Letters From Grandpa #187

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 187

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with the healing of a crippled man whose hand was shriveled. (See Matt. 12:9 - 17). The Pharisees sought to entrap Jesus into healing on the Sabbath. They asked: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” Jesus pointed out that if their sheep fell into a pit on the Sabbath they would take hold of it and lift it out. He then added: “How much more valuable is a man than a sheep”! (Matt. 12:12). This truth ought to be obvious, but unfortunately, to many it is not.

Peter Singer, for example, is the Australian born Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. In 2006 he was voted one of Australia’s ten most influential public officials. He believes that a human life is not as valuable as the life of an animal. In fact, on June 23, 2015 he went on record as saying “If a house were on fire I’d save 200 pigs before saving one human child”. He believes that human babies are not self aware and are therefore not persons. Consequently, he concludes that the “life of a newborn is of less value than the life of a pig, a dog, or a chimpanzee”. Further, he believes that an attending physician should kill some babies on the spot and that infanticide should be an option until a baby is 30 days old. How sad that students pay thousands of dollars to be brainwashed by such professors.

Sadder still are the many kindred spirits who believe that Singer is right. Have you noticed that the most radical animal rights activists are also the very ones celebrating abortion. In fact, Craig Bannister reported on April 3, 2018 that the president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, pleaded for people to adopt a dog before it was killed by the humane society. Ironically, Planned Parenthood kills 113 babies for every child they refer for adoption. When a 4 year old child was being dragged around by a gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo, many regretted that the gorilla was killed in order to save the child. To put our values in perspective, over 60 million babies have been aborted since Roe vs. Wade but not one made the headlines. The death of one gorilla made the headlines all over America. How absurd! Killing an unborn baby is celebrated but destroying an eagle egg can result in a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison. Is a man better than an eagle?

The story of Randy Alcorn demonstrates the sad reality of how government promotes and protects abortion. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s Randy was involved in peaceful, non- violent demonstrations at abortion clinics. Randy was arrested, jailed, and then sued. Even though no physical damage was done to the clinics, one court awarded an $8.4 million judgement against Randy. Obviously the state of Oregon feels that killing babies is very important. To avoid having his assets taken he transferred them to his wife. When they attempted to garnish his wages he resigned from the church he started and had served for 13 years. Randy now lives on less than the minimum wage in order to avoid giving anything to those who kill babies. Randy is a best selling author but established a non-profit foundation to protect his royalties from the baby killers. In only 3 short years he gave away $450,000. Randy is not complaining! In fact, he feels that giving infuses his life with joy and interjects an eternal dimension into even the most ordinary day.

Our text was spoken by Jesus in a Jewish synagogue. As we have said, their desire to entrap Him resulted in the comparison between sheep and men. There is nothing wrong with rescuing a

sheep for the Bible teaches that a righteous man regards the life of his beast (Prov. 12:10). It is good to rescue a sheep, but it is better to rescue a man.

But let us take our lesson in priorities to a higher level. Yes! A man is better than a sheep, but a man’s soul is also better than his body. Jesus said it like this: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matt. 16:26). Jesus illustrated this truth with the parable of a prosperous farmer. He planned to build bigger barns to store his bumper crop but died instead. All of his earthly possessions were left behind for someone else to enjoy (Lk. 12:13 - 21). Shallow thinkers may have envied the farmer’s prosperity, but God called him a fool. When we die we too will leave all our earthly treasures behind for someone else to enjoy. As someone said: “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it ahead so it will be there when you arrive!”. Or, as the late Jim Elliott said: “He is no fool who gives up the things he cannot keep to gain the things he cannot lose”.

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce