Daily Devotional for Monday April 4, 2005

Hearing God?s Voice over the Din around You

(I Corinthians 14:3; I Corinthians 1:10,13; Mark 3:24; 1 Corinthians 3:3; Jude 1:19; Titus 3:10)

?I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.? ? (1 Corinthians 1:10)

With the death of Terri Schiavo last Thursday, came an end to a sad and tragic 15-year saga that was played out over the last month before a worldwide audience. We pray for the Schiavo and Schindler families as they mourn the loss of Terri. With the Liveprayer office less than one mile from the hospice where Terri spent the last 5 years of her life and having closely followed the events and facts since it broke in 1990, watching the final chapter of this tragic story being written over the last 30 days has been very sad. Now that the incredible din of the past month has died down, I think it is important to take a few moments to hear what God is saying. This is also an important lesson for your life, since we often allow the ?noise? to drown out what God may be saying to us during difficult times we face along this journey through life.

God speaks much in His Word about the Body of Christ being one and not divided. Division is one of satan?s greatest schemes. Dividing the Body of Christ has been something satan has done since the very first church we read about in the Book of Acts and in Paul?s letters to the various churches. It grieves the heart of God to see His children fall into this trap, and no doubt He looked down with great sadness as those who know Christ as their Savior allowed the enemy to use the Terri Schiavo tragedy to bring division to the Body. Even though this sad saga had been playing out over 15 years with very little attention and the indisputable facts part of a voluminous public record, in late February I saw satan beginning to use this personal family tragedy to bring division and harm to the Body of Christ which led me to write the initial Devotional on this issue back on March 4th and the follow-up on March 8th.

In 67 months of writing the Daily Devotional every day, I have to admit that I personally saw the hand of satan in this story like none other. As you can imagine, with the Daily Devotional going to over 2 million subscribers worldwide every day, another 1 million or so who read it through forwards and posts throughout the Internet, I always receive emails each day that could only be classified as hateful. I am not talking about those who may disagree with something I have shared. There will always be disagreement on different issues. Daily people decide to cancel the Daily Devotional, choose to not support the ministry any longer because they disagree with something I have said, those are things I can?t control. Over these past 5 and a half years though, for every person who unsubscribes, another one or two signs up, and for everyone who stops supporting us financially, someone else starts, so I leave all of that in God?s hands. My job is to be here each day to provide Godly counsel to those who read the Daily Devotional as well as insure we minister to the 40,000+ people who come us for prayer that day while helping to lead the lost into an everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ.

According to our feedback, 80% of the responses we received supported Terri?s choice to not be kept alive artificially in the state she had been in for the past 15 years. However, a percentage of the 20% who were falsely led to believe she was being murdered sent some of the mot vile and hateful emails attacking me personally I have ever received since Liveprayer started. I expect that from cult members like the Mormons, the people who support killing babies, the pro homosexual folks, not from people claiming to be Christians! Worst of all, they claim to read the Daily Devotional! How anyone could read what I write each day and call me an ?agent of satan,? someone who supports ?death,? and no different than ?Hitler,? is beyond me. These people obviously never read my admonition in each of the Devotionals I wrote about this story to trust God in this while praying for Terri and all involved. It just showed me how satan was using this sad story and the incredible amount of misinformation to divide people of Christ. I can only forgive and pray for them.

The reality is, there was nothing that unique about Terri?s sad case. Every day thousands of people suffer accidents and illnesses that leave them in a state they will never recover from and the choice is made to not continue to live by artificial means. Rarely a day goes by here at Liveprayer that we don?t deal with a family in this situation. Many people reading this today have experienced this with someone in your family. Thirty years ago, a case like Terri?s never would have existed since people in her state were simply allowed to die. However, with the wonders of modern medicine we now have ways of keeping people alive by artificial means that in the past would die.

This is a great blessing for those who need that type of assistance while the doctors try to help them recover from whatever their medical issues are, but there are times when there are no more medical answers and the decision to not continue living by artificial means has to be made. I have yet to talk to one person that in such a state who wanted to be kept alive artificially. Let me add that according to every legal document I have seen in addition to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, a feeding tube is considered artificial life support. It is no different than a respirator, heart pump, or any other device designed to help a person live through artificial means. The last I checked, having your heart pumping, being able to breath, are just as important to staying alive as being fed and hydrated. In my initial Devotional, I shared with you the three real issues of the Terri Schiavo tragedy. One of those was the need for a Living Will. Again, with advances in modern medicine it is now possible to keep a person?s body functioning, even if they are in a medical state they will never recover from short of a miracle from God. It is good that there is a greater awareness that these are decisions people should make in advance, just in case they would sadly end up in such a state one day. This way your final wishes are known and you take an incredible burden off of your family from making these choices if you are not able to.

The facts of this case were very simple and easy to find out since they were all a matter of an extensive public record. Terri suffered from bulimia, an eating disorder that led to her heart attack in February of 1990 that left her without any oxygen to her brain for over 5 minutes. It literally caused her cerebral cortex to liquefy. Due to her brain damage, she was unable to eat or swallow and a feeding tube was inserted to keep her alive as her husband spent the next 3 years having her treated by numerous specialists to try and help her recover. In the end, all attempts at rehab proved fruitless due to the extensive damage to her brain and all medical professionals who treated her concluded that she was in a persistent vegetative state that would never change. Again, this was due to her cerebral cortex literally being gone and in fact her condition did not change over 15 years.

The rift between her husband and family came in February 1993 over the settlement money awarded from the malpractice suits brought in 1992. In July 1993, the Schindlers began legal action to have Michael removed as her guardian. It must be noted that at this time, Michael was NOT living with another woman, did not have children with another woman, and based on the guardian ad litum reports to the courts, had done everything possible in caring for Terri. (Nobody is condoning Michael?s choice to commit adultery and father children out of wedlock, but his ungodly choices in his personal life simply were another diversion of what this story was really about.) Over the course of the next 12 years, the facts and evidence of this tragedy would be heard by over 2 dozen judges and courts at every state and federal level, being brought before the United States Supreme Court 6 different times. It is critical to note that despite having the most skilled legal representation possible and the top medical experts, the facts of this case were never successfully overturned by the Schindlers who lost every single court case.

The media, especially the 24-hour cable news outlets and talk radio, for the most part did an absolutely horrible and irresponsible job of covering the Terri Schiavo story and their total misrepresentation and disregard for the facts played a major role in turning this into such a divisive issue. Also playing a HUGE role in the division this case caused were a few Christian leaders and activists who purposely or not, tried to turn the Terri Schiavo tragedy into something it never was. The proof of how bad they missed what this sad story was really was the incredible and tortured lengths they had to go to justify their incorrect characterization. They had to dispute and question every known fact of the case that was part of the public record for15 years, start making up stories that had no basis in reality, misinform people, create a carefully edited few seconds out of a 5-hour video that totally misled people as to Terri?s true medical condition (her reactions were reflexive not cognitive), and introduce fringe players who years ago been rejected by the courts as not credible.

At the end in sheer desperation, doctors were hired to give medical opinions without even examining Terri, a Republican Judge who loves the Lord and was part of the ?Christian Right? for years was lambasted and vilified to the point he had to have armed security, and several people were making wild claims about her condition that were not possible due to the fact her cerebral cortex was missing.

Politicians were even brought in to try and get around the rulings made by the courts. The Governor of Florida enacted a law in regard to this case in 2003 that was swiftly struck down as unconstitutional. Both the Florida legislature unsuccessfully and the U.S. Congress successfully worked on crafting unique and creative legislation in special emergency sessions to circumvent the rulings of the state courts they didn?t agree with.

The ?din? of the Terri Schiavo case was caused by many in the media, a few Christian leaders and activists, and some politicians who had a total disregard and ignorance of the well established facts that were litigated over 12 years as completely as any case you will ever find, people who did not even know Terri Schiavo until this case became a national media story a month ago.

Because of their ignorance and disregard of the facts, they attempted to make this case something it wasn?t which ended up causing a great division in the Body of Christ and in people in general. They introduced CONFUSION to this tragedy and we all know who the author of confusion is.

I love you and care about you so much. Terri Schiavo was NOT about euthanasia. It had nothing to do with that issue. Terri Schiavo was NOT about the rights of handicapped and disabled people, since Terri was neither. Terri Schiavo was NOT about the ?culture of death,? people in a medical state like Terri?s make the choice to die every day in this country, death is simply part of this human experience. Nobody ?killed? Terri. She died from her bondage to bulimia. Nobody starved Terri to death, the courts adjudicated it was her choice not to be kept alive artificially in a PVS.

Terri Schiavo was simply the case of a young woman, not unlike hundreds of thousands of young women today, who battled with an eating disorder. The second point I shared with you in my March 4th Devotional was this very subject since we deal with young women, and a few young men, every day at Liveprayer that are in this bondage. This was the perfect opportunity for a national discussion on this addiction so many young women are in, but due to the confusion and false issues that were being raised, that opportunity was sadly lost.

Also lost was my third point in sharing with you the real story of Terri Schiavo in early March, that being those who play ?salvation roulette.? Sadly, out of all the national Christian leaders I heard speak on this story, NOT ONE used the opportunity to tell people of the need to ask Christ into your heart and life today, not tomorrow. Only God knew for sure the state of Terri?s heart on that fateful February night back in 1990, but due to the tremendous damage to her brain she never had another chance to make a choice for Christ. You never know what the next minute may bring, and you simply may not be able to make that choice to accept Jesus. Let me encourage you right now, if you have never asked Christ into your heart by faith, the Bible says that TODAY is the day of salvation. Take a moment and ask God to open your heart to hear His voice, and read the words at: http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html.

I am praying today for healing within the Body of Christ from the division the Terri Schiavo case has caused! Those who tried to present this as a battle between liberals and conservatives, between Republicans and Democrats, people who are for life and people who are for death, and even Christians versus non-Christians, totally misrepresented the real story of Terri Schiavo and sadly ended up causing tremendous division in the Body. For those who are in the media and use this type of division as their normal shtick, you have to simply see them for what they are, entertainers. However, for those who represent the cause of Christ, we must always do everything we can to bring the Body of Christ together as one, not cause it to be divided. Watch for and pray against division in your church, amongst those Believers you fellowship with. Don?t ever allow the ?noise? of a situation to cause you to become so distracted that you cannot hear God?s voice.

I pray that whatever you believe about the Terri Schiavo tragedy, you will not let it divide you from those in the Body of Christ who may not share your thoughts. Satan loves to use whatever issue he can to keep the Body distracted and divided. This was a very sad story, but not unlike what thousands of people face every day, they simply don?t have t.v. cameras at their door 24/7 while they die. I am afraid that satan caused it to be a real distraction and source of division from the most important thing there is, the Lord?s commandment to bring the hurting and lost to know Christ as their Savior. May we remember this sad story in the future and not allow anything to bring division to Christ?s Body in a world that so desperately needs the hope and love of Jesus Christ.

SPECIAL THOUGHTS: The one theme that did emerge from the Terri Schiavo tragedy, was the issue of LIFE. A perfect example of satan?s hand in this were people like Jesse Jackson, Gloria Allred, and many politicians and others who spoke so eloquently about Terri?s life, yet these same people actively support and condone the slaughter of innocent babies! My prayer is that with the attention this story brought about the importance of LIFE, and even though the Terri Schiavo story was not about abortion there will be a renewed effort by the Body of Christ, Christian leaders, and politicians to overturn Roe vs. Wade and take the Federal Government out of the business of slaughtering innocent babies. While we were being distracted and divided by Terri?s story, each day 4,000 babies were being killed. There was no media covering their death, no activists demonstrating for them, no leaders speaking out for their innocent lives, no politicians holding special sessions trying to craft special laws to save them. May those of us who know Christ as our Savior make it our daily prayer and goal to overturn Roe vs. Wade NOW while we still have a chance.