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Made In God's Own Image

Written by Dr. James Dobson | Jan 1, 2022 7:00:00 AM

Happy New Year, dear friends. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas season as believers around the world celebrated the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I never grow weary of hearing traditional hymns and reading scriptural accounts of His messianic mission. His coming brought hope, meaning, and salvation to mankind.

I want to turn our attention now to the sanctity of human life, which is celebrated each year during the month of January. A March for Life will occur again in Washington, D.C., and this year it will be on January 21. It is always a blessing to see tens of thousands of young people and many of their parents marching through the streets of our nation's capital in support of life. President Donald Trump addressed the crowd two years ago. I also spoke at this event during a deep freeze, and I was so cold that my mouth wouldn't move. I hope everyone figured out what I was trying to say that day.

To commemorate the precious gift of life this month, I hope you will read the text that follows of a powerful speech given by Dr. William Lile at a recent event sponsored by our ministry. He is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, and in 1999, Dr. Lile purchased the largest abortion practice in the Florida panhandle. He immediately stopped all abortions and abortion referrals at his hospital. Since then, pre-born children have been treated both medically and surgically.

Dr. Lile often says, "A patient is a person, no matter how small. We are all created in the image of God at conception, and abortion is a direct attack on that image of God. Healing can only begin with true forgiveness, which is only available through the blood of Jesus Christ."

You will find his message inspirational and informative.
 

Dr. William Lile

 

I recently gave a lecture at my alma mater, the University of Florida College of Medicine, and I asked the students a question. It was this: "If I have a patient in my office that was not born in the United States, but they need a blood transfusion or else they will die, do I have a moral, legal obligation to find access to a blood transfusion for them? And the students said, "It doesn't matter if they were born in the United States. They are patients and they need to be treated as such." I said, "Okay, well, what if it is something more expensive? What if it is laser vascular surgery? But this patient was not born in the United States. Do I have an obligation to treat them?" They said, "yes."

I said, "What if it's even more expensive? What if it's heart surgery, but they were not born in the United States. Finally, a very outspoken young man said, "Dr. Lile, it doesn't matter if they were born in the United States. We've been taught that a patient is a person, and is entitled to respect and bodily integrity." I said, "I agree with you, but there's one more detail that I left out. These are all my real patients, but the reason they weren't born in the United States is because they have not been born yet. They are still in their mother's womb." That young man's jaw dropped, because he had been painted into a corner by his acknowledgement of patients' rights, but he had never thought about the patients that are still in the womb. And after I concluded my talk, this young man approached me and he said, "Dr. Lile, I don't believe that there's a God…I'm an atheist." He continued, "But I'm a huge advocate for patients' rights." He said, "When I walked in here, my mindset was that it's a woman's right to choose no matter what…and we have no reason and no right to interfere with her choice. But I never thought about the baby in the womb as being a patient." And he ended with this: "You can't call me the big pro-life guy, but you just changed my mindset because if they are a patient, they are a person. And if they are a person, then they deserve protection."

At my hospital, we have provided blood transfusions to babies in the womb as early as 18 weeks gestation. They won't even survive on the outside for another two months. Why would such a procedure be necessary? Because at the moment of conception, the baby is a whole different person from the mom. Not only might they be a different gender, but they can have different blood types on the inside of the womb. And there are conditions where the mom will have antibodies and these antibodies can cross the placenta and start to attack the baby's blood, and if we don't do something, that baby will die in the womb. So we give the baby a blood transfusion. We might have to do this every four or five weeks for the rest of the pregnancy. If you're giving them a blood transfusion, does that qualify them as a patient? It sure does. And if they're a patient, they are a person. As Dr. Seuss wrote, they are a person, no matter how small.

And if they are a person they need to be protected. Who created life? I've delivered 4,000 babies, triplets, quadruplets. Did I create any of that life? No, not at all. Who created life? Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness."In Genesis 1:1, we read that God created the heavens and the earth. Well, what did that mean? That means all of the 200 billion stars just in our galaxy. The Hubble telescope shows there are 500 billion galaxies. And after all the mountains, all the streams, all the birds, all the fish and all the beauty on this planet, God said, "Now, let me really show you something impressive." He said, "We're going to create something in my image."

And that is all of us. Now let me ask you another question: If somebody hates the United States, why do they burn the American flag? They burn the American flag because it represents the image of the United States. Why does somebody commit an abortion? Because God Himself said that we are created in the image of God. If you hate God, you will want to attack that image of God. That's why this is a spiritual battle. It is an attack against the image of God. Here's another question: When does science say life begins? Remember, whenever science and the Bible don't quite seem to agree, science is falling behind. And you just give it enough time and eventually science will catch up to what the Bible says because the Bible is always going to be correct. Science now can prove that we are new life at the moment of conception. God created a shield called the zona pellucida, and as soon as a sperm fertilizes an egg, this shield goes up. There's an amazing depolarization of zinc ions to make that shield. And if you look with the right frequency of light, there is a flash of light at that moment of conception with mammalian cells. That is when life begins.

And when we talk about this person in the womb, we need to remember that if they are a person, they have rights. The 14th Amendment says, "Nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process." Throughout history, if you wanted to persecute one group, you would deny them personhood. We are getting to a point where that lie can no longer be told about children in the womb. Even the medical community says that all patients are persons. And if we are doing blood transfusions, heart surgery, spina bifida surgery, they are a patient, and therefore they are a person that deserves our protection.

You've all heard the argument for abortion, "It's my body. It's my choice." Well, half the time, first of all, that little body on the inside is going to be a boy's body. But in any event, that is not going to be part of your body. Babies can have different blood types. They have a completely unique DNA. They are a perfect mix between dad's genetics and mom's genetics. Mom is an amazing life support system, but this is not part of her body there on the inside.

Let's talk about a tragedy occurring today in the United States. The abortion pill is now available by mail order, and it's available via telemedicine because of all the things that have happened with COVID. It's called RU-486 and it is 98% effective in killing the baby in the womb for up to 70 days. It works by blocking a hormone called progesterone. Before COVID, we said that 39% of all abortions were performed with the abortion pill. Now with COVID, over 50% of all abortions are performed with the abortion pill.

So is there an antidote for the abortion pill? Yes! We just give them the exact same progesterone that their body produces anyway. And this is not just the antidote for the abortion pill. This is used in regular routine obstetrics all the time. If a patient doesn't have enough progesterone, we give it to her with a medication called Prometrium, which is bioidentical. And if we know in enough time, we can actually safely reverse the effect of the abortion pill with this antidote medication. We have a website, abortionpillreversal.com. We've trained over 500 doctors on these protocols.

I'm going to tell you a quick story. I had a patient who lived in Destin, Florida. She was nine weeks pregnant. And she drove five hours from Destin, Florida to Jacksonville, Florida to take the abortion pill. She swiped her credit card. She signed the consent. She got back in her car and drove west on I-10 back toward Destin, Florida. And somebody who was whispered to by the Holy Spirit had put up a billboard. The billboard said "Heartbeat at 18 days." It spoke to her. Another group was spoken to by the Holy Spirit. That group had put up another billboard on the other side of the road. And it said, "Your mom chose life. You should too."

She saw those two billboards and she was convicted. She took the next rest area and she looked up abortion pill antidote. She didn't know what else to look up. She found our website, called the number and spoke with a nurse. I got on the phone with the patient. I called the pharmacy. And I spoke with the pharmacist. "Hey, it's Dr. Lile. I need to call in Prometrium 200 milligrams." And there's a pause. And the pharmacist says, "Dr. Lile, are you trying to reverse an abortion pill?" I said, "Yes, ma'am, I am." And she said, "Oh my gosh, I'm so excited."

I said, "I want to put this on my credit card." She said, "I can't take your credit card. I'm going to take good care of her. And I'm going to pay for this medication."

How much did it cost? $109. Imagine that. You have a baby who has a 98% chance of walking to death. And we can buy back that life for $109. Compare that to all of us, where 100% of us were walking to death in eternal separation from God, yet then we are bought back. And what's the spiritual word for that? We are redeemed. We're bought back, not with $109 worth of Prometrium. We're bought back with the blood of Christ.

Did you know that in the evangelical church, 18% of all the members have personally been involved with an abortion? In the Catholic church, it's 24%. If we are not hearing the truth of forgiveness coming from our pulpits on Sundays, then how do we expect the message of forgiveness and the gospel to reach these people? You have healing. Healing only comes with true forgiveness, and true forgiveness only comes through the blood of Christ. So yes, we're redeeming these babies, but it's the message of the gospel that is redeeming these moms as well.

We have now documented over 2,500 successful abortion pill reversals that our group has already been involved with personally. We've trained 500 docs and we've traveled around the world. It's the message of redemption. It's the message of buying back. This is a spiritual battle, and it is all about the image of God. In Psalm 139, even though the psalmist didn't know about fetal development and conception and self-differentiation, he knew that God formed his inmost being and knit him together in his mother's womb.

In Jeremiah 1:5, God says, "Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you came out, I sanctified you. I set you apart to be a prophet unto the nations." God knows who we are. And He has a relationship with us while we are still in the womb, because we are created in His image, not when we're born, but at that moment of conception. And consider Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us." So God loved us all enough that He sent His Son. He lived a perfect life. He gave his life for us on the cross of Calvary, was buried, not just merely dead, but really most sincerely dead for three days, and then He conquered death and He rose again. And if we put our trust and faith in that, we can spend eternity with God.

And when God sent His Son who died on the cross out of amazing love for us, it wasn't just for those who had already been born. It was for those who had already been created in the image of God at that moment of conception. So if God loves the pre-born that much, should we dedicate our lives to protect the lives of these pre-born if God would do that for us? Absolutely.

I can talk about fetal development. I can show on ultrasound how we treat the pre-born as patients. And that is meritable, and that is one of the tools that we are giving you to protect and defend God's pre-born, but the ultimate answer is the gospel. It is the gospel message that changes hearts. It is the gospel message that changes minds. It is the gospel message that changes behavior. If we want to defend our nation, the shining light on the hill, we need to share the gospel. And that is what Dr. Dobson's ministry has done so well for over half a century, faithfully performing kingdom service to share the message of the gospel.

We need to follow the example of Dr. Jim and Ms. Shirley. Why? Because they have been faithful servants. When we die and go into the presence of God forever, we want to hear the same words that Dr. Jim and Ms. Shirley are going to be hearing: 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

God bless you. And God bless the United States."
 

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Dr. Lile is a very gracious man, and I can't overstate how much I appreciate his tireless efforts in protecting and saving our most vulnerable children. I also know that you, our faithful friends, have stood with us on this most critical battlefront for the unborn, and we must continue to fight. And by God's grace, we will prevail.

In that regard, let me share this final word. Perhaps you have heard that there is a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court that could significantly limit or even overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion in 1973. There is great excitement now within the pro-life movement that Roe might finally be overruled. The case being considered is titled Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health Organization. It examines a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks (with limited exceptions). Early predictions about the Court's ruling based on oral arguments are encouraging, although speculating about a ruling is always "iffy." It is time for Christians to be in concerted prayer about this matter. Millions of unborn babies, and countless more to come, remain in jeopardy.

Join us in that cause, won't you? Thanks for reading along with me this month.

Blessings in 2022 to you and your family.

 

P.S. I am always humbled by the gracious generosity our ministry experiences each year end. Last month was no different. Thank you for standing with us and the trust that comes with it. I do not take that lightly. God’s blessings to you and your family in 2022!

 

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