A Mississippi law banning abortions after fifteen weeks has been challenged and will be heard by the United States Supreme Court. The pro-abortion supporters fear Roe v. Wade could be reversed.

     The issue before the United States Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade was the personhood of nascent human life. The prohibitions on Congress in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution were extended to the states after the Civil War in the Fourteenth Amendment. Those Amendments provide, “No person shall be…deprived of life,…without due process of law.”

     When does the fetus become a person with its right to life protected by the Constitution? The Supreme Court feigned an inability to determine when human life begins and settled on “ex utero viability.” In other words, according to the Supreme Court, the fetus becomes a person when it is born.

     The Scriptures declare, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh,” Genesis 2:24. In marriage the man and woman become “one flesh,” a single marital unit, but the married couple also become “one flesh” in their offspring.

     Medical science has proven that within thirty seconds of the male sperm impregnating the female egg half of the father’s forty-six chromosomes unite with half of the mother’s forty-six chromosomes creating the beginning of a unique person. If left undisturbed the zygote will grow to become a unique human being.

     The Supreme Court ignored medical science about when human life begins making its decision in Roe v. Wade legally tenuous, and the subsequent loss of innocent human life reprehensible. Roe v. Wade is ripe for being overturned.

     This landmark decision helped shape our culture’s current understanding of abortion. In the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision, C. Everett Koop, the Surgeon General during the Reagan administration, was asked about the ruling. He said abortion has always been legal but has not always meant the same thing. He said the mother is literally the life support system for the baby, if the pregnancy becomes troubled and a danger to the mother’s health then the life of the baby is also in jeopardy.

     In such instances an abortion was performed in an attempt to save both the mother and the child. Abortion was considered a medical term for the early termination of a pregnancy, not the termination of a baby’s life.

     Roe v. Wade provided for restrictions on abortion based upon the trimesters of the human gestational period, but those restrictions have been eroded until a fully developed fetus can be aborted just before birth. This culture of death needs to be reversed legally and morally.

     It is a sad thing to say, but the human fetus would receive more federal protection if it was placed on the endangered species list.

Have a care America, the real Supreme Court does not convene down here, and that heavenly Tribunal has already rendered its decision from which there is no appeal.

This past July Fourth, the 245^th birthday of our nation, the retail giant Hobby Lobby ran an ad in several national newspapers. The ad’s headline was “One Nation Under God,” a quote from the Pledge of Allegiance to our nation’s flag. The ad then quoted the Bible, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” Psalm 33:12. These were followed by various quotes from our founding fathers and leaders in government and education.

     The ad did not advocate anything, it was just quotes. But that did not stop the anti-Judeo-Christian Chicken Littles form claiming Hobby Lobby was calling for a “theocracy” and the dismantling of the wall separating church and state. One citizen from Oregon said the ad was “absolutely frightening.”

     Despite the rhetoric and opinions shared in the press, Hobby Lobby did not suggest at any point in its ad that America should have a “Christian-run government.” And what is so “absolutely frightening” about quoting the Pledge of Allegiance, the Bible and some of our nation’s historical leaders?

     What I found alarming was how far our people have drifted from their historic Judeo-Christian moorings. Although this is not a sudden thing; our nation’s religious nature and conscience have been ebbing from high to low tide for generations now.

     Here’s a news flash, historically speaking it was not governments, the state, that called for a separation of church and state. It was the church, religious groups like the Anabaptists, that called for a separation between the church and state, because the state was persecuting them for their religious practices.

     I want a high wall separating church and state; I do not want a state that is 23.3 trillion dollars in debt dictating fiscal irresponsibility to the church, nor telling it how it should respond to sexual immorality. I do not want a church influenced by the acrimony that characterizes congressional infighting and the inability to work together for the common good of all Americans.

     The closest thing to a theocracy recorded in Scripture is when Moses led the nation of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. This is because slaves who had never known liberty needed God’s guidance in the practice of their newfound freedom.

     I believe that is what our founding fathers and others were saying to our nation’s newly independent states. They were not suggesting America should be a theocracy. They were saying that living by biblical principles are the only way to ensure we remain free. When freedom of religion is lost, the other freedoms we enjoy will fall like dominoes.

     God told Moses, “I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him,” Deuteronomy 18:18. Jesus was the fulfillment of that prophecy, and he will return soon to usher in, not a man-made theocracy, but one that is heaven sent. We will then be one nation under God.

It is difficult to write about issues of racism. That is because the issues are so emotionally charged they generally produce more heat than light; heightened emotions cloud objectivity. But the issues are unavoidable.

     In the 2019 session of the Southern Baptist Convention a resolution was adopted that said Critical Race Theory was a useful “analytical tool” to address systemic racism “as long as it was subordinate to Scripture.”

     Late in 2020 the presidents of the six Southern Baptist seminaries issued a joint statement declaring Critical Race Theory to be incompatible with the Baptist Faith and Message, the doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention.

     Some pastors have left the SBC and others are contemplating leaving saying the seminary presidents’ statement was insensitive and causes them to question whether or not the SBC is committed to racial reconciliation.

     While you may be able to guess, or from news accounts may know, the race of the parties involved, I have not mentioned race for a reason. Paul in his Areopagus sermon said God “made from one man every nation of mankind,” Acts 17:26. If we believe the Scriptures we must believe there is only one race and that is the human race.

     Paul in his letter to the Galatians wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” Galatians 3:28. Ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender differences are subsumed by our identity with and our allegiance to Christ; we are one in Him.

     I do not have black or white brothers, or rich or poor brothers, if you are in Christ you are my brother, if you are in Christ and female you are my sister; we are all one family.

     The meaning of Critical Race Theory seems to defy definition depending on who is explaining it, but ultimately and fundamentally it divides and separates society into stereotypical categories or classes based on skin color. In contradistinction the Gospel of Jesus Christ unites us in a common cause that is the furtherance of this Gospel in which we believe.

      It seems to me the clearest witness to the seminary presidents’ statement that Critical Race Theory does not comport with the Baptist Faith and Message, is those pastors who have embraced Critical Race Theory have separated themselves from the Southern Baptist Convention. By their action they prove the presidents’ statement, CRT does divide believers based on race and does not unite us under the cause Christ.

     I wish I knew how to resolve these differences, but it breaks my heart to see brothers in Christ divided over issues we should be united on in Christ.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” I have that same dream.

For decades there have been projects like SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, predicated on the assumption that the universe is so vast surely ours is not the only planet that can sustain sentient life. Surely there must be others; surely we are not alone.

     But findings in a study recently released by astronomers suggest, “The number of planets in the universe that could sustain alien life is much smaller than had been thought.”

     These findings are addressed in an article titled, “Maybe we are alone after all: Planets that could sustain alien life much rarer than thought,” that originally appeared on USA Today.

     The study’s co-author and biogeochemist with the University of California-Riverside Timothy Lyons said, “Our results indicate that complex ecosystems like ours cannot exist in most regions of the habitable zone as traditionally defined.” The habitable zone is defined as a place “where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface.”

     While many planets have liquid water they also have toxic atmospheres making it impossible for the “rich ecosystems like we find on Earth today” to exist.

     Lead author of the study, NASA’s Edward Schwieterman said, “To sustain liquid water at the outer edge of the conventional habitable zone, a planet would need tens of thousands of times more carbon dioxide than Earth has today, that’s far beyond the levels known to be toxic to human and animal life on Earth… As far as we know, Earth is the only planet in the universe that can sustain human life.”

     These findings lend credence to the anthropic principle which is the idea that life, especially complex life forms like humans, is sustained by observable constants in natural phenomena that if they were even slightly altered human life as we know it could not exist.

     It appears the universe was tailor-made for man’s existence, and that implies an Intelligent Designer, a Creator God. The universe, “the heavens and the earth” in biblical language, is an observable effect for which the only sufficient cause is an omniscient, omnipotent Creator. Observable science unerringly points in this direction.

     The psalmist says of our Creator, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me,” Psalm 139:7-10.

     I read about a man who once asked God “if there was life in outer space?” He said God replied, “I’m out here.” Simple and direct, it sounds like something God would say and what the psalmist wrote about.

In simple eloquence the psalmist’s word-picture declares the omnipresence of God. While some may deny His existence, and ignore His presence, the truth is we have never been alone.

Historically speaking the Seven Deadly Sins are “pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth.” Some have said these sins are not mentioned in the Bible, but such a statement reveals an utter ignorance of what the Scriptures teach.

     The first deadly sin on the list is pride. It is written, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil;

pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate,” Proverbs 8:13. That is just one verse among many that denounce the sin of pride.

     Pride accompanies every other sin because it takes prideful arrogance to disregard what God teaches us is right and wrong and then do as we please. Pride deceived Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and led Adam to accept and eat it when it was offered to him.

     Pride is what makes us think it is alright to rebel against the will of a holy God. I think it is appropriate that the LGBTQ community’s celebration of sexual sin this month is called, PRIDE.

     Greed is the pursuit of wealth regardless of what it takes to attain the wealth. This makes wealth an idol. The possession of wealth is not a sin, but the pursuit of it becomes a sin when it becomes an obsession. “The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be caught by their own greed,” Proverbs 11:6.

     Wrath is an uncontrolled anger reflecting man’s frustration with not getting what he wants. This is why the Scriptures teach us “the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God,” James 1:20.

     Envy is the cousin of covetousness that is forbidden by the Tenth Commandment, Exodus 20:17. When envy causes us to break one of the other commandments to take what belongs to another it is a sin. This is why Jesus lists it among other sins, “deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness,” Mark 7:22.

     Lust is what drives the porn industry and we are warned “when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death,” James 1:15. James reminds us of why these are called “deadly sins.”

     Gluttony is the sin of an uncontrolled appetite; it often leads to obesity and a host of self-inflicted medical conditions. This is not a reference to those who are overweight because of a health issue, but refers to the sin of over-indulgence. Solomon said, “Put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite,” Proverbs 23:2, that is what you are doing when you overeat.

Sloth, the sin of indolence, is characterized in the Scriptures, “The sluggard [a lazy person] says, ‘There is a lion outside: I will be killed in the streets,’” Proverbs 22:13. The slothful person will make any silly excuse to get out of work, and the one who does not work is an unproductive, liability on the rest of the community.