An American Dream...

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In the United States, we all know that this is an election year. It seems like every four years people say, "This election is a decisive one, it's very important." And perhaps that is true. Choosing a leader for the U.S. is a huge decision as that position of power affects the entire planet.

The topic of most discussion this year seems to be the economy. Unemployment is uncomfortably high, housings prices have dropped and the US dollar is losing its value. These are problems that effect the average person and all of us want to live peaceful and secure lives. A worker is entitled to his wages. Work is a noble activity that transforms the world.

But is the economy or even national security the foundation upon which we choose our leaders? Or is there something more foundational?

As the election comes closer and closer we, the American people, must take a very serious look at what we are really supports the foundation upon which this great nation was built.

The Declaration of Independence famously states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

For the past couple hundred years, people have been coming to this country in search of a better life.

So many success stories of immigrants begin with a dream- a dream to escape poverty, a tyrannical government or to simply live a better life. These are the same dreams of our forefathers. The American dream is not redistribution of wealth, socialized medicine or a free handout. Americans work hard. We believe that anything can be accomplished with ingenuity, effort and a free market system. Competition makes products better, food safer and leads to people becoming the best they can be.

First and foremost though, is the dream to live free. Live. Free. The reason why this strikes a chord in our hearts is because living free is an eternal reality. Jesus came that we might have life and live it to the full. He came to free us from the slavery to sin and death. He came that we might live free.

Is America perfect? Absolutely not. Why? Because it is inhabited and governed by imperfect people. Nothing this side of heaven is completely perfect. Every culture on earth has room for growth and healing, just as every person on earth has room for growth and healing. America, however, is still a beacon of light for the world because of this eternal echo of peace and living free.

But I think we have to be honest here and ask ourselves if we really want to be free and what the impediments of peace are in this world. On February 3rd, 1994, Mother Teresa gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC. There, in front of some of the most powerful people in the world, she pierced the darkness of illusion and political correctness when she said:

"I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself.

And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?...

By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.
And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble.

So abortion just leads to more abortion.

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion...abortion which brings people to such blindness."

As Americans we go all over the world freeing countries from tyranny and helping countries in their poverty. Yet, at home, we legally kill our own children in the womb. We call it a "woman's choice" and a "procedure" but those are euphemisms to hide the hideous deed of killing an innocent child. Nobody wants to see an abortion or see what results from an abortion. It's too grotesque to even fathom. So we harden our hearts and as women we cry out "don't tell me what to do with my body." We buy this lie of "freedom-through-abortion" hook, line and sinker. And we are blind, so blind, because of it.

We pretend abortion is a political issue or merely a religious issue. When the topic of overturning Roe vs Wade comes up, people call it a "war on women" rather than what it really is, a war on children and life.

Because, you see, we miss a simple but critical point. Children come from sexual union. Children don't arrive like a cold on a winter day. They come from a union of man and woman. So, to curtail abortion means that people have to amend their sexual practices. Dr. Janet Smith in her Sexual Commonsense series mentioned that abortion today is necessary for many people because they don't want to order their sexual desire. If abortion wasn't readily available, people would have to re-think their sexual encounters. Many people think it is better to kill the children from the union than order the initial sexual desire.

The word "abortion" doesn't really even convey the magnitude of this issue. Those being aborted are people like you and me. They have destiny, a mission and a gift to give to this world. They are called to marriage and family and religious life and service. They are real people. And they are gone, known now only to God.

Since the legalization of abortion in America, we have legally killed over 50,000,000 children. They were innocent and we killed them. Let's not kid ourselves, their blood cries out to God. Their deaths do not go by unnoticed and we will all pay the price for their deaths. Why? Because we are all one family of humanity. Our sins and our holiness effect each other. We all affect each other. It's an illusion to say "what I do with my body is my business." On the contrary, what we do with our bodies affects everyone.

We can create 20 million new jobs. We can quell war in the Middle East. We can lower the unemployment rate. But as long as we legally embrace the killing of innocent children we will never know peace. We will erode our very foundation and cut our legs out from under us.

All of us must look within our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to come and bring to light the areas we need healing and order. We all want to live free and need the grace and light of God to do this, we cannot do it on our own.

The choice is ours. Do we support candidates that promote the killing of children or will we vote for those who respect and honor the gift of life? It's untrue to say that a candidate is either pro-abortion and qualified or pro-life and unqualified. This isn't true. Actually, is a person who condones the legal killing of children really qualified to lead the free world? They are missing the essential foundation of leadership.

America is an exceptional country. It is the land of the free and the home of the brave. It's an extraordinary experiment that has changed the world as we know it. We must choose a leader who knows this, and more importantly, lives this. Power and glory fade but life is forever. Let us choose life.