by Emmett Smith

This week's news headlines have been rife with indications of the state of our world.

• Among them are the attempt of Norma McCorvey (AKA Jane Roe of Roe v Wade) to have a federal court in Texas begin the process of overturning that infamous 1973 Supreme Court decision.
• Another dealt with paganism and witchcraft on the rise in the UK, anticipating a massive pagan gathering at Stonehenge to celebrate the solstice.
• Yet another chronicled an attempt to build a taxpayer-funded memorial in Los Angeles to AIDS victims, in the form of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, whose worship involved human sacrifices.
• And then there was the Australian article in which so-called "pro-choice" (read pro-abortion) advocates denigrated an anti-abortion group's successful tactic of paying $1000 to women contemplating abortion to "choose life" rather than going ahead with their abortion plans.

Judging by the tone of these pro-abortionists, the enticement of money to prevent abortions was a terrible evil. It’s hard to imagine anything more topsy-turvy! How could anyone view encouraging someone not to kill her unborn child as evil? The level of commitment demonstrated by these advocates of evil is mind-boggling! And that raises the question of our commitment to the Lord's service, doesn't it?

A New York Times editorial reprinted in last Sunday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette discussed the decline of the work ethic in the UK, and concluded that a corresponding decline in the Protestant ethic of self-denial was to blame. A case can certainly be made that much of what drives the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual debates is an antipathy to the concept of self-denial.

A requirement of the so-called sexual revolution was that there be no negative consequences for immoral behavior. So if a woman became pregnant because of her sexual "freedom," she must have the "right" to terminate that pregnancy. What once was disgraceful proof of immorality became merely an inconvenience, easily dealt with by a trip to the nearby abortionist. And they insist behavior once generally regarded as sexual perversion must now be accepted as normal.

However, in spite of the insistence of these "enlightened" ones to the contrary, the inevitable consequences of these behaviors remain -- both physical and spiritual. There's no denying that HIV/AIDS is primarily spread (in the US, at least) by uniquely homosexual behavior patterns. And there's no denying that the over 40 million abortions in the US since Roe v Wade have had an enormous impact on our nation.

A memorial in the form of Quetzalcoatl is actually quite appropriate in view of the many human lives that have been sacrificed on the altar of "choice" over the last several decades. Yet choice is a necessary consequence of free will, isn't it? And making wrong choices is certainly nothing new. As Christians, we must do what we can to encourage right choices.

In Matthew 13:33, Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." This may be the only passage in Scripture in which leaven is used to represent influence for good.

The world desperately needs this leaven. Let's resolve to use every opportunity to be influential for our Lord!