By GFI board member, Randy Stahmer

We all live, and one day we will, with nearly 100 percent certainty, die. Unless we are raptured out of this world before the second coming of Christ, we will all close our eyes on this world and open them to eternity. Perhaps one might ask, “How are we living?” Are we living selfishly, or are we living selflessly? In the days that Jesus walked this earth, Matthew 20 tells us that Jesus had two disciples who were quite interested and requested a seat at Jesus’s left and right hand in his kingdom. Jesus responded by asking if those disciples could drink the cup that Jesus would drink. They both believed that they could drink from the same cup, at least in that moment. Indeed, they would drink from the same cup, but a seat at his right or left was not Jesus’s to grant. Those places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by his Father. Jesus says whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. So, we are to live as a servant, which simply means to put others before ourselves.

You see, the Creator God values our life so much that He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world. In return, we are to give Him honor, praise, and glory. It really is quite elementary. The work that is set before us is this: to believe in the one that He has sent. In the gospel of John, Chapter 5, Jesus puts it this way: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

Life and Death

Brothers and sisters reading this are likely aware that a General Election is just around the corner. Voters in this election cycle get to decide on a LIFE and DEATH matter. There is a ballot initiative referred to as Initiative 439. A vote “FOR” this initiative will amend the Nebraska State Constitution to provide that all persons shall have a fundamental right to abortion until fetal viability or when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient (woman), without interference from the state or its political subdivisions. Fetal viability is well into the third trimester of pregnancy, and the baby would likely survive outside the uterus without extraordinary medical measures. Based on data from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, only one-tenth of one percent of abortions performed in 2022 were for emergencies. Over 99 percent are for taking unborn life as a matter of convenience. This is a fact.

Initiative 439 is unconscionable, horrific, and selfish. Regardless of political leanings, LIFE is fundamental, and any person who has ever been in a relationship with another person and, more importantly, a relationship with the Creator must VOTE NO on 439.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty; darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Gen. 1:1-2). Then, on the sixth day, God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God ‘created’ man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female, He created them (Gen. 1:26-27).

Notice that God ‘created’ the heavens and the earth. This fact is truly hard to fathom for mortal men. Ecclesiastes 11:5 says, “As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

The Creator of the Universe is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnipresent (everywhere). Israel’s King David wrote in Psalm 139, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise. Where can I go from your Spirit?” Since God is omnipresent, we cannot hide from Him, and we cannot surround ourselves in darkness, for darkness is light to Him!

As Creator God, the Lord has created you and me in our inmost beings and has knit us together in our mother’s womb. We praise God because we are fearfully and wonderfully made. When we were woven together in the depths of the earth, His eyes saw our unformed bodies. How precious are we to Him?

This, my friends, is the essence of LIFE! Truly, the process is complex and fascinating. The following is a simple, thumbnail sketch of the embryogenesis, embryonic development, gastrulation, and implantation processes. Complex to humans, but remember that God created the first man by forming him from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being (Gen. 2:7). To us, the miracle of life begins at the moment a sperm cell of the male penetrates the cell wall of the female egg. The fertilized egg, or zygote, undergoes a series of cleavage stages, eventually forming a hollow ball of cells called the blastocyst. The blastocyst then implants in the uterine wall of the mother. From weeks three to eight, the germ layers grow (endoderm, ectoderm, and mesoderm) and differentiate into organs. The endoderm forms the organs of the digestive and respiratory systems, the ectoderm forms the skin, nervous system, and sensory organs, and the mesoderm forms the circulatory system, bones, muscles, and more.

If you believe that you are here in such a time as this and that you are no accident and are not formed out of some evolutionary soup, then you must ask at what point did I really come into being? As a human among the living, it is cliché to say something like, “I sure am glad that I was born into a healthy family,” or “Thank God I have a family that loves me, and that I love.” We would not know anything else if we were not here. But we are certainly thankful that we are.

While there is no single age at which consciousness develops, scientists believe there are markers for consciousness in the third trimester of pregnancy to early infancy. Other markers suggest consciousness emerges around one year of age, while some markers only emerge around age three or four. Most of us have some early memories from ages three or four. On the other hand, the mother who delivers you into this world certainly is conscious and will forever remember the term of the pregnancy, but especially the day that you were born.

The obvious drivers for the killing of the unborn are convenience and money made by the practitioner. To those that choose death: you can be forgiven. There is always hope. There is always grace. There is always mercy. But, at some point, the hourglass runs out. The time for reflection, remorse, understanding, and repentance is now. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and He will give you all that you need, especially LIFE EVERLASTING. Choose LIFE and VOTE NO to the killing of the innocent.

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