• OPEN LETTER TO FLORIDA PASTORS

    FROM OUR PASTOR TO YOUR PASTOR

    broken image

    A Call To Fight

    On Behalf Of The Helpless

    Grace to you and peace from God our Father and The Lord Jesus Christ. I pray this letter finds you growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. As a fellow minister of the Gospel, I realize that the life of a minister is often pressed upon from every side, and I thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

     

    On the subject of time, 360 seconds is a comparatively minuscule amount. Although 6 minutes is a small amount of time, it is amazing what can take place in that short span. Some wonderful things can happen. You can brew a cup of coffee and drink it in 6 minutes. But there are also some atrocities that can occur in 6 minutes. In the state of Florida alone, there is a grave injustice that occurs every six minutes. It has been happening around the clock for decades now, and the frequency is ever increasing. It is a modern day Holocaust that is targeting the most vulnerable and defenseless of Image Bearers of our God. When it comes to this injustice, sadly there has been a deafening silence from the majority of pulpits in our land. 79,648 children were murdered in 2021, right here in the free state of Florida. That's an average of 6,638 babies murdered each month. 1,532 babies killed every week. 219 babies murdered every day. 10 children killed per hour. One Florida baby is butchered by abortion every six minutes. Some of these children are torn limb from limb, and others are assaulted through a chemical weapon of death known as the "Abortion Pill." Were these children a little older, and were their attackers a part of some totalitarian regime in a far away land, our military would likely be on the way to liberate them. But, it’s not the mode of their execution that is the key issue, it’s the mere fact of their lives being stripped away in injustice.

     

    We might not be able to hear their screams as we pass by abortion facilities that exist right out in the open in our society, but make no mistake about it, God does. Like the blood of righteous Abel in Genesis 4, their blood cries out for justice. Sadly, on days when I go to the abortion clinics to proclaim Christ in the public square, to rescue those being led to the slaughter, to provide options for troubled mothers, and to plead for mercy, there are no fellow laborers standing with me. If we truly believe that life begins at conception and if we truly believe that the injustice of taking an innocent life is murder, then where is the fitting outrage?

     

    What if the mode were different? What if the abortionists were using firearms? What if the abortionists were using the guillotine to execute 2 year olds in a strip mall down the street from our churches, what would our response be? Would we still believe that participating in a “Walk For Life’’ was enough? Would we still think that preaching one message a year on the sanctity of human life was enough? My assumption is that you would agree that our current response would not be deemed sufficient and God honoring if the circumstances were just slightly different.

     

    God has ordained the Church to be a light in the midst of this darkness. He has charged the church with the responsibility to be the conscience of the land. We cannot expect for the world around us to take the loss of innocent lives seriously if by our actions, we don’t. For the past 49 years since the Roe v. Wade decision, the collective response of the Church and our Civil Magistrates have been ineffective. “What we have always done”, is not working, nor is it honoring to God.

     

    We are now at the 600 word mark of this letter. That means that at even a moderate reading speed, one image bearer of God has had their lives taken from them during the time you have spent reading this letter.

     

    My primary concern is not the loss of human life. Abortion is an atrocity, but there is something that concerns me even more than the shedding of innocent blood. If the ultimate goal were the saving of human lives, I suppose one could make an argument for the incremental and pragmatic approach of the Pro Life Movement over the past 49 years. The issue of first importance is not the saving of lives, it is the glory of God and obedience to God. That means that what is needed is repentance. A turning away from sin in all of its forms, including the pragmatic and man centered methodologies of the Pro-life Movement, and a turning to obedience to God’s Word.

     

    What would that repentance look like? I’m glad you asked. As with all repentance that is brought to a person through the Holy Spirit, it begins with a change of mind. We have had the mindset for far to long, that we must settle for whatever the state is willing to give us. This has been seen in the wild popularity of the Heartbeat Bills that are attempts to regulate murder rather than bring an end to it. Why would Moses not accept Pharaoh’s offer to worship The True God in Egypt? Why would Moses not accept Pharaoh’s offer to leave, but not go very far?

    Why would Moses not accept the offer to allow the men to leave as long as others stayed?

    Why would Moses not accept Pharaoh’s offer to allow the entire population to leave, if they left the flocks and herds? It wasn’t because Moses was stubborn or mean spirited. It was simply because those incremental compromises would not honor God. God made His commands known clearly, and He would not accept partial obedience. Anything less than absolute obedience was no victory at all. The goal was not to rescue some of the Israelites, or to settle for Pharaoh’s terms. The goal, was honoring God. This principle is why I am an Abolitionist on the issue of abortion. If the primary goal was simply to save the lives of babies, there may be an argument for the incrementalism of the pro-life movement. But if obedience to God is the ultimate goal, only total abolition of abortion will do. I genuinely hope that things like heartbeat bills and half measures save lives. However , they are not praiseworthy. Just as God was clear with Moses, God has been equally clear with us. You shall not shed innocent blood. When the Pharaoh’s of the day tell us , “if there is a heartbeat, they may live”, “if they are 20 weeks, they may live”, or “if they are verifiably not handicapped in anyway, they may live”. We never settle for their compromise. Obedience to God is love for God. We must take up the prophetic role and speak truth to our congregations, and our culture. God is only honored by our actions when they are obedience spoken and lived out in Christ. We must have the mindset of free Ambassadors of Christ rather than cowering slaves. We demand the immediate abolition of all human abortion. This is what God’s law demands, and we cannot claim to be His ambassadors if we are seeking something other than what He is seeking.

     

    “Proverbs 24:11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” Jesus instructs us that the second greatest commandment, is the command to love our neighbors. Pre-born children in the womb are among our most vulnerable neighbors in our society. It is our responsibility to be their voice and to be their advocate.

     

    We are now at the 1200 word mark. That makes two image bearers of God that have had their lives taken away from them in our state since we first began the letter.

     

    True repentance should move us to action. As Pastors, we are charged to lead like shepherds rather than cowboys. Cowboys might shout and crack whips from behind, but shepherds lead from ahead. The model of course is The Good Shepherd Himself. We are able to follow Jesus, because He was the trailblazer that has gone ahead of us. Our rhetoric must change, but our rhetoric alone is not enough. If our actions do not follow our rhetoric our rhetoric will ring hollow and be ineffectual. If we believe that abortion is murder; the church must act as though abortion is murder, and the shepherds must lead the way. Get involved in the fight.

     

    Every church in Florida has an abortion clinic within driving distance. Women who have grown up and live in your communities are having abortions. On most days, they walk into those facilities to have their children killed uncontested by the church. Consider going to your local abortion provider to stand in the gap and plead and plead with these deceived parents. Call out to them to turn from sin and trust in Christ. The great commission is given in the context of the Church, but it is lived out in the world. Churches must see this ginormous need and adopt Abortion Mill ministry as an official mission of the Local church. We must send and support missionaries in our local communities. Worship is warfare, and we must take our praise and proclamations to the darkest places of our society. The gates of Hell shall not prevail against this Gospel boldness.

     

    The next action takes place in the political arena. This seems to be the area that is most contested amongst Pastors. Sadly, we have been conditioned by our secularized culture to privatize our faith, and to not speak out against the civil government. This is unfortunate, unconstitutional, and most importantly unbiblical. God’s law and God’s character is the perfect standard of righteousness. The Civil Magistrates are responsible to rule justly but “how will they hear without a preacher?” The scriptures describe the civil magistrates as deacons. As deacons, they will be held accountable for their service of God. It is cruelty to allow our leaders to go into judgement day unwarned and uneducated when it comes to God’s requirements of them. The Civil magistrate is charged with many duties, the chief duty being the protection of the innocent and the swift justice of the evildoer. Instead of justice and mercy our civil leaders are perpetuating injustice and malice against our reborn neighbors and protecting the evildoers. The Church must regain her courage and recall her prophetic voice to inform the moral conscience of the populace and the magistrate. We must call upon them to repent of their injustice and pray for Godly leaders. They do not carry the sword in vain, but the sword must be used to uphold righteousness and punish evildoers as God in His Word defines evil.

     

    The Civil Magistrates of our state and also at the federal level must not be allowed to continue to protect murderers and penalize the innocent. They must be reminded that they will give an account, and that with their authority comes responsibility.

     

    We are at the 1800 word count now. In the time it has taken you to read this, 3 image bearers of God have been murdered in our state.

     

    I realize that this is a lot to digest in the form of a letter. I urge you Pastor, don’t be silent on this issue, and lead the way for your congregation. If you would like more information on how you can educate your congregation, minister at a clinic, or engage with your legislators, please feel free to reach out to us. We are here to aid you in your endeavors to honor God and abolish legislation protected abortion in Florida and to honor God through obedience.

     

    Elder Brandon Elixson

    Grace Life Church Of Lake City

    352-226-1086

    ReformedBro3@gmail.com

    abolishabortionflorida.com

    endabortionnow.com 

    Pastors Adding their Names to this Letter

     
    Seth Tweeddale
    Grace Community Church
    1060 W Granada, Ormond Beach, FL, 32174
    Ormondgrace.com
     

    Download a PDF copy of this letter to distribute to your pastor/churches:

    Florida Protestant Pastors/Churches:

    Add your name and message to the letter.

    If you have been inspired by this letter to get more involved in fighting for the preborn, 

    please consider adding your own church's name and, if you wish, your own personalized message to this open letter. 

    Pastor Name *
    Church Name *
    Church Address *
    Select country/region
    Email *
    Phone *
    Church Website (optional)
    Message (optional)
// Required code