On this day... 100 Years Ago

Anthony Comstock, fighter, is dead. He was called Home, after a brief attack of pneumonia, on September 21, 1915, in the seventy-second year of his life. But his fight is not over. For it was God’s fight, not his. It is going on until there has been established a city into which,

“And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Re 21:27)

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When Mr. Comstock’s life story was given to the general public two years ago, it was interesting to study the reviews which appeared in journals secular and religious throughout the country. Many recognized the marvelous character of the man’s lifework; some followed time-honored precedent and criticized and ridiculed this Christian fighter. One newspaper reviewer paid a real tribute to the substantial character of the work that Comstock had done, but said that it was a glaring pity that his biographer had not dealt with the man and his work in a common sense way, instead of mixing the whole thing up with the religious views of Mr. Comstock,—as though religion had had anything to do with the real results that this practical man had accomplished! The biography, the critic felt, would have had much greater value if religion had been left out and the “real” and tangible facts alone had been set before the reader in an unprejudiced and normal way.

This critic of Comstock’s old-fashioned views did not realize that “if religion had been left out” there would have been no biography to write, no work to record. For the story of Mr. Comstock’s life is supernatural from beginning to end. He was a practical man because he was a religious man,—a Christian. The evils and the evil persons that he fought were terrifically real and practical. He knew increasingly as the fight went on that unless God’s supernatural power conducted the fight he would be overwhelmed by the human and devilish forces against him. When he faced such realities as unscrupulous men whose business and wealth depended upon his defeat, grafting political lobbyists who could swing legislation against decency, brilliant newspaper writers who could bring upon him a storm of public denunciation, together with such other concrete realities as sand-bags, infernal machines, smallpox scabs, revolvers, and murderous knives—he needed some really practical protection and power on his side. And he had it in God. Is it fanatical and foolish to recognize this, or does the folly lie in denying it?

In looking back over such an utterly exceptional life as Anthony Comstock’s, it is interesting to discover certain points that give us the secret of how he lived and worked and fought.

His life began with a Christian mother who made God and prayer and the Bible the great realities for her boy. Through her, moral heroism was instilled into his heart, his breath, his blood, from his birth. He learned to depend upon God and God’s promises.

 In his early twenties he got the beginnings of the vision that grew increasingly clear to him of what his life-work must be; and he never lost that vision.

Comstock was always a man of extraordinary ability. He made notable successes in various ways; there is little question that he could have been a conspicuous figure in the American business world. And that was what he had set his heart upon. But with his increasing vision of the need of stopping the obscene traffic that was ruining lives, he made an unconditional surrender of his life to the will of God; he gave up his personal ambitions and took God’s will for himself, no matter what might be the cost. This meant abandoning the business world, with the wealth and power in which young Comstock had already begun to prove himself; it meant throwing himself body, soul, and spirit against the powers of evil in the closest and most repugnant contact with evil. As a newspaper editorial has said in commenting on Mr. Comstock’s death, “Few men like to fish in a sewer all day long, or to make such a fetid pursuit a matter of a life routine.” But God called; and the revolting character of the life mission therefore weighed not at all on the other side.

Having accepted God’s call, he stayed by it to the end. Few men of our generation have revealed more astounding thoroughness and persistent perseverance both in the lifework as a whole and in each duty or adventure as it arose. A newspaper dispatch reported that on the morning of the day he died, while ill with pneumonia, he summoned a stenographer from the offices of his Society to his home and dictated memoranda on the continuation of his business. God can use a man who fights his fight through to the end.

Because of his unquestioning and complete acceptance of the will of God for his life and work, he showed a courage and fearlessness that made his life one long marvel to others. Weapons, threats, physical attacks of fiendish ingenuity and effectiveness, could not intimidate him. He quietly accepted God’s promise as a personal word to himself, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper,”  (Isaiah 54:17a) and went about his business letting God prove this to the confusion of his enemies.

We are to-day [Blogger's note: remember this was written in 1915]  living in a land that is comparatively free from open traffic in things that a generation ago were making their infamous appeal to the eye and mind of school children, of young men in business, and of older people; and this is so because Anthony Comstock lived out his life in self-surrendered and successful conflict with that evil. May God raise up others who shall fight as faithfully as he did.

[Taken from Outlawed! How Anthony Comstock Fought and Won the Purity of a Nation, available for purchase in our  store, in paperback, ebook and mp3 audio.] 

As Many Kids as God Will Give Us

We appreciate the Duggar Family appearing in our second film, BIRTH CONTROL: Is It Up To Us?.  Daughter Jill Duggar has announced her engagement to Derick Dillard.  This young couple has determined to wait until marriage for any physical activity and are leaving it to God to give them “as many children” as He desires.

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/jill-duggar-derick-dillard-kiss-marriage/story?id=23263776

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/jill-duggar-derick-dillard-kids-god-give-us/story?id=23273359

It is telling to see the public reaction to such statements.  Some even ridicule this commitment (which is actually the historic norm)… as if promiscuity and birth control are “rights”.  Legally in the U.S., they have become rights.  But, there is a higher law.

Happy 170th Birthday, “Uncle Tony”

Born March 7, 1844 in New Canaan, Connecticut, Anthony Comstock went on to become America’s most successful Christian social reformer. Read his courageous life story in “Outlawed! How Anthony Comstock Fought and Won the Purity of a Nation” and our new comic book, “Anthony Comstock, Fighter” due to be released later this month.

Here is an excerpt from “Outlawed!”  Available in our store  in book, ebook and audio mp3.

[Mr. Comstock's] love for children is not “academic” or in the abstract; it has a basis that nothing can ever take from him. A friend … recently had an interesting experience with Mr. Comstock on this side of his nature. He writes about it as follows:

I called at his office and introduced myself … It was twenty minutes before he came in, and then he was just from a legal battle, and with his mind full of two other pressing cases. Twice he interrupted our brief conversation to speak to an assistant about them, and I could not but know that I had chosen an inopportune time to break in upon him. Yet he was courteous, determinedly so, and made me stay when I quite insisted upon leaving.

The impression he made upon me was of a man of dominating, dictatorial, fighting spirit, but resolutely subduing his harshnesses, because he recognized his limitations and fought himself as fiercely as he fought any other adversary. A man, moreover, to whom religion was a very real thing. A man who would have fought well in Cromwell’s Ironsides, singing hymns as he marched to battle.

But now mark how my impression of him was enlarged:

I chanced to show him the pictures of my little girls … and instantly, with bewildering suddenness, at sight of their little faces all the storm and stress of which he was the center seemed to fall away. For a moment he studied the pictures delightedly; then impulsively drew out his note-book, handed me a little snapshot of himself, told me the circumstances under which it had been taken, and added: “When you get home, give that to your little girls, and tell them it is ‘Uncle Tony.’”

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At home I wrote him a brief note, which Grace and Muriel signed, telling him that two little girls in Illinois thanked their “Uncle Tony” for the picture he had sent. With that I supposed the incident closed; but in about ten days there came to them a letter (two closely typewritten pages) and a half-dozen colored post-cards, which this harassed and busy man had taken the time to send them. By way of acknowledgment Muriel sent him at Christmas time a little pin ball, of her own making, and a letter. A few days later there came to them another letter and a large and excellent photograph which hangs now, framed, in “the play corner.” They know it only as “Uncle Tony,” and that he is a friend and protector to all little children; but when they are older I shall tell them more about him and teach them to associate with that picture the lines of Bayard Taylor: “The bravest are the tenderest, The loving are the daring.”

Just think, I was in his presence less than twenty minutes!

BREAKPOINT's John Stonestreet Commentary asks HARD QUESTIONS

See today's BREAKPOINT commentary where John Stonestreet asks "Hard Questions" about Marriage, Same-Sex Marriage, and Birth Control.Mr. Stonestreet urges Christians to realize that "we have chosen to embrace [birth control] on the same terms of our hyper-sexualized culture. In light of the rush to completely divorce sex from marriage, hard thinking about contraception is long overdue. Let’s get started." He also says that historically, "marriage and procreation" were connected and that the modern "disconnection has become one of our culture’s default settings. How this came to be is the subject of a MUST-SEE FILM entitled “Birth Control: How Did We Get Here?” The film is the first in a two-part series, and nearly all of the people appearing in it are evangelical leaders."See the full commentary at http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/22333

MOVIEGUIDE Review

Check out our recent review by Ted Baehr on  MOVIEGUIDE®  of our first documentary, BIRTH CONTROL: How Did We Get Here?

Content:

(CCC, BBB) Very strong Christian, moral worldview refuting Margaret Sanger and the Communists, socialists, and others who have attacked faith and family; and, nothing objectionable.

Summary:

BIRTH CONTROL: HOW DID WE GET HERE? is a documentary that presents the truth and the blessing of God’s Creation mandate. It reveals the evil history of birth control and its destructive impact on the church, religion, and family.

Review:

The movie opens by noting that up until the 20th Century the church took seriously the Creation mandate in Genesis to be fruitful and multiply, and, therefore, prospered. Families are the Gospel in action. Then, the movie asks, how did we get to this place in history where society has turned against its future? 

In a fascinating expose, the movie traces the impact of Margaret Sanger, the neo-fascist founder of Planned Parenthood, from her early years of rebellion through her sexual feminism to her full-fledged Communist commitments where she notes she is vehemently Anti-Christian and anti-capitalism. Slowly but surely, Sanger re-defined the issues, playing upon the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh, and turned the world from family friendly to self-destruction. 

In this regard, this movie is must watching. The fall first of the Anglican Church and finally the evangelicals, the fall of the courts and the government, and the destruction of Christian, western culture is carefully revealed. 

Like any documentary, there are too many talking heads; whereas a movie should show, not tell. Therefore, the movie is more didactic than necessary. Also, the music sometimes strains too much to sustain the viewer’s interest. 

It would have also been nice to have some of those who have been most hurt by Margaret Sanger, the African Americans who have been devastated by her genocidal eugenics, to voice their position. As it is, however, BIRTH CONTROL: HOW DID WE GET HERE? does an important job of revealing a truth that everyone needs to learn.

In Brief:

BIRTH CONTROL: HOW DID WE GET HERE? is a worthwhile documentary. It opens by noting that, up until the 20th Century, the church took seriously the Creation mandate in Genesis, and, therefore, prospered. The movie asks: how did we get to this place in history where society has turned against its future? In a fascinating expose, the movie traces the impact of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. Slowly but surely, Sanger re-defined the issues and turned the world from child-friendly to a slaughter of the innocents. 

BIRTH CONTROL: HOW DID WE GET HERE? presents the truth and the blessing of God’s Creation mandate. It reveals the evil history of birth control and its destructive impact on the church, religion, and family, especially poor and minority families. Like any documentary, there are many talking heads. A movie should show, not tell. Therefore, the movie is more didactic than necessary. Also, the music sometimes strains to sustain the viewer’s interest. As it is, however, BIRTH CONTROL: HOW DID WE GET HERE? does reveal a truth everyone needs to learn.

When Contraception Was Outlawed!

Interested in a sneak peek of an upcoming product of ours? Make your way over to http://scottbrownonline.com/when-contraception-was-outlawed to hear what Scott Brown of the NCFIC has to say about our new book, Outlawed! How Anthony Comstock Fought and Won the Purity of a Nation.

“Having a baby stresses a relationship – it never fixes one.”

Here is short article jam-packed with non-Biblical advice.

• This articles sets forth the worldview of modern family planning.
• Family planning is normal.
• The couple may not be married.
• Premarital relations are normal, and even so while in an “unstable” relationship.
• Bickering and fighting in relationships is normal, but requires professional help.
• Babies bring more stress into relationships.
• Personal goals are more important than babies, even a frivolous trip.
• Educational goals are more important than babies.
• Career goals are more important than babies.
• It is normal for mothers to work, while leaving there babies to the care of others.
• It is fine to put off having a baby while you are young.
• It is acknowledged that if you want a baby, you can’t put it off as fertility declines with age.
• Babies stress finances, so it is risky to have a baby.
• Finances are more important than babies.
• Additional babies take away from time with spouse and the other children; babies may damage other relationships.
• One should write out the pros and cons of having additional babies.
• Spacing out children is a good idea; having them too close together is a bad idea.
• It’s unhealthy to have babies too close together.
• The personality of children already in the home are an important factor in determining if/when to have the next child.
• A couple tries to have, or tries to not have, a baby.

Two statements worth noting:

• Having a baby stresses a relationship – it never fixes one.
• While there’s never a “perfect” time to have a baby, you should wait for a “good” time.

http://www.everydayfamily.com/is-it-time-to-have-the-talk/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com

Facts on Abortion: Why You Can’t Be Pro-Life and Pro-Contraception

One of the principal goals of the pro-life movement is the end of abortion, and most within the movement recognize the necessity and desirability of strategies that seek to outlaw abortion alongside those that seek to reduce the demand for it.

Many remain ambivalent, however, about the use of contraceptives, even going so far as to accept or support policies that use contraceptives as a means of reducing the number of abortions.

This is misguided.  Contraceptives are the cause of abortion.  In fact, if we did not have contraceptives in this country, we would not have anywhere near the abortion rate we do now.  I know this is counter-intuitive, but it is only so because Planned Parenthood and other population control entities have been successful in spreading misinformation for so long.

Read More at http://www.cfmpl.org/blog/2011/04/04/facts-on-abortion-why-you-cant-be-pro-life-and-pro-contraception/

Medicating against Motherhood?

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As the Pill Turns 50, a New Generation Seeks to Rediscover Marital Chastity

By Robert C. Baker

Celebrated around the world, Mother’s Day is a holiday devoted to honoring motherhood in general and one’s own mother in particular. This Mother’s Day, mothers and grandmothers will receive cards, letters, flowers, candy, telephone calls, and even text messages from their children and grandchildren, who will shower them with love and affection. Mothers, after all, are those who have given us birth or who have adopted us and loved us as one of their own. However, this year’s Mother’s Day takes on a different hue and cast: it coincides with an anniversary devoted not to being a mother. May 9, 2010, you see, is also the fiftieth anniversary of the FDA’s approval of the oral contraceptive commonly known as “the Pill”—now the most frequently prescribed drug worldwide.

Read more at http://www.hausvater.org/articles/214-medicating-against-motherhood.html

Margaret Sanger Makes Time Magazine’s Top 20 Americans

The signs of a nation in collapse are exposed when the people appreciate what is despicable. They call evil good and good evil (Is. 5:20). The TIME 20 list includes many who are haters of God and haters of good. But this one person, Margaret Sanger, has been reincarnated for death hundreds of millions of times – death of live babies; death of babies to be; death of marriages; death of bodies and minds through STD’s and other curses of licentiousness. The heartache, the suicides, and the scalding and dismemberment of real humans is ignored for the idol of freedom to choose.

Read more at http://scottbrownonline.com/death-mistress-margaret-sanger-makes-time-magazines-top-20-americans/

The Real Risks of Birth Control Pills

As a physician specializing in women’s health issues I’m strongly opposed to advising women to take synthetic hormones for most of their adult menstruating years as a means to prevent cancer. While there may be some truth to claims that the pill could play a role in preventing certain types of cancer in some women, it also appears to increase risks of other cancers, and it has many undesirable potential side effects—including some that are life-threatening….

Read more at http://www.wellnesstimes.com/articles/real-risks-birth-control-pills?_mid=42212&_rid=42212.24707.282183

9 Worst Birth Control Mistakes

CAUTION: This article is somewhat graphic:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/04/03/worst-birth-control-mistakes/?intcmp=features

COMMENTS: Note the worldly mindset of this article.

• It does not mention God as the Creator of all life.
• It assumes that pregnancies are planned by man.
• Unintended pregnancies are to be feared.
• It does not assume the marriage bond.
• It offers no cautions or health concerns related to various methods.
• It cares not whether some birth control methods causes abortions or have abortifacient properties.
• It assumes total lack of self-control – since some birth control methods take a few days to start working – to that extent that one needs “backup methods” until it takes effect.
• The concept of abstinence is never mentioned.
• Even “more natural methods” are not mentioned.
• One must have multiple methods available at all times to be ready just in case.
• The extent of planning and research and care and caution required to avoid pregnancy is somewhat astounding.
• Planned Parenthood, the U.S. top provider of abortion services, is advised as a good source for more information.
• Birth control is assumed as a good and necessary part of the lives of all people

A Relentless Desire for Mastery and Control

The progressive fascination with eugenics largely ended with World War II and the horrors wrought by National Socialism. But while the West has discarded the theory of the eugenics era, the practice urged by Fisher and others — the elimination or pre-emption, through careful reproductive planning, of the weaker members of the human species — has become a more realistic possibility than it ever was in the 1920s and ’30s. Read the rest of the story at http://www.nytimes.com

Birth Control An "Unfruitful Work of Darkness"

In 1930, for the first time ever, the Church changed their view on Birth Control. This was the beginning of the rapid descent of the Church into modernism in the 20th century. Shortly after this disastrous decision, theologian and bishop Charles Gore authored a response:

"There is nothing really more astonishing than that in the course of nature a spiritual power so great as the production of a new personality, destined for immortal life, should have been entrusted by God to that in man which is so easily misled and misused as his sexual instincts and powers. But so it is. And the propagation of the species is in the order of nature judged to be of such importance that man is, like the lower animals, induced to it, with all its attendant pains and cares, by a desire more passionate and a pleasure more intense attaching to the sexual act than to almost any other kind of human action. But the justification of the pleasure lies primarily in its direction towards the end of propagation. This is assuredly the lesson of biology and the lesson of Holy Scripture and of Church tradition. Mankind in its willfulness has been always seeking to separate the pleasure from its end by different kinds of practices which have been condemned by the Church as unnatural. The Church has regarded Birth Prevention as sinful because....

Read Gore's full response to "Birth Prevention" at theanglocatholic.com/tag/lambeth-conference-1930

“Reframing” and what it has done for the Birth Control Debate

But, what’s in a name? How harmful can it really be?

Very.

As cognitive linguist George Lakoff noted in his book, Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, selective word-choice can be a seductive mind-game. Lakoff’s amusing example poses a scenario in which you are shown a picture of an elephant and then told to think of anything but one. That’s impossible, of course. Now take the term “birth control” and try not to think of birth. Or control. And whatever you do — don’t think of a baby!

Conservatives didn’t invent the term “birth control,” of course. That honor goes to legendary…..

Birth Control cuts greenhouse gasses?

During a discussion series on Monday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., speaker and activist Kavita Ramdas argued that contraceptives should be part of a strategy to save the planet, calling lower birth rates a “common sense” part of a climate-change reduction strategy. ... Read more:http://times247.com/articles/activist-birth-control-fights-global-warming#ixzz1rLmPNlLo