We watched a very inspiring music video proclaiming that God is the God of THIS city. I think we should show it at the Midpoint Rally! It had shots of the GR skyline, the PRC, 320, some churches, and then photos of children whose lives were saved when their mothers chose to decline abortion.
Jim informed us that last year alone 170 children were saved from abortion through the ministry of PRC. Praise God! Jim aptly described the juxtaposition of the PRC next door to Planned Parenthood and the Omega House next to 320 Fulton: he said it was Life vs. Lies.
Then we heard the keynote from Jeffrey Dean. He speaks to youth in schools and on campuses encouraging them to resist the Lies our culture sinks into their heads. Lies such as, "do what you want" or "sex without consequences" and many others. [Did you know that 25% of teens have an STD?]
He said that kids don't know that there is such a thing as Right & Wrong. They are encouraged to do what they want as if there are no consequences to the choices they make. What he describes is Moral Relativism.
Another inspiring speaker has famously denounced this threat to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and I was reminded of his words as Jeffrey Dean was speaking:
How many winds of doctrine have we known in recent decades, how many ideological currents, how many ways of thinking? The small boat of the thought of many Christians has often been tossed about by these waves - flung from one extreme to another: from Marxism to liberalism, even to libertinism; from collectivism to radical individualism; from atheism to a vague religious mysticism; from agnosticism to syncretism and so forth. Every day new sects spring up, and what St. Paul says about human deception and the trickery that strives to entice people into error (cf. Eph 4: 14) comes true.Let us remember that God is the God of Grand Rapids, and all statements to the contrary are merely static television, white noise, empty and false. Let us remember that evil began with a lie, a deception.
Today, having a clear faith based on the Creed of the Church is often labeled as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, that is, letting oneself be "tossed here and there, carried about by every wind of doctrine", seems the only attitude that can cope with modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires.
We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An "adult" faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceipt from truth.
We must develop this adult faith; we must guide the flock of Christ to this faith. And it is this faith - only faith - that creates unity and is fulfilled in love.
On this theme, St. Paul offers us as a fundamental formula for Christian existence some beautiful words, in contrast to the continual vicissitudes of those who, like children, are tossed about by the waves: make truth in love. Truth and love coincide in Christ. To the extent that we draw close to Christ, in our own lives too, truth and love are blended. Love without truth would be blind; truth without love would be like "a clanging cymbal" (I Cor 13: 1).
--Pope Benedict XVI in a homily, 18 April 2005
My godfather, a deacon in the Diocese of Lubbock, published a booklet called The Big Lie (he and his wife and children are all praying for us by the way, all the way from Texas), a response to pro-abortion propaganda. In it he describes the twisting, hair-splitting, conniving deceipt of those who claim to protect women's rights and well-being, when in fact they are doing just the opposite.
We must never for a moment believe that God will do anything less than bring about an end to abortion. Because that end is only the beginning. God has bigger plans for this city, and we are all very blessed to be cooperating with His Will.
Stand at 320 with your head held high: you stand with the God of this city!
