I began to hear the word again, faced with the political and legal debate of the issue in newspapers and on television. The scars from the old wound began to bother me again. But it was not torn gaping apart, demanding my attention, until I eventually heard the issue addressed for the first time from a pulpit.

• • • • • • •

Hear me, preachers and Christian activists! It is not the news reporter or the political editorialist who will convict the heart of the sinner. It is the declaration from the altar of God's church! It is not the gathered statistics and detailed reports of nameless victims, nor the threats of sexually transmitted diseases or AIDS, or the possibility of criminal conviction and imprisonment...but the Word of God, spoken from the broken and contrite heart, which will bring light into darkness!

It was not until I was faced with the church taking a real and forceful stand against my choices (which, in this case meant abortion, but in your case might be something else), that I was awakened to the need to face my actions as sin - not a political or social or economic issue, but SIN! Only God's Word has the power to reveal sin. Only God's Spirit has the power to convict the heart of sin. And only God's church will ever call the problem "SIN." If the church will not, certainly the editorialist, news broadcaster, and politician never will either!

There are churches today which plan their worship services and messages seeking to avoid the use of strong words like "sin, condemnation, and hell." These are viewed as negative words that cause feelings of rejection and judgment, turning people away from the church. I agree they are strong words, because they are words that identify the problem.

Too many people are sitting in churches literally bleeding to death on the inside from the wounds of their encounters with the world. The life God intended is slowly seeping out and away from them, as they continue in lifestyles which ignore His calls to goodness. Often they don't even realize they're bleeding. They are not even aware they're being suckered by the world. In church, they listen to the message of hope that's intended to lift their spirits and encourage them. It does. So, then what? They feel great, much better about themselves! So they now feel free to walk right back out into the world, into the same places, into the same choices, into the same lifestyle that had them DOWN when they walked into church!

Why? How can they do this? They can do it because no one spoke of those choices or that lifestyle specifically and said, "It's wrong! This is sin! You cannot please God, and do this! This makes God angry! This will ultimately lead to your destruction!" No one said these things when they were in church or among Christians. So, they continue to have sex. They continue to lie. They continue to cheat. They have another abortion. And...they secretly continue to have turmoil and pain. You say, "If they have turmoil and pain, why don't they change?" One of the reasons why they might not change is because they don't realize what should be changed. No one has pointed to their actions and said, "This is what is causing the pain! This is what is wrong! This needs to change! This is what you must ask God to forgive you for and repent of it!"