CLC head offers prayer for God
to defeat cloners, abortionists
Significant MBC participation
at State Capitol pro-life rally
By Allen Palmeri
Senior Writer
January 24, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY–Rodney Albert, chairman, Christian Life Commission, Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), was typical of the speakers who came to the state Capitol Jan. 18 for the “Memorial for the Innocents” rally in that he came to make a passionate plea for the unborn.
Albert, pastor of Hallsville Baptist Church, was charged with reading II Chronicles 20:12-17 and reflecting on how Christians can muster strength to battle against human cloning. He began by describing the raw power of the pro-cloning coalition in Missouri. By comparison, citizens on the other side, many of whom were gathered in the Rotunda, seem outgunned.
“God called upon the people of Judah in Jehoshaphat’s day to stand still and watch Him work,” Albert said. “It’s hard to just stand still and watch Him work. In this case, we’re almost forced to do it. We have so very little to offer in this battle.
“But the passage also says, ‘You go down and assemble together.’ So the reflection on this passage is we will continue to be faithful to exercise our civic responsibilities and privileges. We will continue to influence and to urge, but in this battle, we must be especially zealous to cry out to our God for help.”
Albert then prayed for strength in the months to come as pro-cloning forces from Missouri’s academic, business, media and political sectors continue to press the attack through a ballot initiative to rewrite the state’s constitution for the purpose of protecting the controversial process.
“Forgive our foolish and vain imaginations that we know better than You,” Albert prayed. “Forgive us for trespassing on the sanctity of human life and trampling it underfoot. We, God, are often frustrated, and dismayed, and anxious, and fearful, but Your response is to walk with laughter. You sit in the heavens and laugh! Incline Your ear, O Lord, to this gathering. You laugh at the puny scorn of defiant men. You laugh at the haughty arrogance of those who disregard Your counsels. You laugh at those who gather themselves against You and Your glorious kingdom, for all power belongs to You.”
Many of the speakers on the 33 rd anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade United States Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion shed light on the human cloning issue, which is viewed as a new front in the pro-life war. More than 47 million unborn babies have been killed since 1973, but the threat of taxpayers being forced to subsidize the legal killing of embryos for the sake of therapeutic research is not only real in Missouri, the speakers said, it is an even greater horror. Only Christ can stop this threat.
“We are tired and weary,” Albert prayed. “So many battles have been fought—some won, many lost—but our cause is just. So rise up, O God, and let Your enemies be scattered. Come down, O Christ, and make this earth tremble. Breathe out, O Holy Spirit, that we might stand in awe of You and know that Your ways are holy and true.
“Give us victory in this new battlefront. Show us Your wisdom. Give us Your courage and guide us by Your truth, that You might be honored and revered in Missouri as You intended at the dawn of creation.”