Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.  I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

• John 8:23-24

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

• John 3:16-19

Jesus taught in parables.  It was prophesied that He would do so.  Jesus brought this up when the disciples questioned Him in Matthew 13:10.  Jesus replied by quoting Isaiah 6:9-10.

WARNING:  There are parts of this story, maybe the entire thing, that might be disturbing, but maybe it all needs to be said.

Once upon a time, a kindly uncle received a phone call.  It was his sister’s daughter.  (and to my sister’s daughter, this is not about you.  Please, no letters.)

“Dear Uncle,” the young girl said in a soft, insecure voice.  “I am being prepped for surgery right now and I knew my Mom would never call you.  You have been the best sounding board for me.  I had to tell you.  I have been pregnant for some time and my boyfriend just ran away with another girl.  I wanted you to hear this from me personally.  I am having an abortion.”

The uncle was shocked.  He was a born-again Christian and his sister had rebelled, leaving any kind of faith behind, and letting her children figure out what was right and wrong on their own.  His sister wasn’t bad.  He, the dear uncle, might drive a few miles per hour over the speed limit, but not his sister.  She had her rules that she followed.  She was very consistent, and one of her problems with “Christians” was that they were not.  Was his sister testing him to see what kind of reaction he would make?

Then his niece added, “Will you give me your blessing?”

The uncle prayed silently.  “Oh, no, Lord.  If I say, ‘Okay’ – meaning I heard you but no blessing, I would be inconsistent with my belief regarding ‘Pro-Life.’  If I say something derogatory, I might lose contact with my niece forever.  Then, without even thinking, or it seemed that way, he said, “Your aunt and I will always love you.”

The call was immediately cut off.  The uncle prayed again, “Does she think I condone this?  Should I have phrased my response any differently?”

Then, a Voice came down from Heaven, “Now you know what it feels like to love, even when they are sinners.  The uncle thought of Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Of course, God accepts us, as the sinners that we are.  Jesus comes into our heart, but He immediately starts making changes.  His first message when He started His ministry was “Repent and believe.” (Mark 1:15)

God expects us to turn from our sins.  Sometimes the monkeys on our backs are too tough, but God is within us.  He will give us the strength, even when we are sometimes less than what you might call a good patient.

Thinking of the patient in the parable above, let me extend the parable with a very gritty, and maybe even offensive, epilogue.

Everyone in the surgical theater was in on the abortion except for the surgical tech.  It happened so quickly, and abortions were not legal at the time, but if you had enough money and an arrogant friend who was a surgeon…  The doctor thought that calling in a crew after hours was the best way to pull this off, less witnesses, but that gave him no control of who the surgical tech would be on call that night.

When the surgical tech saw a tiny arm come out of the incision with five perfectly formed fingers, and then a tiny leg with five perfect toes, bile rose within her, filling her mouth; tears poured from her face.  She ran from the surgical suite – an offense that meant she would be fired.  She was the one who had to know what was going on, so that she could anticipate what the doctor needed – first to set up the stand, second to pass the correct instrument without the surgeon saying what he needed.  She was that good at her job.

Once, a different doctor, a kindly, good doctor, suggested that he would leave and have her close the patient, since she seemed to know more than he did.  She protested that she was not qualified, but the doctor handed her the instruments, and she started to close the patient while the doctor watched, approving what she was doing, but then taking over. After all, her job was to make sure he didn’t leave something inside the patient, and he wasn’t ‘qualified’ to do her job.  But this time she was kept in the dark.

After the law-breaking doctor closed the patient with the help of the circulating nurse, the surgeon, or should we say murderer, went to the nurses’ lounge and confronted the surgical tech.  He told her that there were many witnesses and she would lose her job.  She then boldly replied, “If this gets reported, you will spend the rest of your life in prison for murdering an unborn child.”

The doctor grinned, “Who are they going to believe?  You, who was fired for endangering a patient by leaving in the middle of a procedure?  The evidence is in a biohazard bag and has been thrown out with the rest.  It will be incinerated within the hour.  But I won’t say anything.  I just came by to give you a warning.”  From that day forward, the young surgical tech found adequate excuses to never work with this particular doctor again.

This epilogue is not a parable.  I may not have the details correct, but this is what my wife said to me when she came home after being called back to the hospital that night.

But why tell such a horrible story?  Read the papers.  Every trendy fad these days, misinterpreting the Bible or ignoring the Bible seems to be the subject of so many blog posts.  They are spreading the word that God does not change and that Satan is behind the concepts that are moving forward, that seem like such good ideas today.  After all, isn’t change progress?  No, change for changes sake is the opposite of progress.  Change for convenience sake can sometimes be abhorrent.  If the doctor chopped a newborn baby into tiny parts, he’d be called a madman.  He’d be locked away.  Yet, in some states of the US, I have heard that they allow fourth trimester abortions.  In other words, after the baby is delivered – in case they find a defect – an convenience.  Now, in the modern, sick worldview, the doctor is considered a hero.

And what of the doctor who does sex change operations because the patient is looking for answers, and okay, maybe, why not?

The answers are found in God, the God of the Bible, but that is not ‘trendy.’

But what if you are the uncle in the parable above?  Or the aunt?  What if the ‘announcement’ is not about abortion, but about other secular trends, maybe a trend that there is no return from?  What can you do other than to say that you love them?  God told us that He loved us.  We are to love others as God loves us, so can there be any other response?  Yes, they need to repent, but saying that might lose your chance to say, “I love you.”

I apologize if some of this is too gritty for you, but in the midst of Satan’s war against my family, he continues the test.  But Jesus is my Savior, and “God Has THIS!”  He died on the cross to save sinners.  He demonstrated His love for us, for me, and my ‘niece’.  We must be vigilant.  If we think that everything is going so wonderfully well, will we be firmly standing on Jesus, our Rock, when the first wave hits, or the second, or the tenth wave?  I’ve learned lately that the old saw about bad things happening in threes is pure balderdash.

Trust in the Lord; He loves you.  So, love others in reply.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.