Letters

James Fletcher Baxter
choicemaker@thegrid.net

Blood on their hands

We here in Milwaukee continue to stand against the murder of the preborn. Along with our work with Missionaries to the Preborn, I am part of Veterans for Life. We have been picketing a hospital, St. Lukes South Shore, once a week since Jan. 1996. They are owned by Aurora Health Care (certainly not for the health of the preborn) which kills at their Sinai Samaritan facility in downtown Milwaukee. The once fine Catholic hospital now has blood on its hands. Others of Vets for Life picket the Aurora headquarters once or twice a week while I do volunteer office work. My wife works one day a week in a C.P.C. and counsels outside a local killing place Saturday mornings.
God Bless you in your work. We read your magazine completely.

Carl and Lois Knight
West Allis, WI

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Word search

Grace is one of the central doctrines of Christianity. Grace means unmerited favor. To merit means to earn. And favor means support or approval. So unmerited favor equals unearned approval.
Christian doctrine grants personhood status to the unborn fetus, embryo and even the zygote. This is the church giving grace to the unborn. For the zygote and embryo haven't at that early stage earned the status of personhood. The zygote certainly isn't an actual person yet.
But Christian doctrine from the beginning has been to consider the unborn as a person from the zygote stage onward. By doing so the Church shows that it practices what it preaches. For it preaches that God gives us grace.
Actually, there are two Hebrew words for "womb" that derive from the Hebrew word for "compassion." The message, the implication, is that we are to view the womb as a place of compassion for the fetus therein. The womb isn't to be defiled by being used as a place of killing - an execution chamber - which is what it is in abortion.
Raw-kham' is one Hebrew word for "compassion" (#7355 in the Strong's Bible Concordance). It's found in Deuteronomy 13.17;30. IKings 8.50; Isaiah 49.15; Jeremiah 12.15, etc.
Now, the first Hebrew word for "womb" based on raw-kham' is rakh'-am (#7356 in Strong's Concordance and Lexicon). As you can see it's got the very same consonants as found in the Hebrew word for compassion. Only the vowels (the markings below the consonants) are different. And the accent shifts (#7356 is basically the same word as 7355). It (7356) is found in Genesis 49.25; Proverbs 30.16; Isaiah 46.3; Jer. 1.5,etc.
Here's another word for "womb" that derives from the Hebrew for "compassion" : rekh'-em (#7358 in Strong's). Again, the consonants are the same as those in the Hebrew for "compassion" (ra-kham'). Only the vowels are different and the accent shifts.
Rekh' em is found in Gen.20.18; 29.31; 30.22; Exodus 13.2, etc.
To summarize what I'm saying:
raw-kham' (7355) = compassion
rakh'-am (7356) = womb
rekh'-em (7358) =womb
(There is another word for "womb" that isn't related to the Hebrew word for "compassion," raw-kham'. It is beh'-ten (101) and is #990 in Strong's . But two out of three isn't too bad.) There are many verses in the Bible that support the anti-abortion position. That much isn't news. But the message found in the etimology of the two Hebrew words above (rakh'-am and rekh'em) is not well-known and so I am sending this information to you to rectify the situation.

Joseph Grace
Burkeville, VA

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Al Gore disease

If you are sick or on your way out you have Al Gore Disease.
Al Gore wants to eliminate five billion people "so the earth can heal."
Two things wrong : Al has not volunteered to be the first to go, and Al is not in charge.
God is going to take all the people out, some to Glory, some to perdition.
We have crazy weather. When Jonah tried to run from God (go west instead of east), God sent a terrible storm and he ended up in a fish. El Nino is from God, as is Mt. St. Helens.
Not to be surprised. Roe v. Wade has covered our land with the innocent blood of over thirty five million aborted babies. That innocent blood is in our water supply as little people are ground up by big disposals or buried in landfills. Jesus can take care of the children, but those in the abortion industry condemn themselves.
We are guilty.
Our churches are especially guilty . . . some even condone the slaughter. But if this murder is condoned, we must condone all murder.
Any exception is terribly wrong.
Rape? Incest? Defect of the baby? Health or life of the Mother?
Of what is the baby guilty? Even for the life or the health of the mother . . who elected you judge?
Many judges at all levels are putting ridiculous judgments against people who are trying to save lives. Our whole judicial system is out of whack.
The United States Government, the United Nations and many major corporations are sponsoring Planned Parenthood, [and the] sterilization of men and women world-wide. Planned Parenthood is the biggest and most aggressive proponent of abortion, providing as many as all others combined.
Every person who does not rise up in protest is guilty.
And to say that free condoms will not promote fornication is a lie.
We are lied to by our government, by our churches, by our lack of action.
I'm tired of inaction. And I'm tired of lies.

Nellie Bryant
Caldwell, ID

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Off the Internet

Whew.
Got a hearty laugh out of Randall Terry's views on birth control. It's too bad that well meaning, honest Christian people have to be grouped with ranting zealots like this guy. Gives us all a bad name. No wonder so many young people are laughing at (and largely ignoring) the political party that is the church today. Hmm. Hard to decide if it's funny or just sad.

Kryp

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Prayer & praise for youngest subscriber

This Memorial Day will be a memorable one for me, for my wife, and for a little girl named Megan Elizabeth. At 2:00 p.m., as she was ready to be transitioning from labor to delivery at Fair Oaks Hospital on Memorial Day, she felt a sudden and continuing pain across her abdomen. She recalled a similar pain with the birth of our sixth child, Justin, whose placenta abrupted during delivery. She asked me to get the nurse, who discovered heavy bleeding.
The nurse called the doctor back from another labor room; they were unable to get heart tones from the baby. A decision had to be made then and they rushed Theresa to the operating suite, where an emergency c-section was performed.
This operation, by God's grace, saved the life of our daughter, Megan, whose placenta had abrupted and who was not getting oxygen through the umbilical cord. Megan weighed in at 8 lbs and 14 oz. She closely resembles her sister Jennifer.
Internal, surgical examination revealed that Theresa's womb had ruptured along the scar line of the c-section she had when our third daughter, Jennifer, was born. The doctor says that the placenta had attached at this location and that the rupturing of the womb detached the placenta. Thankfully, although the doctors had to repair the rupture, they were able to do so and then to stitch Theresa up.
Theresa and Megan have much recovery ahead. Theresa lost a great deal of blood, but the doctors were able to avoid a risky transfusion; she placed herself in the hands of the Lord as she was being rushed to surgery and had tremendous peace throughout. Pray that Theresa's recovery is complete and quick and that she be able to hold and to feed Megan quickly (this is the first child of eight that she didn't get to breast-feed within a couple of hours after birth).
Megan's condition was quite serious at birth. She was not able to breathe because of having aspirated blood from her mother's injury as well as amniotic fluid. In this sense, she was drowning at birth. The neonate pediatrician had to "bag" her, forcing oxygen into her lungs, and to suction as much fluid as possible. After assessing her condition, the doctors placed her on a ventilator. Because she could not breathe, her blood became highly acidic and rich in carbon dioxide. Without the ventilator, her blood gases were very poor and she was hyperventilating. The ventilator is assisting her in removing the CO2 and that, in turn, is restoring her normal blood gas levels. Pray that Megan's blood gases continue to improve and that they return to normal levels; pray that her lungs do not collapse, which happens from time to time in these circumstances; and pray that Megan, in her special little way, is fully comforted by being held in the loving Hands of our merciful God.
Update as of June 3
Praise to God for bringing Megan Elizabeth through her difficulties. The doctors have taken her off of oxygen because she is doing so well they say she is capable of absorbing needed amounts from the air. She will be in an incubator for, perhaps two to four more days. Also give thanks because Megan's mom, Theresa, is recovering well and has been able to express milk for Megan's use once she is able to feed.
Prayer request: Now that Megan has the ventilator tube out and some of the congestion is cleared up, the neonate pediatrician has discovered an apparent heart murmur, which may have been induced by the stress or may be congenital.
Please pray that God's healing hand touch Megan and hold her heart in it.
Pray for guidance and wisdom for those caring for Megan during this difficult time.
Update as of June 8:
Megan Elizabeth has now come home from the hospital. She is continuing to have labored breathing because not all of the blood and amniotic fluid could be suctioned from her lungs (it's like having pneumonia). Otherwise Megan is now out of the woods and shows no sign of any impairment or injury. Mom is also recuperating nicely.

Jim Henderson
Washington, DC

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