesters, the availability of pregnancy centers, the improving ultrasound technology, the destigmatizing of single motherhood, or increased access to birth control—but something is. In 2017, abortions dropped to the lowest rate since Roe v. Wade.

“That blows my mind every single time I think of it,” Americans United for Life president Catherine Glenn Foster said. “We are making incredible progress.”

Even in this world I’m optimistic about the opportunity to impact and influence all kinds of people. I’ve seen joy and peace in the lives of many women who’ve had an experience of forgiveness after their abortions and many women who, as a result of intervention, spared the lives of their children.

Someone told me about a woman on her way to have an abortion. She got behind a car with a prolife bumper sticker. What happened next? She turned around, canceled her appointment, and had the baby. If God can use even a bumper sticker to save two lives—a baby from death and a mother from great harm—how might He use even your own modest efforts? One of our dearest friends, who suffered much from abortions, came to faith in Jesus when she lived with us as a pregnant teenager (you can read her testimony here). We were with her 33 years later when she met the boy she had placed for adoption. How can you put a price on that?

Every time the lies of Satan the child-killer are exposed—each time a mind is changed, a life is saved, and a woman is spared the horrors of abortion—God is glorified and a great battle has been won. Great stories of what we never saw in this life await us in eternity whenever we heed those words of our God that bear repeating here:

Rescue from death those being led to slaughter. (Proverbs 24:11)

 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
    for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
    defend the rights of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:8–9)

Browse more prolife articles and resources, as well as see Randy’s books  Why ProLife?  and  ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments .

Phan Thi Kim Phuc’s Story: The Beauty of Forgiveness, and a Powerful Example of Romans 8:28

One of the best-known photographs from the Vietnam War is a Pulitzer Prize–winning picture of a young burn victim running in terror, arms outstretched, after a napalm bomb was dropped on her village. After months of hospitalization and multiple surgeries, nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc returned to her family.

What doctors couldn’t heal, Kim Phuc says, was her heart: “The anger inside me was like a hatred high as a mountain.”

But God reached out to Kim Phuc. She found a Bible and talked with a believer who invited her to church, where Kim Phuc chose to trust in Christ: “Jesus helped me learn to forgive my enemies.”

Fourteen years later, while speaking in Washington, DC, she met John Plummer, who had helped coordinate the air strike on her childhood village.

John wrote of their meeting, “She held out her arms to me and embraced me. All I could say was, ‘I’m sorry; I’m so sorry,’ over and over again. At the same time she was saying, ‘It’s all right; it’s all right; I forgive; I forgive.’”

Today, Kim Phuc heads up KIM Foundation International. Its mission is “to help heal the wounds suffered by innocent children and to restore hope and happiness to their lives.”

Kim Phuc’s story demonstrates Romans 8:28 in action: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Now, no translation of Romans 8:28 says “each thing by itself is good,” but “all things work together for good,” and not on their own, but under God’s sovereign hand. I needn’t say, “It’s good,” if my house burns down, I’m robbed and beaten, or my child dies—or in Kim Phuc’s case, being terribly burned in childhood and suffering a lifetime of physical effects as a result. But God, in His wisdom, uses our circumstances to produce something wonderful—Christlikeness—for His glory and our ultimate joy. God’s children have “been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).

Watch Kim Phuc share her story in this touching video:

You can also read her testimony.

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book If God Is Good, as well as the devotional 90 Days of God’s Goodness and book The Goodness of God. Also, the booklet If God Is Good, Why Do We Hurt? deals with the question and shares the gospel so that both unbelievers and believers can benefit.

Photos: Kim Foundation International Facebook page

Christians Grieve the Death of Believing Loved Ones, But We Don’t Grieve Without Hope

Death is not a natural part of life as God intended it. It is the unnatural result of evil. And yet through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God has removed the ultimate sting of death, which explains the appropriate sense of peace and triumph that accompanies grief at a Christian’s memorial service.

I’ve conducted funerals for both Christians and non-Christians. As I look into the eyes of those gathered, the tears are just as real for Christians, but I also see hope, perspective, and peace in the midst of their mourning. We haven’t lost our believing loved ones—we know where they are. And we know that in the resurrection we will live with God and with them on a New Earth.

For Christians, death is not a wall but a doorway. Death is not a last good-bye but a “See you later.” We grieve differently, yet honestly and openly, precisely because we look forward to our reunion and to a New Heaven and a New Earth (see 2 Peter 3:13).

Death isn’t the worst that can happen to us; on the contrary, for God’s children, death leads to the best. Paul says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.… I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:21, 23). Lest we think he was speaking purely by faith, the truth is that Paul himself had actually been taken into Heaven years before writing those words (2 Corinthians 12:1–6). He knew firsthand what awaited him in Paradise. He wasn’t speculating when he called it gain. To be in the very presence of Jesus, enjoying the wonders of His being, to be with God’s people and no longer subject to sin and suffering? “Better by far” is an understatement!

Yet this same Paul does not tell the Thessalonians that they should not grieve at all concerning their loved ones who have died. Rather, he writes, “that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)—they should not grieve in the same way, with the same bitter despair, that unbelievers have. But certainly they should grieve.

He assures them that Christ “died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him” (1 Thessalonians 5:10), and thereby encourages them that those who have died have gone to be with the Lord. That is why Scripture can say, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth . . . that they may rest from their labors” (Revelation 14:13). In fact, Scripture even tells us, “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).

Therefore, though we have genuine sorrow when Christian friends and relatives die, we also can say with Scripture, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? . . . Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57). Though we mourn, our mourning should be mixed with worship of God and thanksgiving for the life of the loved one who has died.

In this video, a clip from my Eternity 101 class, I share a quote from Charles Spurgeon related to our loved ones who have died, and also discuss how it can’t be wrong to weep over death, since Jesus Himself did:

Jonathan Edwards, whose theology of sovereign grace Charles Spurgeon loved, saw no conflict between anticipating our relationships with God and anticipating our relationships with our loved ones in Heaven:

Every Christian friend that goes before us from this world is a ransomed spirit waiting to welcome us in heaven. There will be the infant of days that we have lost below, through grace to be found above. There the Christian father, and mother, and wife, and child, and friend, with whom we shall renew the holy fellowship of the saints, which was interrupted by death here, but shall be commenced again in the upper sanctuary, and then shall never end. There we shall have companionship with the patriarchs and fathers and saints of the Old and New Testaments, and those of whom the world was not worthy. . . . And there, above all, we shall enjoy and dwell with God the Father, whom we have loved with all our hearts on earth; and with Jesus Christ, our beloved Savior, who has always been to us the chief among ten thousands, and altogether lovely; and with the Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier, and Guide, and Comforter; and shall be filled with all the fullness of the Godhead forever!

What a world that will be—to live in rich eternal fellowship with the triune God and the great family of His redeemed. I’m overwhelmed just thinking of it. What a great God we’ll enjoy and serve forever! What a great time we’ll have together there!

On Sale from EPM: Seminary-Level Classes on DVD 

Right now, Randy Alcorn’s DVD classes Eternity 101, Happiness 101, and The Theology of Money are on sale for $12 each (40% off retail $19.99), plus S&H. These are seminary-level classes, each with 12 sessions of Randy’s teaching. 

"I really enjoyed the Happiness 101 class. Randy did an excellent job teaching! This is really a paradigm shifting truth. I know it will have an impact upon my ministry! —J.S., pastor

Offer ends Thursday, January 23 at 12 p.m. PT (noon). 

Plus, we offer these FREE study guides and resources: 

Eternity 101 Study Guide (pdf)
Eternity 101 Study Guide with Leader's Guide (pdf)
Happiness 101 Study Guide (pdf)
The Theology of Money Resources

Photo by Kerri Shaver on Unsplash

Joy Is Found in Being Rich in Good Works: Tom and Bree Hsieh’s Story

Why has God made us rich compared to much of the world we live in? There is a direct biblical answer: “Your plenty will supply what they need. . . . You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion” (2 Corinthians 8:14; 9:11). Don’t assume that God prospers you beyond what you need just to raise your standard of living. It’s more likely, according to these verses, that He prospers you to raise your standard of giving. He provides in excess not for us to live excessively, but so we can become rich in good works.

As thoughtful Christ-followers, we should never assume that financial abundance is God’s provision for us to live in luxury. We should assume that God entrusts us with His money not to build our kingdom on Earth, but to build his Kingdom in Heaven. A good question to ask God is, “Lord, whose kingdom am I focused on building: yours or mine?”

Tom Hsieh worked for a successful network and communications provider, and he later became CEO and co-owner of a telecom consulting firm. Tom and his wife, Bree, chose to live in Pomona, California, then the fourth-largest city in LA County—and the second poorest. They decided to live at or below the median household income there in order to fit in with the neighbors they wanted to reach. (At one point, this was $45,000 a year, while they were making far more and giving away the rest.)

When the company Tom worked for, EarthLink, went public, Tom’s stock options suddenly made him a millionaire several times over. By then he and his family had discovered that God took care of them quite well on $45,000, allowing them to experience the joy of generosity. So when his subordinates showed up driving brand-new luxury cars and high-end SUVs, he continued to drive his used three-cylinder Geo Metro, and it made him smile. Why? Because his car was fine, and he had the far greater joy of giving away most of his income to Kingdom causes.

Intentionally living in the inner city has given Tom and Bree unique ministry experiences. When they were on a walk one day, two boys stopped and asked if they knew the Bible and would teach it to them. The next Wednesday, the boys showed up with several of their friends, and they continued to come each week. “I’ve never had that happen to me before in the suburbs,” Tom says. He goes on to add, “We get to be a part . . . of shining God’s light here in this neighborhood.”

Another time Tom and Bree invited a troubled young girl to live with them. “We saw [her] life completely changed in twelve weeks,” Bree says. “I think we have to just believe, as people who follow Jesus, that our lives can make a difference when we follow him.”

The Hsiehs also opened their home to neighbors who had lost their apartment and were living in substandard conditions with their children. Having so many people under one roof was sometimes stressful, but overall they say it was “amazing.” Tom and Bree knew this arrangement presented some challenges for their daughter, Cadence, who lost some of her space and toys. When Bree asked her what she learned, Cadence said, “It was hard, but if you let it happen your heart gets bigger and there’s room for more people. So it’s really worth it.”

The Hsieh family knows the joy of being rich in good works. In the process, they have stored up not only future eternal treasures but also present treasured relationships. By some people’s definitions, they have turned away from the good life they could easily afford. But by giving what they could have kept, they have taken hold of the truly good life, which is both priceless and enduring.

You can watch the Hsiehs tell their story in this video from a few years ago:

And here’s a more recent update from the Hsiehs, from their interview with Generous Giving:

Excerpted from Randy’s book Giving Is the Good Life.

Photo by Anna Earl on Unsplash