I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Mac Brunson from 1st Dallas on Wednesday night. He challenged a group of pastors and lay people to take the moral message to the pulpits on this Sunday. He said there are four issues that should dominate the discussion of Christians getting out to vote.
If Christians sit on their "blessed assurance" on Tuesday, they'll have no one to blame but themselves for not having their voices heard on the issues.
I posted this earlier but God will give the nation the leaders that the attitude of the hearts of the people truly desire. In the Old Testament, the Lord's chosen demanded a king. God gave them a king. They went back and forth under the direction of "good" kings and "bad" kings based on the hearts of the people.
Hear your people, O God. We as Christians desire a Godly leader and will do our parts by excercising our rights as citizens to vote for our leaders.
STEM CELL RESEARCH.. perhaps this piece may be helpful in discussing Stem Cell Research, which a lot of people are confused about. If you would like a word document emailed to you that you can print out and copy.. email me : Jim@cbcads.com
In the discussion of STEM CELL RESEARCH, have you wondered why people like John Kerry and John Edwards have paraded out folks like Michael Fox, the wife of the late Christopher Reeves and even the son of the late President Reagan onto the stage to defend the practice, rather than scientific experts?
The advocates of Embryonic Stem Cell Research (ESCR) have been preying upon people with debilitating diseases in order to garner support. Those who advocate so called “therapeutic cloning” and ESCR do not want you to understand the truth at all. Misleading terms, fake science and outright lies have been perpetrated on the American public in order to disguise the truth about what these researchers really want to do: methodically produce and kill human beings.
Let’s start with misleading terms: Stem Cell Research involves just a ball of cells…the first distinction that needs to be made is that there are TWO types of “stem cell research.” One, which is properly called Embryonic Stem Cell Research, involves the deliberate destruction of human embryos in order to obtain their stem cells. That “ball of cells” you hear about is extracted during the early stages of the human embryo’s development, which instantly kills this tiny human being. The second, is Adult Stem Cell Research which uses stem cells from a host of ethical sources including the placenta or umbilical cord blood after live birth (yes that is considered an “adult” or “mature” stem cell!) or from your own blood, bone marrow, skin, hair follicles, even fat cells.
How about that “Fake Science?” We use a process called SCNT to grow cells…SCNT or “somatic cell nuclear transfer.” It is a fancy way of saying that scientists are using human cloning in order to create embryos and then extract the stem cells. Scientists are not “growing cells”…they are growing human beings, either by using over-produced embryos from fertility clinics or by using a full human cloning process called SCNT. The very same process used to create Dolly the Sheep. The only difference between growing Dolly and “growing cells” is that scientists will kill the developing baby at whatever stage of growth is desired in order to use his/her stem cells. In New Jerseys latest law, this means allowing the baby to develop right through a full 9 months in order to harvest organs and cells as long as the baby is not allowed to be born.
And what about those “Outright Lies?”
Cures are right around the corner…
To date, there has NOT BEEN ONE SINGLE SUCCESSFUL HUMAN OR ANIMAL treatment using embryos. In fact there have been horrific failures including deaths. However, ADULT stem cells have already been used in thousands of human treatments including heart disease, brain disorders, diabetes, spinal injury, lymphoma, breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and a host of autoimmune diseases.
Bush banned the research…
President Bush DID NOT BAN ANY research. He only banned FEDERAL FUNDING for research on new embryos created after August 2001, so that our tax dollars would not be used to destroy human life. In 2003, the government spent 190 million dollars on adult-stem-cell research and another 24.8 million on embryonic stem-cell research under the Bush guidelines.
So if the research is not banned, what does Bush or the Federal Government have to do with it? Because scientists want the government to fund research that is going nowhere, while saving their own funds for more promising projects. Some have abandoned ESCR entirely. For example, biotech giant, Osiris Therapeutics of Baltimore, Maryland is one of about a dozen firms developing successful therapies using adult cells, not cells from embryos. When asked why embryonic stem cell research is being touted to those suffering from debilitating diseases Ronald D.G. McKay, a stem cell researcher at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke stated, “To start with, people need a fairy tale. Maybe that’s unfair, but they need a story line that’s relatively simple to understand.”
Make no mistake: Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Human Cloning is not only drawing resources away from ethical, fruitful research, it is without question, the ultimate disgrace to God as the holy Creator and Author of all human life. And when mankind takes it upon himself to assume this authority, to manipulate, create and destroy human beings in the name of science, most assuredly, we are taking the ultimate step of declaring ourselves a race in need of no God.