light into dark places. Ephesians 5 exhorts us:
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
We can depend on the Spirit to bring to light the areas in our own lives that are not lining up with God's will for us. And, we can be used of the Lord to speak truth and to participate in the exposure of areas in our society that are not pleasing to Him. If we are people of principle, speaking and acting with conviction, then we can be emboldened to stand boldly and with great strength. We can also pray that the Spirit of God will go forth mightily to testify to the light of Christ.
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One of the themes of the Scriptures, including the teachings of Jesus, is the exposure of darkness. I
quoted from Luke 8 earlier this week. In Luke 12, we read:
1 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2 For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.
3 Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.
There has been some increased visibility this week from a pro-life perspective. The abortion issue was front and center in oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, as the abortion industry has been placed in the position of having to defend its opposition to common-sense safety standards for abortion clinics. And, hearing on Capitol Hill before a House committee turned attention to Planned Parenthood's sale of body parts from pre-born children.
A Daily Signal story quoted Committee Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee: “The weak, the vulnerable, those with no voice—harvested and sold—there is something going on, something that deserves investigating and that demands our best moral and ethical thinking."
And, there's news this week out of statehouses in Arizona and Mississippi, with bills advancing dealing with preventing tax dollars from being used to defund Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider.
Plus, the light of truth is being shown through a new animated video released by the pro-life organization, Live Action. According to the Christian Examiner, the new four-minute animated video that describes the gruesome details of a second-trimester abortion has gone viral, and it's changing hearts and minds.
The article, written this past Tuesday, says that the video has received more than 10 million combined views on Facebook and YouTube since its Feb. 23 release. It shows a former abortion doctor – who is now pro-life – speaking into the camera and explaining the abortion procedure in everyday language. He also shows the instruments that are used. The former abortion doctor, Anthony Levatino, performed more than 1,200 abortions before he had a change of heart.
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, refers to the video as a "game changer." In a press release, she said, "After years of investigating the abortion industry, one of the most common responses I hear to our work is, 'I never realized that's what happens during an abortion,'" adding, "Perpetuating ignorance is how the abortion industry stays in business. Today, we are lifting the veil and providing a window to the womb - during an abortion."
You can learn more at the website, AbortionProcedures.com.
Certainly, the light of truth is shining. Through media, through pregnancy resource centers, and other ways to communicate, God's Word concerning life is being transmitted. And, through ultrasound technology, women are able to get a glimpse of the life of their pre-born child. We can be thankful that truth about life, consistent with God's truth, is being powerfully shared.
And, this can give those of us who are pro-life a heightened degree of confidence. Even though there are those who are resistant to the message and may denigrate our point of view, we can know that God's Word is on our side, medical evidence is on our side, and the exposure of the darkness of abortion and abortion industry illustrates the culture of death that is embraced by those who claim to champion abortion.
A general principle for all of us is that we can rely on the Holy Spirit to expose darkness in our society and we can shine God's light into it. We can also depend on Him to expose areas in our own lives that don't line up with His truth and we can address them using the powerful tools of the Spirit to conform more fully to His will for us.
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