Heal Our Land

"No to RH Bill" protest signs put up by pro-life students at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus

photo source

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain,
or command locusts to devour the land,
or send a plague among My people,
if My people who are called by My name,
will humble themselves and pray
and seek My face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
and I will forgive their sin
and will heal their land.

- 2 Chronicles 14:13-14

These past months we have been praying for rain.

Not a literal rain, but a heavy outpouring of spiritual rain.

For our nation is suffering from a spiritual drought.

And we are on our knees for God, the Divine Rainmaker, to have mercy and touch the lawmakers of our nation.

We have been praying the God will give them guidance and wisdom, and above all, a heart that will seek His heart before they decide in favor of the Reproductive Health Bill.

We are praying against the passage of this bill.

However, our hearts break as we are also aware that a large group of evangelical Christians are supporting and campaigning vigorously for this bill to be ratified.

The body of Christ here in the Philippines is divided over this important issue.

It has made me think these past days about the unity of the Godhead.

In John 17,  we read the beautiful prayer of Jesus for all Christians, "those whom You (God the Father) have given Me (Jesus, referring to Himself), for they are Yours." (verse 9).

One of His specific prayer is for unity - "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." (verse 21)

Does God have a divided heart over this issue? Can God be in favor of and also be against it, at the same time? I don't think so.

How grieved God's heart must be to see people who are called by His name, marching not only down the physical streets of our cities, but marching down the cyber highways of the various social media internet sites... with different messages.

What an affront to His holy name indeed!

His word tells us that when He shuts up the heavens, or when locusts devour the land, then we who call ourselves Christians need to humble ourselves, come together, and seek God's heart about this issue. And then after having done so, we need to have only one united stand.

Satan's modus operandi is to divide and conquer. Where there is division and disunity, the door is wide open for the enemy to come in and wreak havoc, discord, and destruction.

I try not to discuss political matters on this blog. But there are times when it cannot be avoided, and I am called to make my stand known.

So here is my position regarding the RH Bill.

I am not in agreement with it for the reason that it goes against my heart. It doesn't give me a sense of peace, but whenever I think of the RH Bill and its implications that our group has studied and sought God's wisdom for, a sense of dark foreboding fills my heart.

In our ministry, the Family Foundations International, we promote a culture of life and blessing. We want to lead families to establish a culture of blessing in their homes and churches and communities.

But this much disputed and controversial bill is not pro-life, even though its proponents blatantly say that it is. It secretly promotes a culture of death... and that is why I feel I have to come out in the open to use my little space on the cyber highway to speak what is on my heart.

Let the following issues be made known and studied. Then I encourage every one who comes to read this post to lift up a prayer in behalf of our nation. That is all I ask.


We strongly stand against the RH Bill for the following reasons:

1.   It will wittingly or unwittingly promote, if not legalize, the killing of the unborn at conception, in violation of the Bible and our Constitution.

HB 4244, The Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Bill, the consolidated version of all Reproductive Health (RH) Bills, proposes in Section 3 (e) that the State shall “promote without bias all natural and modern methods of family planning that are medically safe and legal.”

In the market right now, at least five (5) drugs and devices have abortive functions (they prevent the zygote, that is, the already unionized sperm and egg, also known as the fertilized ovum, from reaching and being implanted in the uterus, so that it will just die and be expelled.)  These are depoprovera, RU 486, IUD, Norplant, and the morning after pill.

This is clearly killing a human life.  The Bible teaches that a fertilized egg (the union of the sperm and the egg) is already human life.

 Your hands have made me and fashioned me,

An intricate unity...

- Job 10:8

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

  - Psalm 139:13, 14

 Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
- Psalm 51:5, 6
 

The flushing out of a fertilized egg by drug or device is abortion.  The blood of the poor innocents on the skirts of a nation is one of the surest ways of cursing a land.

Also on your skirts is found

The blood of the lives of the poor innocents.

I have not found it by secret search,

But plainly on all these things.

- Jeremiah 2:34

It also violates Section 12, Art. II, of the 1987 Constitution which guarantees the protection of the life of the unborn at conception, equally with the life of the mother.

2.   It will escalate and promote immorality, because it calls for the distribution of free condoms, IUDs, etc., in public schools and barangays without need of parental knowledge, consent or advice.

3.   It will teach “sexuality education” beginning at grade 5, with emphasis on sex as a universal human right, even outside of the framework of marriage.

4.   It will weaken, if not destroy, marriage because it gives any partner a right to avail of any artificial method of birth control (prevention of pregnancy) without need of spousal knowledge or consent.

5.   It will weaken parental authority because under the Bill, the youth can avail of free artificial methods of birth control which the government will distribute or make available, either as free, or as over-the counter, drugs (meaning, without need of doctor’s prescription), without requiring them to seek parental consent before doing so.

6.   It will trample on freedom of conscience because it will require all health care providers to inform and administer any of these methods, drugs and devices of birth control, and in cases of refusal on religious grounds or conscience, they are still required to refer the patient or person to a doctor, clinic, institution or person that administers these services. Refusing to do so is punishable by imprisonment of six months or a fine of Php 50,000.

7.   It will pave the way for gay, lesbian, and homosexual unions and “marriages” in the future, because it already guarantees the right of every person for respect and against discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, or gender-preference.

8.   It will threaten the most precious resource of a nation, that is, its people or future generations.  (In the Bible, the population of a nation is the glory of the king or the prince.)

In the multitude of people is a king's honor,

But in the lack of people is the downfall of a prince.

- Proverbs 14:28

It must be noted that rigorous population control legislations like the RH Bill imposed in so-called Christian nations or democracies will effectively reduce Christian populations, while leaving other religious populations like Islam to grow unabated because they do not approve of RH bill or similar measures.

9.   It is harmful to women.  Overwhelming studies have shown that drugs and devices of artificial methods of pregnancy or birth control have resulted in much higher incidences of cancer among women.

10.  The government should pay attention to the top ten killer diseases of the country. Reproductive-related diseases and/or deaths are not in the top ten. (See 2006 report of the World Health Organization in the Philippines).

11.  The surest way of addressing poverty is education and job-generation or employment promotion, not the killing of the unborn at conception. (See ADB report entitled “Key Indicators for Asia and Pacific 2010").

12.  The RH Bill has not prevented sexually-transmissible diseases from escalating in Thailand, which has even more stringent similar RH measures in place.

This is what we believe:

If we want this country to be spared from divine judgment, if we are to stop a curse from attaching to this land, if this nation is to be blessed, we must do everything in our power by God’s grace to see to it that the RH Bill is not ratified and passed into law.

Father I pray that you will open the hearts of everyone who has the power to pass the laws or to influence the lawmakers and public opinion.

Remove the veil of blindness over our people. Come and reign in our midst as we bow down to worship You and You alone. May our unborn never be sacrificed at the altars of the false God called Convenience, or Success, or Materialism, or Apathy, or Greed. 

May we never give the spirit of death any legal ground to gain access into our land. Protect our present and future generations.

You are our Sovereign God... seated on the eternal throne, and we plead before You now, to please spare our nation from the evil schemes and demonic assignments coming from the Kingdom of Darkness.

Let Your bright light of life and hope shine over our nation, dear Lord. Sun of Righteousness come with healing in Your wings!