The old Clint Eastwood movie, ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’’ ranks as one of the best Spaghetti Westerns ever made and for some, it’s one of the "Greatest Movies of All Time.” As soon as I hear the theme song, I immediately make the connection with the title. Here is a link to a little entertainment nostalgia from the 60’s…
The phrase, the good, bad and the ugly came to mind as I was skimming the news this morning. The daily news is a mixed bag of those three adjectives with a lopsided amount of BAD and UGLY as opposed to GOOD!
Let me give you the GOOD NEWS I read first! Utah governor Spencer Cox on Saturday signed into law a measure banning gender-transition surgery for minors and indefinitely prohibiting hormone treatments. He believed it was wise to pause these permanent and life-altering treatments until more and better research can determine what the long-term consequences are. Governor DeSantis has promised to do the same in Florida and other states are starting to consider similar measures that will help and not harm our youth.
Just today, a friend told me her granddaughter was taking another step in her transition from female to a male. I wish I could have her watch Scott Newgent’s story and hear the deep regret! I recently met Scott on a zoom meeting with other pro-family leaders. This Daily Wire interview with Newgent is powerful and so is their groundbreaking new documentary “What is a Woman?” It exposes the lie that medically altering people’s biological sexes leads to happiness. This short interview is a must see!
States banning gender surgery and cross-sex hormones was the GOOD NEWS, but it was followed by the BAD NEWS. The overturning of Roe vs. Wade was a wonderful victory! But, did you know that preborn babies are at risk more than ever before because the use of chemical abortifacients has increased 120 percent? In addition to ending the life of an unborn child, the abortion pill, RU-486 poses serious health risks to the mom.
Joy Stockbauer writing for Family Research Council points out that as soon as the Food and Drug Administration moved to permit retail pharmacies to routinely dispense dangerous chemical abortion drugs with a prescription, the nation’s largest pharmacy businesses began tripping over each other to apply for certification. CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid have all formally applied to sell mifepristone and misoprostol. This drug cocktail starves children to death in the womb and then violently expels them, often into a toilet where they are flushed into the sewer. Young mothers are often traumatized as you can imagine.
As of now, some national businesses like Walmart have stayed quiet about whether they will seek to turn their pharmacies into abortion facilities. I think you will agree that this is BAD NEWS!
The next article I read was from our sister organization, the Massachusetts Family Institute and I ranked it in the UGLY NEWS category (VERY UGLY!). They revealed that Boston will be home to ‘Satancon 2023’ this April. Yes, you heard that right, a conference on satanism and here is an ad for it…
It’s not hard to imagine the negative effects that a conference focused on highlighting satanic activity will have on a city like Boston and the surrounding areas. Many churches are already responding with prayer rallies to counter this spiritual attack and we need to join with them because whatever happens in MA comes over to RI.
The Apostle Paul had to deal with spiritual warfare. In fact, in Ephesians 6:12 Paul says clearly that… “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places…” and it’s a good reminder for us today.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was a movie and it was fiction. The struggles we have to protect Faith and Family here in RI are REAL and failure can have devastating consequences. God’s answer to these issues is a strong spiritual life! Get back to church, read your bible and develop a daily prayer time. Here is a simple formula: PRAYER = POWER!
David Aucoin
Rhode Island Family Institute