Make no mistake, legal suicide corrupts. Corrupts doctors who have taken an oath to do no harm. Corrupts a medical system that comes to think of patients as costs. Corrupts sacred bonds of a family, and the ties that bind generations. The fact that we are so willing to kill an unborn child, the fact that Obama, when in the Illinois legislature, would not even vote to ban partial-birth abortion should tell us something. The weak and the vulnerable are found at life's beginning and end and then everywhere in between. Where there is not right or wrong, there is only power; where life is not held as precious, it becomes cheap.

That's the story of salvation. We are given a glimpse in Abraham's willingness to put Isaac on the altar. In a worldly way, we see it when parents send their sons off to war. But what of those parents who say, "I just want my child to be happy"? I think we all get it, though that can't be the end all. There has to be something more. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Abraham knew that Isaac would live again, would rise from the dead. But then, don't we?

It’s Friday, July 4^th, 2025, in Washington D.C. and it has been an incredible journey. Our LCRL work started in 2017. From the start, our mission has been to bring a faithful two-kingdom voice into the heart of federal politics—a voice that limits the reach of government, defends the family and the Church, and upholds First Amendment freedoms so that God’s people can freely proclaim the whole counsel of God without fear of coercion or intervention to the contrary. For a time, threats like COVID shutdowns, the Obergefell decision, and the politicized coercion of DEI-LGBTQ mandates eroded those protections and weaponized government against those holding to traditional, biblical values.

That's how Marxism works. In the Communist Manifesto, it's the freeman and slave, the patrician and the plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman. Translated into the present, it's critical theory where it becomes a matter accumulating points. Score one for being a woman, one for being a person of color, one for being LGB, and perhaps two for being T. Count yourself as an enemy of the one percent, and that's at least a half-point. Such an odd thing, yet you gain a bit of oppressed status by including yourself among the 99 percent. Say you are an LGBTQ ally, another half point, and so on. Colleges have long operated this way, and many young people, young women especially, come home as trained Marxists.

If a couple came to me and said, “Pastor, we’d like to get married, and we’d like to do everything we can today to make sure our marriage ends in divorce tomorrow,” then I would tell them that the first thing they should do is move in together. Cohabitation is that destructive to marriage and family life.

However, the warning must not stop there. Because it is a form of public and intentional sin, cohabitation is particularly destructive to the conscience, and not just to the couple’s conscience but also to the conscience of the Christian community. Many couples view their choices as going no further than themselves. I would like to challenge this by considering some of the ways that cohabitation harms the broader Christian community.

That's the very least we can do. We have a lot of work to do. Blue states love abortion, want more of it, will never even speak against partial-birth abortion, much less children who, if born, could live outside of the womb. Red states are full of pro-life folks, many of whom would rather not push the issue. Abortion is the dark underside of our culture. What's a child in the womb worth? Nothing at all? Or is an unborn child dispensable? Is the child's worth totally dependent upon the mother? If a person is not loved, does that mean they can be dispensed with?

The story has many troubling aspects, not least of which is the parents’ decision based on inaccurate information about the child’s chance of surviving and thriving. But what troubles me most is that I encounter fellow Lutherans who have bought the narrative that it is better for babies with physical imperfections to be aborted rather than embraced and loved for whatever time the Lord allows them to live. I offer four problems with that mindset.

Abortion is a human right. So also is the right to ensure that children have puberty blockers and hormone treatment leading to mutilating surgery. Engage in debate, present the facts, and you will be shouted down by the mob. But that is a little child in the womb, a human being at an early stage. But you will hear only "My body, my choice." And if you take the argument further, you will hear more shouting, as the protestors screams and then repeats over and over again. What is a woman? There is no answer, but that doesn't bother the mob. Is there really such thing as a trans-child? How would you know? Might the child simply be confused? No answer, only the mantra, "Trans right are human rights."

There was a great wedding in Leipzig, Germany, in the mid-1730s. We don’t know whose wedding it was, and we wouldn’t think anything of it today at all, had not Johann Sebastian Bach composed a cantata for it. A cantata was a piece of concerted music, about 20 minutes long and split into various movements, made up of sung Scripture passages and poetic verses. Almost all of Bach’s cantatas end with a hymn stanza.

Think for a moment about which hymn stanza would best conclude a cantata at a wedding. What words should be echoing in the ears of bridegroom and bride as they prepare for married life together? Which would be best?

What does it mean that Adam was created in God's image? Surely this includes righteousness, as well as the ability to be in conversation with God. But then, the same could be said of angels, who are not said to bear that image. This image also looks forward to God's eternal intention to become one of us in His eternal Son, who is the express image of God.

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) will go down in history as the landmark Supreme Court case which redefined marriage in this country, granting same-sex couples throughout the land the right to marry. Keen observers have noted, however, that nowhere in the opinion of the majority (written by Justice Kennedy) is marriage itself ever actually defined.

“Savior.” “Lord.” “Son of God.” If you asked someone in the ancient world who these titles referred to, they might tell you “Jesus.” But depending on who you were talking to, they might also tell you “Caesar.” Modern readers of the Bible often miss the fact that some of the language the New Testament uses to talk about Jesus was also commonly used to talk about the Roman Emperor, who was not just a political leader, but someone whom people worshipped and even offered sacrifices to.

D.C. We have seen religious liberties for Christians now protected and defended rather than threatened and litigated. We have seen other constitutional protections undergirded as well. But sadly, we are also seeing a growing callousness to the issue of life, not just from a select group of secular elites, but even from American citizens who are religious. The Pew Research Center shows that while conservative Christians still see abortion as an illegal action against innocent Children in the womb, other Christians are beginning to support the “abortion in all circumstances” mantra in pop culture.  The abortion euphemistic cover of a constitutional “right to choose” has been properly litigated, but now the deceptive phrases of “reproductive freedom” and “women’s health care” has many callously embracing the killing on demand of innocent children right up to the moment of birth. Politicians and citizens alike are growing in their support of the outrageous notion that a child can be aborted up to the time of birth and even after it is born, as long as the mother and the doctor decide.

A blessed Good Friday, Easter morning to you all!!

One of my favorite recurring guests on the “Liberty Action Alert” is Cal Thomas. He is a clear-thinking, fearlessly-engaging, Christian voice in the public square. His columns and commentary always give “public” Christians a lot to think about as they try to live out their faith lives in the particular vocations in the world in which they serve. He wrote this Good Friday piece about 3 years ago,

I recently began a wedding sermon addressing the couple, “Your marriage is going to be tough! It’s going to be filled with conflict and suffering and sorrow and pain. And, if you do it right, you’ll eventually get to watch each other get old, have more pain, carry more grief and watch each other move toward death.”

Their eyes got as big as saucers, and their huge smiles started to waver. I paused for a bit with a very serious look on my face, because it is all, sadly, true. I then continued, “However, you’re about to enter one of the most beautiful experiences you can ever have on earth. You’ll have glimpses of heaven that most will never see. You’ll delight in the love of Jesus overflowing to you from your spouse. When you fall, you’ll have each other to speak words of forgiveness and renewal. Your joy will grow and overflow to everyone. And I can say this with certainty.”

According to Luther’s teachings about the Christian life, the good works God desires of us are carried out in our vocations. That is to say, the Christian life does not necessarily involve heroic accomplishments and dramatic deeds. Rather, God calls us to love and serve our neighbors in our ordinary interactions with the members of our families, our coworkers and our fellow citizens.

It’s easy to talk about your pro-life beliefs with your Christian friends. You’re all coming from the same source: the Bible. But what happens when you chat with friends or teachers who aren’t Christian, who don’t see the Bible as anything at all? How can you stand up for life in a pro-choice world?

Don't speak against abortion, though it will undermine everything you say about the sanctity of life and the Incarnation, our Lord who made His life in the womb. Oh, and babies will be killed. Don't be political and speak the truth of marriage, though God gave it for the sake of all children, so that they might have a mom and dad. Whatever you do, don't get into the whole male and female debate. Let the confused kids fend for themselves. Don't go out of your way, like some Good Samaritan to help them. Don't stand in the way of the predator wielding the knife.

“What is marriage?” It seems like a silly question. But it’s one our society is vigorously fighting about. For thousands of years, and for all of recorded history prior to the year 2000, societies around the world recognized that marriage was an exclusive relationship of faithful permanence between one man and one woman, who vowed to remain together until death parts them.

However, in a matter of a few short years (in the scope of human history), the institution of marriage has gone from being exclusively defined between one man and one woman, to being debated by society (it’s now at the highest court in our land), to consider if it might also be applicable to two homosexual men or two homosexual women.

“Trust not in princes?” Of course not. But be politically active to defend the unborn, remembering that the aborted child will never be baptized. Trust not in princes, though we don't really have princes, because the Constitution is what governs us. Trust not in princes, but elect the kind of people bold enough to ban males from the sports of females. Trust not in princes, but rejoice when our national laws are in congruence with the higher law. Trust not in firefighters, police officers, or soldiers, but work to create a system where they do their duty for the sake of the common good. Trust not in doctors, but find a good one.