Commentary

Reports have been circulating for some time that the Chinese government is promoting the macabre business of harvesting organs from living human beings for the purpose of transplanting them into persons for whom the Chinese Communists have higher regard.  Protest marches have been held.  Witnesses have exposed themselves to danger by smuggling information out of the communist nation. 

According to State Senator Angela Paxton (R-Texas), the evidence is more than rumor:

“We know this is true, we know it is wrong, and that it again goes to the very heart of destroying the dignity of every human being.” 

Her moral outrage led her to sponsor a resolution (since adopted by the Texas State Senate) condemning the practice.

An article in the Epoch Times reported that “prisoners of conscience – a majority of whom are adherents of the persecuted spiritual discipline of “Falun Gong”- are being killed on a “significant scale” for their organs”.  Apparently, the Chinese Communists then makes these organs available to desperate people at a huge profit.

The Texas Resolution calls upon the U.S. Government to do more to confront this barbarity.

That would be a great.  But the moral authority of the U.S. Government to challenge such horrendous practices in China has been greatly diminished by Joe Biden’s radical embrace of harvesting organs and tissue from aborted babies to pursue ghoulish medical experiments at taxpayer expense.  Honestly – what is the difference?

In both cases, the strong are destroying the weak in order to benefit the strong with the promise of prolonged life or cures to various maladies.  It is a kind of medical cannibalism.

We have written about this matter before.  Since the last posting, we have discovered that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a public statement condemning the Biden Administration for its new policy of partnering with Planned Parenthood in trafficking aborted baby parts:

“The bodies of children killed by abortion deserve the same respect as that of any other person.  Our government has no right to treat innocent abortion victims as a commodity that can be scavenged for body parts to be used in research.  It is unethical to promote and subsidize research that can lead to legitimizing the violence of abortion.”

That is a fine statement.  We welcome it, and pray for a greater uprising among the nation’s clergy.  But it fails to fully anticipate the great threat posed by Biden’s new policy.  What happens when universities and Big Pharma discover that they need more tissue?  More organs?  What happens when they develop therapies dependent upon a fresh supply of baby tissue?  It seems inevitable that we are on the cusp of going beyond the horror of reaping tissue from the victims of abortion.  Soon we could see these same powerful interests paying women to “grow” babies for the purpose of harvesting organs to meet an insatiable demand for “miracle” cures. 

The people of Texas should be proud of Sen. Angela Paxton for her leadership in exposing the criminal regime controlling China.  But, as they say, love needs to begin at home.

Governor Brad Little has signed HB302 into Idaho law.  This legislation is the first-ever bill considered by the Legislature to address the epidemic of abortions among babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome.  Some studies have projected that as many as 90% of Downs babies are being killed in the womb.

The bill is truly about the very least among us.

HB302 seeks to slow this tragedy by requiring the Department of Health & Welfare to include specific information about Down Syndrome in the state’s Informed Consent Booklet.  This literature is provided to women and girls considering abortion as part of the mandatory 24-hour waiting period in Idaho law.

Hopefully churches, pregnancy centers and other ministries will reach out to the Department to get their contact information included in booklet. 

We are betting that this modest legislation will have an outsized impact on the destruction of Downs babies, because most women facing this diagnosis were not previously abortion-minded.  Under pressure, fear and misinformation, women are being led into believing that these special babies are an unbearable burden, with little chance for a meaningful life.

Not only do we wish to thank Governor Little for his support, but there are a few heroes who stepped-up big time this session to ensure that this legislation got done.  Reps. Randy Armstrong and Kevin Andrus were critical supporters as the legislation was being developed.  And Senator Kevin Cook took the lead in ensuring that the legislation passed the Idaho Senate.

There is much more work that needs to be done in this area.  But this is a solid beginning.

There are so many difficult and enraging things being promoted by the Biden Administration that it is difficult to keep up.  And those things we notice likely fill most Americans with anxiety over the nation’s future.  So it would not be surprising if you missed Biden’s most gruesome action yet: He has issued an executive order encouraging the federal government to purchase aborted baby parts and conduct medical experiments using those same baby parts and tissue.  If the corporate media have covered the story at all, they have clouded it into a larger narrative of Biden reversing President Trump’s policies.

Let’s spend a bit of time developing the context and evil meaning of Biden’s action.

Remember the public outrage of just a few years ago, when we learned that Planned Parenthood was harvesting and selling aborted baby parts?  Congress called for hearings.  Politicians and bishops issued press releases.  The public demanded that public funding be cut off for America’s largest death merchant.  Other officials, including Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi, used their public power to shield Planned Parenthood from deadly political scandal.

Years have passed.  The disgrace and story have faded from the public square.  Planned Parenthood escaped unscathed.  In fact, the only penalties being levied are against those – like David Daleiden- who publicized proof that Planned Parenthood was trafficking in aborted baby parts.

But, today, we have the federal government becoming a willing partner with Planned Parenthood in monetizing the destruction of preborn children.  This is a new level of evil.

For a generation, the federal government has forced American taxpayers to subsidize Planned Parenthood under the guise of “birth control” and “reproductive health services”.  It has created programs to pay for certain abortions in limited cases using tax dollars.  But it has largely stood aside, as a rather neutral party, enforcing a woman’s “right” to kill her preborn baby – while not being an actual promoter of abortion.

Biden’s decision to engage in medical experimentation with aborted baby parts changes all that.  He is now actively promoting the notion that it is a public policy “good” for aborted babies to be harvested like a commodity and used in government-funded medical experiments.  The federal government, our government, has become a willing participant in the greatest evil of our time. 

There is so much more to say about this.

Let us briefly mention, however, that it is very difficult to see a distinction between America’s new embrace of human medical experimentation and that of Germany’s under the notorious Hitler regime.  Doctors and political leaders were tried at Nuremberg for their role in using the prisoners of Auschwitz and other camps as tortured guinea pigs.  America led the world in holding those barbarians to account.  Out of the Nuremberg Medical Trials came a new international ethical standard forbidding human experimentation without the express, informed consent of those participating.  Again, it was America who led the world.

Where has that America gone? 

Today, we have a president actively promoting the destruction of innocent human beings to supply the medical industry with the raw materials it cravenly demands to create new drugs and profitable treatments.  We have an America paying for, and promoting, COVID-19 vaccines produced with aborted baby tissue.  We now have an administration paying Planned Parenthood for the body parts of the human beings it destroys.  Friends, this is shameful barbarity.

Where is the outcry from our churches?  Where is the public outrage from leaders of academia or the medical profession?  Where are the press releases from politicians mimicking the moral pain of their constituents? The story is but a passing headline, hardly noted even by pro-Life organizations.

America has sunk to a new level of spiritual and moral darkness. 

Reverend Billy Kosco of Buckeye, Arizona has delivered one of the most powerful sermons we’ve ever heard on the Christian duty to oppose abortion.  He makes no apologies for his righteous anger over our tolerance of abortion and those who promote it.

Kosco is a Catholic priest at St. Henry’s Parish, outside Phoenix.  As he talks about his passion for the sanctity of life, he zeroes in on the great shame of a Catholic president promoting abortion and the desecration of young people.  Biden is only the second Catholic in American history to be president.  Yet the leadership of the Catholic Church is largely silent as Biden wages an unprecedented assault on the core teachings of the Church.

We urge you to watch this compelling testimony.  Here is a link:

Reverend Kosco’s message is not just for Catholics, but for every Christian in America. Please take a few minutes to watch this powerful affirmation of Biblical truth.

My wife, a retired school teacher, recently handed me a book from her treasury.  She wanted me to see a poem she spotted in the book.  The poem is actually an expansion of the Lord’s Prayer.  It was found by a Union soldier, hanging upon a wall during the battle of Corinth.

It is, indeed, a powerful poem and expression of faith.

But what really caught my attention was the book itself:  “Studies in Reading – Seventh Grade”.  Published in 1915, it still carries the penciled names of the students who were given charge of this treasure over the years.  Christie Edwards.  Charles Garvin, Jan. 1, 1918.  Archie Gilbert.  Wilma Markson, 1930.  It was used and re-read in the Pilchuck, Washington Public Schools for over twenty five years to train the minds and characters of America’s emerging generation.  The first students to use this textbook would have been in their mid-thirties when America faced the great threat of World War II.  But the latter students – Archie Gilbert – would have been of prime age to face a bonsai charge on Iwo Jima.

Thus we can see the books and curriculum used to prepare the Greatest Generation for the direst challenge in American history up to that point.

The book is about 400 pages long, and includes a wide variety of reading assignments.  There are great poems like “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” and “The Raven”.  We find that Lord’s Prayer, as well as “Antony’s Oration” from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.  There is Daniel Webster’s essay “Supposed Speech of John Adams”, and Alexander’s “The Burial of Moses”.  Dozens of short stories, essays, speeches and poems which introduce a fresh mind to the great traditions and values of Western Civilization.

Such a work would not, of course, be tolerated in the modern Washington state public school system.  For one thing, it offers several positive stories about George Washington.  For another, it boldly presents Christianity through poems like Phillips Brooks’ “Constant Christmas”.  And then there is the simple fact that professional educators would regard its wide range of reading material “too advanced” for today’s seventh grade student.

Perusing this old textbook, looking at the signatures of the once-tender students who were formed by it, I can’t help wondering where we might be headed as a society when we have given up so much.  This text helped prepare a generation for greatness – leading not just to victory over Nazism, but to the “American Century”. 

What will happen for a generation given nothing more inspiring than Wikipedia?

As most of America mourns over the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, with its loss of well over 60 million children, the new president announced plans for an more vigorous campaign to destroy preborn children. 

The Biden-Harris Administration has begun to make good on its many promises to the Abortion Industry by declaring that they will work to “codify” Roe v. Wade into federal statute.  What does that mean?  Well Ms. Harris told us during the campaign that she would push legislation to make it virtually illegal for states to even consider pro-Life legislation going forward.  What once seemed like an absurd attack on the Constitution suddenly seems like a viable threat.

Mr. Biden declared in his statement that “the right to choose [to kill babies in the womb] has been under relentless and extreme attack” over the past four years. 

That must now end.  And if abortion advocates have failed to win the debate over the past 48 years, they intend to use the police powers of government to silence the opposition.  That includes an effective repeal of the 10^th Amendment through legislative fiat.

Mr. Biden also made clear in his statement, released on the Roe Anniversary, that he will seek to destroy the Hyde Amendment and guarantee that taxpayers will finance abortions on-demand through the Medicaid program.  Those benefits will be guaranteed to illegal immigrants as well as low-income women and girls.

By one count, there have been 62,502,904 babies murdered in the womb since Roe was decided in 1973.  But even that atrocious number is a very low estimate.  What is really striking in Mr. Biden’s Friday statement is what is not there: Not a single suggestion of mourning or grief for all of that wanton destruction.  He no longer even pretends to seek fewer abortions; Biden has now become brazen in his embrace of evil.

Idaho’s Legislature returns to the Capitol today.  The hopes of many rest upon their shoulders.

There is a sense of an increasing oppression overlaying our country and state.  The heavy hand of government is disturbing.  The failure of our federal, state and local governments to operate in any kind of normal fashion adds to the general anxiety.  Companies and stores, taking their cues from various political and social leaders, too often treat customers as unwelcome intruders – rather than the souls who pay the bills.  Many governmental agencies won’t even meet us that far: taxpayers should simply leave a message or send an email.

We are watching, with a sense of powerlessness, the great dysfunction in our electoral system and the failure of our constitutional institutions to do anything meaningful about it. 

We are scandalized by giant social media companies attacking the free speech liberties of Americans – both the powerful and the lowly; apparently doing so with the encouragement of many in government, and seemingly without consequence.

There is much work to be done at the Legislature.  We have several bills we hope to enact which will help save more babies from the deadly scalpels at Planned Parenthood.  But our ability to be effective this winter depends upon a restoration of an accountable, accessible government.  We must pray that the Legislature finds the resolve and statesmanship to defend constitutional government; we must join together and encourage our elected representatives to help restore a functional society. 

Given the disastrous developments on the national stage in recent months, it is more vital than ever that Idaho leads by example in protecting liberty and constitutional principles.

May God grant our Legislature the vision and courage we desperately need at this hour.

As we begin an uncertain 2021, it is important to reflect on the blessings of 2020.  That is, of course, no easy task.  And yet it is most important in the midst of trials.

There is no reason to reflect at any length of the trials of 2020.  It was a year like none other in American history.  It began with a corruption of the Constitutional provision for impeachment; then proceeded to months of rioting and lawlessness in major cities, with Democrats rooting on their street activists from the bleachers.  And then there was Covid, Covid … and more Covid.

Leftists across the nation took full advantage of the Chinese Virus to manipulate and mangle election laws in order to maximize their chances to win the presidency.  As of this writing, it remains to be seen whether they succeed.

In the midst of such outrageous abuse of the American people, it is understandably difficult to find the blessings of 2020.  And yet, they are there.

We can be grateful for the courage and determination of our President, Donald Trump.  His leadership during 2020 will shine for generations.  He managed to keep America’s economy functioning during an unprecedented health scare, preaching courage and hope while most other “leaders and experts” worked feverishly to drive the herd into isolated caves.  He led efforts to provide the various states with health care equipment and facilities, while lashing the medical community to produce a vaccine in record time.  And all year, he defended our core values, the Constitution – while beating back a savage personal and political attack from the Left unseen since the days of Lincoln.

But we may also be grateful for the opportunities 2020 presented:

Parents and families were able to spend more time together.  And those same parents may well have learned a great deal about the failings and prejudices of our modern educational system.

We were able to gather in places of worship, after our right to do so was temporarily suspended in an initial over-reaction to the advice of our expert class.  Even now, religious liberty and the First Amendment are under assault across the nation.  But that, too, is an opportunity for gratitude – for it shows us in a most powerful way to better appreciate what we may have taken for granted.  Hopefully, the gathering together in worship of our Creator will forever more be less of a chore and filled with more joy as a result of what we’ve endured in 2020. 

In fact, 2020 is loaded with such demonstrations of our vulnerability to the technocratic state.  Going to work, to school, to the grocery store have all been impeded by a government apparatus few of us would have believed possible just a year ago.  For those with the eyes to see … this past year has shown how very fragile our Constitution and liberties are.  We have now seen first-hand that there is a whole army of political and cultural leaders determined to remake the nation and bequeath the next generation a European-ized version of America in which the freedoms to assemble, to worship, to own property, to work, to redress our government… to live … are no longer inviolable rights – but merely nice suggestions.

Let us be grateful for the mortal threats of 2020, and resolve to make 2021 better.  Let us pray that the new year will be one which sees patriots rising in defense of our heritage. 

And let us continue to beseech Heaven that the Lord will come to our aid and deliver us from evil.

Today is the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket on December 29, 1170. Thomas Becket was a statesman, a scholar, a chancellor, a priest, an archbishop, and a lion of religious liberty.

Before the Magna Carta was drafted, before the right to free exercise of religion was enshrined as America’s first freedom in our glorious Constitution, Thomas gave his life so that, as he said, “the Church will attain liberty and peace.”

…

Thomas Becket’s death serves as a powerful and timeless reminder to every American that our freedom from religious persecution is not a mere luxury or accident of history, but rather an essential element of our liberty. It is our priceless treasure and inheritance. And it was bought with the blood of martyrs.

As Americans, we were first united by our belief that “rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God” and that defending liberty is more important than life itself. If we are to continue to be the land of the free, no government official, no governor, no bureaucrat, no judge, and no legislator must be allowed to decree what is orthodox in matters of religion or to require religious believers to violate their consciences. No right is more fundamental to a peaceful, prosperous, and virtuous society than the right to follow one’s religious convictions. As I declared in Krasiński Square in Warsaw, Poland on July 6, 2017, the people of America and the people of the world still cry out: “We want God.”

On this day, we celebrate and revere Thomas Becket’s courageous stand for religious liberty and we reaffirm our call to end religious persecution worldwide. In my historic address to the United Nations last year, I made clear that America stands with believers in every country who ask only for the freedom to live according to the faith that is within their own hearts. I also stated that global bureaucrats have absolutely no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that wish to protect innocent life, reflecting the belief held by the United States and many other countries that every child — born and unborn — is a sacred gift from God. Earlier this year, I signed an Executive Order to prioritize religious freedom as a core dimension of United States foreign policy. We have directed every Ambassador — and the over 13,000 United States Foreign Service officers and specialists — in more than 195 countries to promote, defend, and support religious freedom as a central pillar of American diplomacy.

We pray for religious believers everywhere who suffer persecution for their faith. We especially pray for their brave and inspiring shepherds — like Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong and Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu — who are tireless witnesses to hope.

To honor Thomas Becket’s memory, the crimes against people of faith must stop, prisoners of conscience must be released, laws restricting freedom of religion and belief must be repealed, and the vulnerable, the defenseless, and the oppressed must be protected. The tyranny and murder that shocked the conscience of the Middle Ages must never be allowed to happen again. As long as America stands, we will always defend religious liberty.

A society without religion cannot prosper. A nation without faith cannot endure — because justice, goodness, and peace cannot prevail without the grace of God.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim December 29, 2020, as the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. I invite the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches and customary places of meeting with appropriate ceremonies in commemoration of the life and legacy of Thomas Becket.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fifth.

DONALD J. TRUMP

As we see the media engage in a 24/7 campaign to create a new reality, wherein Joe Biden is president, it is important for the faithful to resist the seduction.  Donald Trump won the election on November 3^rd, and may yet prevail to claim the presidency in 2021.

Let’s start with the proposition that Donald Trump did a superior job as president during his first term.  And not simply on the pro-Life front: Economic growth, foreign policy, race relations and managing the Chinese Virus were all examples of incredible leadership.  The president also deserves credit for running an incredible campaign against the highest odds and a frightening coalition of dark forces – from pretend Republicans like Cindy McCain to covert intelligence operatives to the corporate media and Big Pharma.  The power and effectiveness of his campaign against such forces is beyond doubt given the fact that he helped add seats to the US House, and protected the Senate Republican majority.  One cannot overlook the millions of voters he added to his totals over 2016. 

And that campaign brings us to this critical observation:  The future of the pro-Life movement, and the Republic itself, hangs on the outcome of the legal/political/spiritual battle in about 5 states.  Between them, those 5 states control 63 electoral votes.  And the cumulative margin between Trump and Biden – accepting for the moment the “official” results – is roughly 119,000 votes.  That is 8/100 of a percent of the votes cast in America for president.  Virtually all of them show a margin of less than ½ of a percentage point separating Biden and Trump. 

It is astonishing to realize that so much hangs on such a razor thin margin.

And much – too much – is at stake.  Obviously the lives of millions of preborn children are at risk if Joe Biden is able to shuck and jive his way into the White House.  But there are millions of lives at risk across the globe – Taiwan, Israel, Korea, Central Europe will all be tragically impacted by a failure to secure Trump’s second term.

And, for that reason, it is impossible that we should surrender.  We must continue to rattle the Gates of Heaven and seek the Lord’s intervention on behalf of those at deadly risk.

One cannot know how the Lord will respond or when He might intervene to rescue us from the blatant evil at work in this election.  We can only be certain that He is at work.

That said, there is reason to believe that the Lord may be allowing some of this drama to play out for awhile in order to further expose that evil and those characters eagerly sabotaging Trump’s defense of Israel, religious liberty and pro-Life values.  Indeed, this past week has offered many dark revelations about what a Biden Administration would look like.  As Democrats celebrate their “victory”, we are reminded of these verses from Psalm 73:

                “Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence…the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.  They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance, they threaten oppression….When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”

At this hour of national peril, we must stand strong and support the President’s bid to uproot the obvious corruption at work.  He appreciates that the threat to our Republic goes far beyond the outcome of a single election or person.

Let us be strong and await the Lord’s deliverance.  Join us in praying for the President, his family, and for the help he needs.