In a week of breaking news coming at us like a whirlwind, none is more important to me today than the verdict reached yesterday in the Kermit Gosnell trial. The jury did its duty, which was by no means a guarantee. Gosnell was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, and a couple hundred other counts dealing with the breaking of Pennsylvania laws regarding late-term abortions and other matters.

We now come to the sentencing portion. Will he get the death penalty? Keep in mind that those three counts of first-degree murder were only the ones that were formally prosecuted. Gosnell has operated his “clinic” since the 1970s. His horrific practices—killing children after they were born—is something that has been going on for years. Frankly, this makes him one of the greatest mass murderers in American history.

Christians who shy away from endorsing the death penalty have a misunderstanding of Biblical justice. The New Testament doesn’t change the principle established in the Old. The most sacred gift God has given is the gift of life. When another human being takes away that gift arbitrarily, without any good reason, he has broken a barrier that God Himself set up. Civil government, in its job of meting out civil justice, has an obligation to take the lives of those who have crossed that line. This is not contradictory; there is a clear distinction between the murderous acts of individuals and the responsibility of governments to bring someone to account for those acts.

So, yes, I favor the death penalty in this case. There are no genuine mitigating circumstances. This man is monstrous, and an example needs to be set.

Some commentators yesterday surmised that this might change the course of the abortion discussion in America and make people less accepting of it, after having witnessed the barbarity of Gosnell’s practices. I hope so, but I’m not yet convinced. The Gosnell case can serve a valuable public service if we are open to learning from it, but never underestimate the desire of people to simply avoid the issue and continue on as before.

This also points to the moral dichotomy that exists in the minds of our citizens. On the one hand, we are disgusted and sickened by the infanticide portrayed via Gosnell; on the other hand, if those babies’ lives had been terminated prior to leaving the womb, many would find no problem at all with it.

The only difference between the life of the baby in the womb and the life of the baby recently emerged from the womb is only a matter of inches. Both lives are equally sacred. Both are innocent. Both deserve the protection of society.

Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, more than 55 million American children have been slaughtered. This is truly one of the greatest holocausts in human history. War is horrible, but just compare the loss of American lives in all our wars with the number who have lost their lives through abortion. This pictorial illustration should make it clear:

So tell me, which one should concern us more?

If the jury decides on anything less than the death penalty for Gosnell, justice will have been short-circuited. Righteousness will have been diminished. What of mercy, you say? How merciful was Gosnell toward those innocent children? God extends mercy when man has a repentant heart. Gosnell is unbowed in his arrogance. He is a man with a seared conscience. He needs to serve as a testimony that this culture hasn’t turned its back completely on a clear understanding of good and evil.

I’m continually reminded of this short passage in the book of Isaiah:

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. . . ; who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right.

Evil has been clearly identified here. Darkness has been exposed. May the rights of the unborn be restored in our day.

Four people died in the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent manhunt. Four people died in the Benghazi terrorist attack. We had wall-to-wall coverage of the first, virtually nothing on the second, although that may be changing. Hearings this week will highlight whistleblowers who have tales to tell about this administration’s attempt to cover up its incompetence and failure to act. That failure seems to be the result of lack of desire to call out Islamic terrorism for what it is and to ensure reelection by shoving the event under the rug. As the pressure mounts for the truth to be known, how does our president spend his time? What does he consider worthy of attention?

The NBA player is being hailed as a “hero” for coming forward with a declaration of his homosexuality. It’s kind of an upside-down world when that is celebrated and a solid Christian faith is not:

Here’s another example of how backward we have become morally:

Meanwhile, the jury is still out on Kermit Gosnell. One has to wonder if justice will be served there, given the moral state of the country. Who are the jurors? Will they realize the immensity of the depravity on display? Four died in Boston. Four died in Benghazi. Thousands died at the hands of Gosnell. He is the face of the entire abortion industry, which has rightly been termed the New Holocaust. As with Auschwitz, perhaps we should make Gosnell’s facility into a somber reminder of our departure from the laws of God:

Yesterday’s post dealt with the ongoing Gosnell trial—the one many Americans have never heard of, thanks to the ideologically biased news media—and President Obama’s speech before Planned Parenthood, in which he pledged his unyielding support of abortion—without ever using the word, of course. Sometimes, the best political cartoons about an event appear after I’ve written about it. I think this one is particularly clear and direct:

I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe Obama is far more concerned about pro-life people than he is about terrorists, especially of the Muslim variety. Just look at his record throughout his life.

As for the Gosnell trial, which is awaiting a jury verdict, another cartoon captured the spirit of the pro-abortion Left and its media lackeys quite accurately:

Speaking of Mirandizing, the Boston Marathon terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was giving information to the FBI and all was going well, until the Obama Justice Department [rather an oxymoron, don't you think?] interrupted the interrogation to officially explain to the terrorist that he had the right to remain silent. He is now silent. All reports indicate the FBI was taken off-guard with this intervention. They were not told ahead of time this would be happening.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, had the opportunity this past week to review the materials that have been purged from the FBI’s training program. She came away concerned that the bureau is now going too far to appease Muslim-American groups. Due to a confidentiality agreement, she can’t share specifics, but she did say, “This is truly censorship by our government, the government purging itself of documents.”

The FBI began reviewing its counterterrorism materials after complaints from Muslim groups who were upset by comments linking strong Muslim beliefs with terrorism. So the bureau created a five-member advisory panel, which included three Muslim experts, to decide what to throw out. The result? Nearly 900 pages were removed from the training documents. We’re more concerned now with hurting someone’s feelings than getting at the truth.

In the wake of the Boston bombings, Attorney General Holder has decided to warn the country against retaliation against Muslims. Right. As if that has been a big problem. Americans are just so prejudiced and heartless, aren’t they?

Our problem has more to do with foolishness and lack of vigilance than it does with some mythical rise of anti-Muslim violence. We’re erecting our own gallows.

The Kermit Gosnell trial continues. The media were somewhat shamed into covering it, but that coverage appears to be rather sporadic. Neither are they giving all the details about the horrendous practices of this butcher/murderer of children. As I’ve said before, this is primarily ideological; the media is on the side of the abortionists. They won’t be interested unless they can see a connection to something that genuinely concerns them:

Planned Parenthood funds more than 330,000 abortions per year. Firearm homicides in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stood at 11,000. So which is more lethal?

Speaking of Planned Parenthood, that organization has another dubious feather in its cap now: for the first time in its history, a sitting president of the United States has addressed it publicly. Last Friday, President Obama gave a speech to this abortion giant, lauding its services. Funny though, he never once used the word “abortion.” What exactly did he say? Here are some of his comments:

No matter how great the challenge, no matter how fierce the opposition, there’s one thing that the past few years have shown, that Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere. It’s not going anywhere today. It’s not going anywhere tomorrow.

He’s tried his best to make sure of that, blocking any attempt to defund the organization. In his mind, by promoting abortion, he’s somehow helping women (except, of course, for all those women who die before they see the light of day):

As long as we’ve got to fight to make sure women have access to quality affordable healthcare, and as long as we’ve got to fight to protect a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you’ve also got a president who’s going to be with you fighting with you every step of the way.

That’s a fact. He’s proven that. He then aimed his barbs at those of us who seek to protect the lives of unborn children:

The fact is, after decades of progress, there’s still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century. And they’ve been involved in an orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women’s health.

This is the classic “you can’t turn back the clock” fallacy, as if anything that happened earlier is bad and all recent developments are “progress.” It’s the height of unthinking, irrational, knee-jerk emotionalism. In many ways, the America of 2013 is far worse than the America of 1950. All of Obama’s talk about protecting children is revealed to be quite selective:

We also need to keep in mind the poignant fact, ignored by the national media, that when Barack Obama was an Illinois state senator, he stubbornly fought against legislation that would have required doctors to give medical care to any baby born alive “accidentally” during an abortion. In other words, he has always been in favor of allowing newborn infants to die. Our president has taken a public stance in favor of infanticide. Is that perhaps why he has remained silent on the Gosnell case? He hasn’t been bashful about speaking out publicly on other cases where he spied a political advantage. On the slaughter of newborn babies, he has nothing to say.

Then, at the end of his speech, he had the audacity to say, “Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you.”

This is the kind of man we have put in the White House. This is the depth to which we have sunk.

As regulars readers of this blog know, one of my principal concerns is the manner in which the news media present—or fail to present—stories. A twin concern is the entertainment media, with its subtle undermining of Biblical morality in its programming. There are also times when the mainstream news media act almost like entertainment media. When it’s hard to tell the difference, you know we’re in deep trouble.

The events of last week with the Boston Marathon bombing and the subsequent chase and investigation of the bombers gave the media an opportunity to redeem itself. With the exception of Fox News, it failed miserably. If you followed closely what was proclaimed on many of the networks, you heard a variety of commentators practically falling over themselves in hopes that the bombers would prove to be angry Tea Partiers. The worst offender, naturally, was MSNBC, with Chris Matthews, as usual, leading the way. Disappointment reigned supreme when the bombers were revealed to be Muslims with ties to radical groups, perhaps even Al Qaeda. The networks’ theme was destroyed.

They also were adept at their other primary tasks:

Sometimes it could get rather comical, despite the seriousness of the story:

Meanwhile, the other massacre that should have held our attention remained in the deep background:

After all, in the view of the mainstream press, some stories really aren’t stories at all, particularly when they challenge their ideology:

If you still expect fair and balanced reporting from any of the major networks besides Fox, you’re living in a fantasy world.

Jim Wallis, one of the leaders of what might be termed the Christian Left, has now come out in favor of same-sex marriage. Ever since his days as a member of the 1960s radical group Students for a Democratic Society, which was grounded in socialist/communist philosophy, Wallis has tried to walk a fine line in an attempt to marry [pun intended] Biblical principles with a humanistic, atheistic worldview. It has been as spectacularly unsuccessful as the same-sex unions he now supports.

Wallis is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. He’s only the most obvious spokesperson for a phenomenon that threatens to split evangelicalism while it simultaneously destroys our Biblical basis for morality, law, and government. Can such views really coexist with what C. S. Lewis has called “mere Christianity”?

Genuine Christians can disagree on doctrine. They can disagree on how the Christian faith is demonstrated in society. There certainly is room for liberty of conscience. Yet when does liberty become licentiousness?

I disagree with Christians who espouse pacifism, but I don’t count them out of the kingdom; I merely consider them incorrect in their understanding of Scripture. I profoundly dissent from those who believe the government should follow policies of redistribution of wealth to achieve “fairness.” Many who promote this do so out of concern for the poor, yet they don’t realize how this vision of “helping” violates a number of Biblical principles and ultimately fails in its goal. They haven’t learned the lessons of history. Their hearts may be right in their desire to help, but all they accomplish is to spread the misery around.

It gets dicier when those who claim the name of Christ begin to advocate for positions that are directly contradictory to basic Biblical morality. Can someone really be a genuine Christian and promote abortion, or at least not be concerned about it? Is it simply a mistake when a professed Christian finds reasons to excuse homosexual behavior or is it rather a manifestation of a deeper rebellion against God’s call for holiness? I have my opinions on that, but, thankfully, God will be the final judge.

Thinking about this led me to a particular passage of Scripture, found in 1 Corinthians 3: 11-15. Here the apostle Paul speaks of how the Lord will judge the actions of His disciples:

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

The clear teaching is that in order to be a Christian, our foundation must be nothing else than absolute faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. As long as we have repented of sin, received His forgiveness, and are now motivated by His love, we are part of His kingdom. However, not all our works for Him have the same value. Some are described as especially fruitful—gold, silver, precious stones—while others are virtually useless for building the kingdom—wood, hay, and straw.

I submit that when those who seek to build God’s kingdom with ideas that undermine the very kingdom they seek to build, their works will be shown to have been nothing more than wood, hay, and straw. They will have done more damage than good. We should all examine our motives and our actions continually. I know I don’t want to feel shame when that “day” comes.

There are just too many stories this morning, so I’ll offer some passing thoughts on a number of them. We have to begin with the Boston Marathon bombings.

• Unlike many of the liberal news anchors [forgive the redundancy], we need to withhold our speculations on who is responsible for the attacks that killed at least three. There is no need to rush into accusations. Wait and see where the evidence leads.

• Apparently, all the pressure on the media to cover the Kermit Gosnell trial is working. For the first time, reporters from the major networks and newspapers have decided to watch the proceedings. That, by itself, is only half the battle; the second half is ensuring what they report is not skewed.

• In their heart of hearts, they’d rather be elsewhere, reporting on what they consider to be the breaking news stories of the day:

• Speaking of the media, we now know that there is no such thing as an illegal immigrant:

• On the healthcare front, it seems Obamacare’s true nature is being revealed—by its own supporters and those responsible for carrying it out:

• Then there’s the budget President Obama has presented, increasing the debt annually forever and ever. Amen. It even calls for all four-year-olds to be enrolled in school. Hey, it’s never too early to make the government one’s real family. Even though his new budget is a monstrosity, he continues to make ludicrous statements about his bipartisanship:

• Fortunately for us, his new budget is getting the same reception his previous ones received:

• I began with the Boston Marathon; I’ll end with it: May those who lost family and/or friends in this terrorist act find their true solace in the love of God displayed through His Son. May those who were injured in the blasts turn to the only One who can provide healing, both physically and spiritually, and comfort. May those in the vicinity of the tragedy who escaped serious injury come to the recognition of their mortality and how they might have to face eternity at any time, and may they turn from their selfishness and turn toward the Cross and the Empty Tomb. May those who were there and already know the reality of repentance and forgiveness, be God’s arms and hands in the midst of this turmoil.