Author Archives: Anthony Baker

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About Anthony Baker

Husband, dad, pastor, artist, and musician. Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2006 (no joke!). Loves coffee (big time), good movies, and sarcastic humor. Holds a Doctorate in Ministry. Most importantly, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. All glory belongs to Him! Matthew 5:16

Dissecting the REAL Reason for Abortion

Yesterday, a story came out on FoxNews.com entitled “Women’s rights groups support late-term abortion, despite public outcry“.  In that story, the CEO of Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts ( a New York lobbying and advocacy group for Planned Parenthood), Robin Chappelle Golston, is quoted as stating the following during a celebration of New York’s new law:

We cannot overstate how important it is for all New Yorkers to have the ability to control their own bodies and determine their own destinies… ” Robin Chappelle Golston

I would like to dissect Robin Golston’s statement in an effort to answer a simple question: “What is the real reason behind such support for abortion?”

Image may contain: 20 people, people smiling, people standing, suit and indoor

From PPESA Facebook page

Image may contain: 4 people

From PPESA Facebook page

The above photos were captured from the Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts’ Facebook page, and both show the satisfaction and intense emotions attached to the signing of the new abortion law in New York by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. If you remember, even iconic New York City buildings were lit with pink light the same night.

So why all the smiles? Why all the celebration?

Now, to keep it fair, I went to the Facebook page of the woman in the middle of the lower picture – her name is Francis Fox-Pizzonia. She has posted articles saying all this third-trimester, baby-killing, infanticide talk is nothing more than scare tactics, and that nobody is going around happy and frivolous when they make the serious personal choice to abort.

However, the somber, serious tones of caring seem to ring hollow when I watch a video like the one below (WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND ADULT CONTENT):

If you actually had the strong stomach to watch the whole disgusting thing, did you listen to the little song at the end? Did you listen to her “prayer”? She said toward the end:

“I stand in my power… I’m grateful for the power I have to create and destroy with love. I have agency over my life and my body and my world.”

If you go to the website where the above video was published (ShoutYourAbortion.com), what you will see is a very common theme that runs through the titles of other stories women have shared. Some of the titles include:

  • “IT WAS A DECISION THAT ALLOWED ME CONTROL OF MY LIFE AND SAVED ME FROM A LIFE OF POVERTY”
  • “WE NEVER WANTED CHILDREN”
  • “MY HUSBAND AND I SIMPLY WANT TO BE CHILD FREE”
  • “I CAN SEE THAT I BELONG TO A TRADITION OF RESISTANCE AND BODY AUTONOMY”
  • “OUR LIVES WERE DEVASTATINGLY DIFFICULT TO MANAGE AT THAT TIME, I CANNOT EVEN FATHOM HOW MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN HAD I CONTINUED…”
  • “MY ABORTION WAS GOOD FOR ME AND MY FAMILY”

What is the theme of which I speak?

Oh, it’s found in the words of that sentence I was going to dissect in the first place, remember?

“…to have the ability to control their own bodies and determine their own destinies…”

You see, abortion has very little to do with the actual life of a mother – as in whether or not having the baby will kill her. What it is really about, what really drives the floats in the parade

(again, WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND CONTENT)

… is the selfish, one-sided, egotistic, pride-centered desire for women to have the ability to control their own bodies and determine their own destinies… despite the rights of others.

Abortion, unless done in an effort to legitimately save the life of the mother (not spare her from mental, emotional, or financial stress) is the pre-determined trampling of another’s rights and the taking of another’s life in order to further one’s own self-determined goals… which is nothing short of a violation of human rights and nothing less than first-degree murder.

Unless, of course, the fetus is nothing more than a “clump of cells,” a “spark,” a “tumor,” a “parasite,” or a “mistake.”

But if it’s a BABY…if it’s a PERSON…

For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. – Luke 1:44
I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou [art] my God from my mother’s belly. – Psalm 22:10

Some autonomous individuals are in for a rude awakening.

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Filed under Abortion

These Are the Glory Days: We Were Made for This!

The King James Version puts it this way:

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this. – Ecclesiastes 7:10 

The New Living Translation is a little more succinct:

Don’t long for “the good old days.” This is not wise. – Ecclesiastes 7:10 NLT

Either way, the point is the same: There are dangers inherent to longing for what was instead of dealing with today.

Below is a link to the sermon I preached last Sunday morning. I hope it encourages you.

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Filed under Christian Living, Church, current events, Faith, ministry, Preaching

Endurance: What We ALL Need!

The following video was recorded Saturday morning last week at the Tennessee Baptist Bivocational Ministers and Wives Retreat in PIgeon Forge, TN.

(BTW, I recorded this on my iPad mini, and at one point I dropped it… sorry)

This final message of the retreat, delivered by Roc Collins, was meant for us pastors and ministry leaders, but it’s a message that all of us should hear – more than once.

If you are facing a discouraging time, or if you are at a point when you feel you can’t go any further, I beg you to watch this sermon. If you are not encouraged, I’ll give you a full refund 😉

Seriously, this was a fantastic, uplifting and challenging message from which all of us can benefit, especially in this time we live.

God bless! Endure!

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Filed under baptist, Christian Living, Life Lessons, ministry, Preaching

Virginia Governor Just Affirmed Infanticide

WARNING: The following may be triggering. I’m angry. God help us. 


You can say that it’s no big deal, or that I’m just mischaracterizing the whole thing, you know, like the way the left did the Covington boys in D.C..

But if you can watch the video below and listen to the words of Governor Ralph Northam as he defends the Repeal Act and still think this man is being unjustly condemned, tell my why you are not living in denial.

Let’s go back and look at this, if you didn’t catch it the first time. The Governor of Virginia said:

“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he continued. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Correct me if I’m wrong (I’m not), but don’t many people believe that until the baby, the infant, has breathed its first breath, it’s not technically a person? This is the general argument given by many on the left, specifically those who support abortion. Some even use Genesis 2:7 as the foundation for their religious justification for abortion, claiming that the Bible describes a person becoming “alive” only after receiving the “breath of life.”

So what, then, does Gov. Northam mean when he says that the infant would be kept “comfortable”? And what is it about a DELIVERED INFANT that’s not a BABY? …AND, if I may ask, how does resuscitation come into play???

Guys, I’m not sorry to tell you this, but what the Governor is trying to describe as nice and caring and letting the parents and doctors make a right decision for them is nothing short of MURDER!

Abortions at any other time in the pregnancy aside, you can’t sit there and tell me that it is OK under any moral, ethical, or legal circumstance to birth a living, breathing, baby – regardless of its deformities – and then have a “discussion” over whether or not the child should live!

Oh, and the whole argument he makes about men shouldn’t be keeping a woman from making decisions about her own body – well, when the BABY is BORN it is NOT HER BODY! Never was in the first place, and it certainly isn’t when it’s outside her womb!

Anyone who can support a law like this should never condemn the Nazis and their concentration camps. Anyone who supports a law like this, knowing full well a baby could be born and allowed to die on a table (if not be directly killed by the physician), should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity.

THIS. IS. MURDER.

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Filed under Abortion

Chilly Weather Down South

I went out for a drive this morning.

The global warming is killing me.

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Filed under Weather

Friday Night Thoughts of Encouragement (1/25/19)

It’s Friday night in Pigeon Forge, TN, the place where Dolly Parton is famous, there’s snow on the Smokey Mountains, and legal moonshine is a hot commodity.

It’s also the place where every year at this time bivocational pastors and their wives come together for a wonderful and critical time of fellowship – the kind that says, “I know what you’re going through…you’re not alone.”

If you follow me on Facebook, you will notice that I shared some of the music and speakers live.

Below is a link to a powerful message, more like a charge to us pastors, by Dr. Randy Davis, President and Executive Director of the TBMB. (At one point I knock over my iPad – sorry)

But if you are a bivocational pastor in the state of Tennessee and you are not here, the real question is why aren’t you here?

I know that it’s not always easy to get away for a Thursday through Saturday, maybe even the Sunday, too. But my wife and I plan for this retreat every year because it is the highlight of the year for us. There’s barely anything else like it.

Unfortunately, so many pastors are loners. They think that getting together with other pastors is a sign of weakness, unless, that is, the purpose for getting together is a time to flex their preaching muscles or do anything that doesn’t include admitting you’re less than superman.

But I’m a little bit embarrassed for our own association of Baptist churches in our county. One association of Southern Baptist churches had only 12 churches, as opposed to my county’s 100+. Yet, that little association of SBC churches reportedly had 100% participation in this event, while only 3 pastors from churches in our association came! I was one of them!

They just don’t understand what they are missing!

To be honest, I came to this retreat with a very heavy heart and beyond discouraged. I was down, stiff, a little resentful, and a tad bit skeptical of whether or not this time the retreat would benefit me, my wife, or my church.

Then came the time for the first speaker to speak (at least the first one we were able to hear, because we came in a couple of hours after the whole thing started). He asked us all to turn in our Bibles to 2 Corinthians and stand as we all read the 1st verse of chapter 4…

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. – 2 Corinthians 4:1 NKJV

Without exaggerating, I broke down into sobs before the last word of that verse was able to be read aloud. God knew exactly what I needed at that moment…and I would even bet money I wasn’t the only one.

After some more music and some more preaching to the preachers, I found myself at the front, right below the stage, in a conference room with a few hundred of my peers, on my knees before God confessing my lack of faith, my lack of wholeheartedness, and the pitiful state of my spiritual weaponry.

And I wasn’t the only one who did that; it was kneeling room only. I’m sure the carpet was damp with tears when all was said and done.

And that’s what I’m talking about: Pastors and their wives from all across the state of Tennessee, just regular folk who work jobs and pastor churches, getting real. Getting real with God, and with each other.

We are living in a time when godlessness is taking over. The last thing we need is a bunch of discouraged, downtrodden, scared shepherds trying to watch over the few sheep they do have as the wolves are emboldened.

What we really need are more ambassadors of Christ, spiritual warriors of the Cross, who realize that though they may be surrounded by an encroaching enemy, the battle is not over! Surrounded by an army nearly twice his size, the truth of King Hezekiah’s words should be an encouragement to us…

“Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that [is] with him; for [there are] more with us than with him. “With him [is] an arm of flesh; but with us [is] the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. – 2 Chronicles 32:7-8 NKJV

Tomorrow is the final day of this retreat, and I’m looking forward to the blessing. But I’m also more encouraged than yesterday to attack hell with a water pistol when I get back home.

With me is the LORD my God to help us and to fight our battles – I am not alone!

I am unwavering!

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Filed under America, Christian Maturity, Christian Unity, Church, Faith, ministry, Preaching, worship

What Is “Organic Church”? Listen to the Sermon

Not long ago I posted the notes for this sermon. Now you can listen to the audio. 

I hope it’s a blessing and an encouragement. 

I also hope it helps encourage a more “organic” approach toward worship.

Click on the picture to listen.

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Filed under Christian Living, Christian Maturity, Christian Unity, Christianity, Church, Preaching

It Won’t Be Funny When God Laughs

I had just gotten home from work and let our furry family members outside to relieve themselves, when I sat down on the couch in our living room and turned on the television (I knew the dogs would take a minute). So, since I had some time to spare, I did some quick channel surfing.

In the matter of only a few minutes I encountered enough blasphemy that, had it not been aimed at Christianity but Islam, heads would be rolling in blood-soaked streets.

One show (“America’s Dumbest…”) featured a gay comedian sitting in a virtual church pew commenting on a stupid driver, saying, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the holy sh**!” That one shocked me, even from cable television. I changed the channel in disgust.

The next program (“The Nightly Show,” one I’d never seen before) featured a pseudo-newscaster commenting on Jesus’ six pack, the one showing while on a crucifix. Then, showing a fat version of Jesus on the cross, the mocking fool insinuated that Christianity would have never taken off like it did had Jesus not been so fit. If that wasn’t enough, he gave a wink to “church ladies” and said something akin to, “You know what I’m talking about.” This was all done, I came to find out, in an effort to keep us from laughing at fat people. Yeah, right.

I highly doubt the above comedians will ever be kidnapped, tortured, beheaded, or burned alive in a cage. Neither will the producers, directors, writers, or advertisers suffer any ill effects; they’ll just get laughs. Unfortunately for them, they may get laughs from God, too.

“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” – Psalm 2:4 KJV

“The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.” – Psalm 37:13 KJV

Ironically, I could have let our puppies do their business in the living room – at least they don’t throw their crap at me and expect me to smile.

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Filed under Culture Wars, current events

God Help You, New York

The governor of New York will answer to God for his vile leadership.

I will stand for the lives of humans – yes, humans – killed (murdered) in the womb.

Those who rejoice at this law are no less pathetic than the guilty mob who cried “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

They shed the most innocent of blood on Calvary. Now the next best thing is to lift up pink lights as they butcher boys and girls.

Yes, I’m angry. But I can’t do anything about it. Only God can.

And He will.

https://www.lifenews.com/2019/01/23/one-world-trade-center-lit-up-pink-to-celebrate-new-york-passing-bill-legalizing-abortions-up-to-birth/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-passes-abortion-bill-up-to-birth-due-date-if-mothers-health-is-at-risk-today-2019-01-23/

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/new-york-has-finally-updated-its-archaic-abortion-law.html

UPDATE:

The above portion of this post was written on my iPhone after I read the first of the 3 attached articles. It made me so angry that I had to write something.

Now that I’ve had a few minutes to let things settle in, I’m more emboldened to use this platform to un-apologetically state my opinion on this whole issue – the issue of abortion.

As mentioned in the Intelligencer article above, this new law that Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed was meant to bring New York into the modern era by taking abortion off of the “illegal” list. It was celebrated as a victory for women’s reproductive rights and a slap in the face to President Trump.

“We should not have a federal government that is trying to roll back women’s rights … This administration (of President Donald Trump) defies American evolution.” – Andrew Cuomo

Well, Mr. Cuomo, if this is “evolution,” then I hope I don’t live to see the day when we evolve into even worse animals.

Just this week I became the grandfather to an adopted little girl. Born premature, she weighed less than 4 pounds, but she was every bit a precious little baby as one born full-term weighing 9.5 pounds.

As I sat there in the hospital holding little Emma’s perfectly-formed features, the thought crossed my mind, “How could anyone rip this little girl apart limb by limb?”

That little granddaughter of mine had not even reached full term, the age which a baby is right before coming out of the birth canal, and yet, all because of “women’s health,” she could have been pulled apart like Thanksgiving turkey and used for spare parts by Planned Parenthood, and some of the same people approving of it would protest killing the turkey!

Folks, I am totally, 100% against legalized abortion on demand. Totally, 100% against it!

“But what about the health of the mother?” Yeah, about that. You know that’s nothing more than a season pass to “shouting out your abortion” festivities. “Oh, I might get depressed if I have to become a mother,” the woman might say. In reply the butcher says, “Well, dear child who will fund my next vacation, we wouldn’t want that living, feeling, human being inside you to affect your health, would we?”

People will always have to make choices of life and death, and it’s never going to be easy. Some parent is going to have to choose which child he can save from a sinking automobile while the other drowns. Some husband is going to have to decide on behalf of his comatose wife to sacrifice the baby they had been longing for in order to save the love of his life, and the both will have aching hearts for what had to be done. NEITHER OF THEM would be prosecuted or accused of murder!

But abortion is thinking to yourself as the car sinks, “I can afford to put one through college, but not all three, so….” THAT is MURDER! And YES, I believe it should be prosecuted.

Abortionists should go to jail.

A woman that willfully pays to kill her unborn child for any reason other than to spare her own LIFE (not her bank account or party life), should be prosecuted. Yes, I said it, and I mean it with all my heart.

Yes, I believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned. Period.

I’ve said before, and I say it again: The modern abortion industry is nothing more than a veiled, modern version of Moloch worship. Those who don’t consciously realize the demonic influence behind what they are doing may not recognize the religious similarities, but they are no less participating than the in-name-only Christian who attends church functions and gives to missions.

You may read this and think you have all kinds of arguments to shoot me down. You may want to bring up the “coat hanger” argument and how I want women to die. You’re either an idiot, brainwashed, or have never take the time to think through this while holding a premature baby.

Murder is illegal. People still murder people, even though murder is illegal. Should we change the laws so that back-alley murders would be less gruesome?

Abortion, if done out of convenience, especially the kind that women celebrate and “shout out” while cursing at churches and running nude down the streets, is murder. Yes, I said murder. Killing a human being that isn’t trying to kill you is MURDER. Killing a human being that has not been convicted of a capital crime or treason – and what crime has a baby done except inconvenience somebody – is murder. MURDER!

THAT is why I believe God is going to judge Governor Andrew Cuomo, the ministers who pray blessing over abortion clinics, the state legislators of New York, and Democrats and Republicans who support and promote abortion.

God offers mercy and grace, but only to those who repent. The unrepentant are running New York. God help you.

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Filed under Abortion, Uncategorized

How Do You Pronounce This Word?

Grand

The word in question is a compound word. The first part of this compound word is a word that means big, large, awesome, piano, and showoff… I think.

Let me check….

Grand
    adjective

  1. a  :Having more importance than others
    b  :Having higher rank than others bearing the same general designation
  2. a  :Inclusive. Comprehensive
    b  :Definitive, Incontrovertible
  3. :Chief, Principle
  4. :Large and striking in size, scope, extent, or conception
  5. a  :Lavish, Sumptuous
    b  :Marked by a regal form and dignity
    c  :Fine or imposing in appearance or impression
    d  :Lofty, Sublime
  6. a  :Pretending to social superiority :supercilious
    b  :Intended to impress
  7.  :Very good :wonderful

Yep, pretty much what I thought.

Not An Animal Foot

Some people pronounce the second part of this compound word in the same way they would pronounce the foot of an animal with toes and claws. They would say it like “paw.” Therein lies the controversy.

The actual spelling of the word is pa, and it could be pronounced “pah,” like in pot, ‘possum, or “Pa! Half pint just punched Nelly in the face!”

Personally, probably because of the geographic area in which I was reared, I prefer the “paw” pronunciation, but not the spelling.

Compounded

When you put the two words together what you have is something that sounds like “the most important, impressive, wonderful animal foot,” but the way you should spell it is…

GRANDPA.

How would you pronounce it?

Details to follow. IF you’re interested, that is.

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Filed under Family, Parenting