The Death of a LEgend: The Murder of George Tiller

One need not be a good guy to be a legend. History is full of people who's actions were quite evil, and thus put them in a type of legendary status. This was the same for one George Tiller. A man who was known throughout the Country for the thousands of babies he killed through the process of late term abortions. He was one of only a few that were willing to kill the child during the last 3 months of pregnancy- it was his specialty. Because of this, his name is one of the most well-known among the anti-abortion circles. He was a national symbol, a face to the profession of abortion doctors.
It is for this reason that George Tiller, or "Tiller the Killer" as his adversaries referred to him as, was the target of many a protest; both at his "clinic", his house, and even his church. Yes, you read that correctly, his church.
Tiller was a member in good standing at Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kan. It was at this Church where his wife was serving in the choir, and he as an usher, on this fateful Sunday, May 31. For it was here, in his church, that he was gunned down; killed during service.
I have many thoughts on this, one of which is, why would a church allow such a man to be doing ministry work, a man with so much blood on his hands... One can only come to the conclusion that, like many churches in America today, have turned their eyes from the slaughter of innocents, having watered down the True Gospel to appease those whom attended there, those who were written about so long ago by the apostle Paul: "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Timothy 4:3-4
But a disagreement with this church is not why I am writing today. Nor is it some satirical thought on my mind. But rather, I write today my thoughts on this from a different perspective. I write from the perspective of sorrow, of tragedy, and condemnation for those who take such actions against our enemies.
What, pray tell, could I mean? Allow me to explain. The irrational mind would look at the death of George Tiller and say, "Good- less babies being killed". I certainly understand why they would think this. However, that does not make it right. My friends, murder is murder. We can try to justify our sins all we want, but it does not change reality. Our society does not run on the idea of anyone and everyone being judge, jury and executioner. Rather, we have a system that is in place. Three seperate groups of people, working for the same cause, to implement justice. Yes, I agree, it is not perfect. Yes, I agree that it has it's flaws. But taking such violent actions cannot and will not fix the system.
Let me be clear on this: Abortion is murder, and those who murder the innocent children should be brought to justice. However, the only way we will ever truly see this happen in this physical life is by changing the heart of the Country, thus resulting in a changing of the laws. When we take matters into our own hands, and commit acts of violence such as what happened today to Mr. Tiller, we take dramatic steps backward and lose ground in our fight.
How is this? Because we are already portrayed as the enemy. We are the ones who are portrayed as the crazies, as the killers. We are the ones who are seen by a corrupt government as the threat. Even though it is but a very few that resort to such madness, it reflects upon us all. I believe that this is, in part, why some churches have steered away from involvement in the struggle for life. It is also the excuse given when legislators make laws further restricting our ability to protest and speak out for these little ones. In the end, it hurts our cause, it hardens the heart of the Country against our message, and the final result is more babies dead.
When the pharisees came to arrest Jesus, Peter reacted by striking out in violence. Jesus gave Peter, and us, a firm grip on reality, on how we should handle such situations, when He stated "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Matthew 26:52. The thing to understand is that there are right ways and wrong ways to fight this war. When we are fighting spiritual battles, reacting with physical violence is exactly the wrong way to handle the situation. Paul gives us great insight when he writes in Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]." He then answers the obvious question of how to fight in 2 Corinthians 10: 3-4, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)" Our weapon is prayer, standing for truth, taking action in the ways that God would lead us- but not in a physical, violent way.
One final thought as to why we should oppose such action: by taking this act of violence, he has sent Mr. Tiller, an unrepentant killer, to judgement prematurely. We do not know the path that God has laid out for those around us. We do know, however, that God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance", as Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9. We also know that there have been those in the abortion industry- doctors, nurses, abortion clinic owners, that have come to repentance. Perhaps it was in God's plan to give him one more opportunity- and perhaps that would have been the point that brought him to repentance. Instead, someone decided that it was their right to play God. Now there will be no more chances for repentance for Mr. Tiller. Now his wife, his children, his grandchildren- will they see the light of Christ? Will they have any desire to come to Him? Sin must be confronted, but in God's way, and in love. Did they see the True Love of Christ demonstrated today? We are told in 1 Corinthians 13:2 that everything we do must be in the love of Christ, or we are nothing. To further the point, in the very next verse, Paul says that we must do all in love or our actions will profit nothing. When acts of violence like this happen, the only profit is destruction, and a furthering of Satan's lies. The only one who profits is Satan himself, as yet another of God's creation enters torment.
Just as we stand for the innocent life of a child, we must renounce murder of even our enemies, and remember that we are called to love our enemies. We must remember that killing the abortion doctor outside of the law is not the answer, because we do not fight against him. We fight against Satan, and the only way to win that war is through the weapons of God- most notably, Truth, Love, and Prayer.
One final thought- perhaps if George Tiller's pastor had not chosen to water down the Gospel; perhaps if he had spoken truth about sin, maybe- just maybe- George Tiller would have repented a long time ago. I have no doubt that Mr. Tiller probably thought he was a "christian", that he was a good person about to enter Heaven. My soul is saddened by the fact that, now, because of a lack of truth, and yet another murder, he is finding out that he was wrong.
We must never condone murder, no matter how we think we can justify it. There is no justification for sin in the eyes of God.

Of Beauty Pageants and preachers of tolerance...

This evening, as I watched a video of the press conference held earlier today with Miss california Carrie Prejean and Donald Trump, I was treated to the wonderful taste of Arizona Brand Arnold Palmer Tea, which is a lovely blend of Lemonade and Iced Tea. A truly wonderful taste sensation that I suggest should be tried by one and all.
Product endorsement aside, I wanted to take a moment and comment on some recent events in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant. First off, let me state this: I don't watch pageants of any kind. I think they are boring. I know I have better things to do than sit around and watch people walk around the stage and answer irrellevant questions. For instance, I could be watching CSI. In the same respect, I don't really like Donald Trump. Something about his hair creeps me out. Yeah, he seems like a nice guy, but the hair... I just can't get past it... If he's on the t.v. I rarely remember what he said because I am so focused on his attrocious hair... So, the following article is not an endorsement of Miss U.S.A. or Donald Trump.
For those of you who have missed it, about 3 weeks ago Miss California, aka Carrie Prejean, was asked at the pageant about her beliefs on gay marriage. The question was posted by openly homosexual blogger Perez Hilton- not his real name, but a parody of Paris Hilton, like the homo version of her I guess. Before I get to Ms. Prejean's answer, I have to ask this question(and I hope it doesn't come across improper)- why in the world is there a super homo as a judge for a woman's beauty pageant? Last I checked, homosexual men do not find women attractive- thus being why they are homosexual- so it stands to reason that Perez hilton wouldn't find ANY of the women in the beauty pageant attractive. So how could he be a fair and balanced judge? What I mean is, you don't ask someone who hates to fly what airline they like the best. You don't ask someone who hates baseball to pick what team they think will win the world series. You don't ask a member of PETA what is better bar-b-qued, beef or chicken. (well, actually on that last one... it would be kind of funny!) So why ask some freak who only likes men to judge women?
Anyway, so the answer- she said in a very polite way that we live in America, people can choose what they believe, but she is opposed to it- that is how she was raised in her family and that is what she believes. She was not hateful in her remarks. She didn't say, for example, "I think they should all be shipped off to their own island" or "I hope God melts them all" or "may they all get an std" or anything like that- just a simple, I was raised to believe marriage is between one man and one woman and that's the way I believe it should be. Simple, sweet, to the point, and non-offensive. Or so you would think.
Little did she know the firestorm her answer would start. Nor did she know it would cost her the title. According to Judge hilton, he told ABC News, "She lost [the crown] because of that question. She was definitely the front-runner before that." Perez has also made many very derrogatory remarks about Ms. California- extremely offensive, and at one point violent, stating that had she won he would have walked onto the stage and ripped the crown off of her head. Since then, she has been barraged by the media, almost all negative, as they attempt to discredit her character- even going so far as to point out to the public that she had breast implants- as if we care. Perhaps they should also look deeper into her history and see if she ever had a hernia or acid reflux perhaps? I know I occasionally suffer from acid reflux after watching the news...
I suppose one could state that all of this was done in tolerance. Don't you just love that word? Tolerance. You see, we all are supposed to have tolerance for people like Perez Hilton. We are told over and over and over that we must accept people like him and their lifestyle choices in the name of tolerance. Don't judge, we hear. Even some preachers are getting in the act, watering down the Gospel so as to not "offend". Yet where, oh where is this tolerance for people who disagree? Ms. California was very polite in her answer, yet because she dared to question what the media deems as "normal" behaviour, all of a sudden tolerance is a word no longer in their vocabulary. You see the great irony of this movement is, there is only tolerance as long as you are on the same side of those who preach it. If you question it- well, that is words of treason, and grounds for execution. They shove their beliefs down our throat- and that's o.k. We politely disagree- call out the firing squad.
But there is another lesson to be learned from this sad disaster of a pageant. What, pray tell, is it? Simply this: that it is better to stand for what you believe in than to compromise. This situation is similar to another recent story out of California- the story of a very popular pastor who supported publicly proposition 8, the ban on homosexual marriage. Then this same preacher, just recently, has stated that he did not ever publicly endorse the gay marriage ban, and that he has personnally called and apologized to all of his "gay" friends for the misunderstanding. I guess Rick Warren forgot that pastors are supposed to be men of integrity, and that they, of all people, should be examples of standing up for our faith. But sadly, while he opted for the more politically correct answer to the question, a pageant model has opted to take his place in opposing sexual immorality. I wonder who is more blessed in the end? Ms. California had this to say: "The days since have taught me to stand up for what you believe in, regardless of the consequences, personnal attacks, or disagreements". She has also publicly stated that she felt that that moment at the pageant was a test from God, a test of her faith, that she felt she passed the test- and that she wouldn't change it for anything, even if it meant getting the Miss U.S.A. crown. She has repeatedly stated how blessed she feels for what this has done for her. I wonder how blessed Mr. Warren feels for the lack of a stand he has taken...
I have no clue if Ms. Prejean is a Christian as she claims- I also can't say the opposite for Mr. Warren. I don't know either one of them personnally, and I definately don't know their heart. But what I do know is this- that we, as Christians, should stand for what we believe in even when the Truth we have is not popular or trendy- even if it costs us an earthly crown. My friends and fellow readers, we are not called to win earthly crowns- they may be nice, but as Ms. California has so aptly demonstrated for us, there are things in life more valuable than a fancy title. Some of these are never compromising who you are, what you believe, and never being ashamed to speak the truth from your heart. To put in the words of Paul, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth" Romans 1:16. It is my prayer that we all will learn a lesson from this pageant- and never back down from what we believe.