God commands us to expose the deeds of darkness.

FAB undercover operatives obtained this e-mail that was sent to the parents of Liberty Christian Academy, which is essentially on the campus of Liberty University.

LCA FAMILY,

I have received hundreds of complaints about the abortion demonstrators who have recently occupied the space at the corner of Candler’s Mountain Road and University Boulevard, across from the Hardees. Additionally, the pro-life demonstrators are driving large vans with very graphic and insensitive pictures of aborted babies on the city roads around our campus.   While their goal of ending abortion is commendable, the use of graphic images of aborted fetuses has been jarring and offensive to me personally and to many in our LCA family.  Some have asked what we have done to protect their children, and I write to explain.

First, we must recognize that the First Amendment to the constitution limits what can be done to curb political speech on public property.  We have consulted with Liberty University administrators, our law enforcement personnel, and attorneys with expertise in this area and confirmed that the demonstrators are fully within their rights.  Of course, they can voluntarily stop demonstrating or move.  Therefore, we approached the group to learn how long they planned to occupy the corner and drive their vans and if they would consider moving to a location that would not expose our school children to the graphic images of aborted babies.  Unfortunately, they were unwilling.  We understand that they plan to continue their current demonstration until Friday, September 2.   

Please understand, I share your interest in protecting our children and protecting your decision on how and when you will introduce this important issue to them.  We have re-arranged bus routes, playground usage, and transitions between areas to keep the children from being exposed to these photographs while your children are under our control.  Thank you for your passion in protecting your children; I share this with you.  I feel privileged to lead a school where parents care so deeply about the innocence of their children.  As always, I thank you for your support.

Straight Ahead,

John Patterson
Superintendent, Liberty Christian Academy

There’s so much here.  Mr. Patterson said that hundreds of parents complained because their children saw pictures of abortion.  We have to wonder if these same parents ever asked either of these questions:

1. Mr. Patterson, what are you doing to teach my children the truth about abortion?  What are you leaving out?
2. How can we best teach our children never to kill our grandchildren?
3. Are we teaching our children to think this is just somebody else’s problem?

Aren’t those the more urgent questions?

We must compliment Mr. Patterson on one thing.  He offered perhaps the most astute comments by any Liberty administrator regarding our visit.  In his interview with WSET-TV, he said this:

Hopefully, our parents can turn this into a positive … to explain to our kids possibly what abortion is and take a pro-life stance.

This is really the point … to show students at Liberty University students what abortion is, so that they will be more likely to obey God’s commands to avoid killing, to be a voice for the defenceless (Proverbs 24: 11-12), and to teach other Christians to do the same (Matthew 28:20).  We are merely showing Christians what they need to know.  If Liberty were already showing age-appropriate abortion imagery inside the citadel, then it would become less important for us to show it on the outside.  We might go somewhere else.

Regarding high school and middle school students, if they are old enough to get pregnant and have an abortion without their parent’s knowledge, they are old enough to know the consequences of that decision.

Obviously, we don’t target young children with our pictures, but with all the institutions of society (including the Church) covering up the truth of abortion, we have no choice but to take to the public square. Otherwise, the killing will never stop.

Sarah commented on a previous posting where the issue of children seeing the images came up.  Here’s what she said:

… to the mom who says she doesn’t want her young children to see that I would say it is not our job to always shield our children from every unpleasant thing, but to explain it all in context of God’s Word.  Does she also shield her children from the gruesome truth of what was done to Jesus when He died on the cross?

I learned about abortion at a very young age and saw photos.  It made me pro-life and kept me sexually pure throughout my teen years as well.  My son is 4 and he also has learned about abortion.

It is remarkable when children see the images they remain calm if the parents remain calm.  If the mom explains what it is and allows the moment to be a lesson in the sanctity of human life, the children are fine.  But when hysterical, ridiculous moms and dads get upset, yell and carry on the children also get upset.

We live in a fallen world.  We cannot keep our children in a compound and shield them from every single thing.  But we can take valuable opportunities to teach them God’s values.  Shame on you “Christians” for attacking those who are defending children from slaughter.  God said not to hurt children because their angels behold the face of the Father in heaven.  What are you doing to help save children?

I believe this is the greatest sin of the church.  So many go to church, carry their Bibles and think they are good with God when in eternity they will answer for why they turned a blind eye as 53 million (and counting) children were torn limb from limb down the streets from their very churches.

Children are exposed to graphic images of violence all the time … on newspaper front pages, on magazine covers that are visible in the supermarket checkout lines, etc.  They even showed Schindler’s List on TV during family viewing hours a few years back.  Nobody objects because nobody feels guilty about their own complicity or complacency with respect to those acts of violence.  Many are guilty of complicity or complacency with respect to abortion.

What is worse, a born child being horrified by a picture of abortion or a preborn child being killed by the act of abortion?

You might ask if Jesus would ever put a graphic image on display where children could see them.  In fact, He did just that.  Jesus controlled every aspect of his arrest, trial and execution.  He arranged to have Himself beaten nearly to death before stumbling through the most crowed part of Jerusalem on the most crowded day of the year.  His bloody body horrified throngs of Passover pilgrims which included large numbers of families with young children.

He then permitted himself to be stripped naked and tortured to death in full view of still more passersby, including more children.  The Romans used executions to intimidate subjugated peoples.  They located crucifixion cites for maximum public exposure. Our Lord accommodated Cesar by going out of His way to make this disturbing spectacle of His death as public as possible.  And in the process, He chose as the very symbol of our faith, a bloody instrument of torture.  His point was to disturb us with the gravity of our sin but bless us with the grace of His forgiveness, despite the fact that many children would be traumatized in the process.  Did He get this wrong?

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