Fame, fortune, and power stand at the top of the heap when it comes to what we call success. Most peculiar of these is fame. It seems the rule, which is rarely spoken out loud is, anyone who is very well known didn’t get that way because they did everything wrong. Oh really! Who hasn’t heard the names of some famous criminals like John Dillinger or Al Capone or John Wayne Gacy? Many of these criminals were even trusted and held hero status in the minds of some people.



Actors after all only portray the very worst human behavior so they are held above any level of culpability. Ignoring the power of suggestion and the force of example they are generally held guiltless. That thousands of youth, weak minded individuals and those with a penchant for criminal activity may be directly influenced by actors is not supposed to be addressed. How easy it is to portray those who decry this evil influence as extremist, right wing extremist, bible thumpers, self righteous or a few other appellations I can’t mention here. Does fame change the standards of morality, sadly for many Americans the answer is, yes?

Faith in God is among other things a call to get rid of the influence laid upon us by the rich, powerful or famous. It is addressed many times throughout the Bible with admonitions like this one. “Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise and pervert the words of the righteous." Deuteronomy 16:19 For those deeply influenced by celebrities, it requires a lot less than a gift but only a glimpse or a word from their favorite star can get them onboard some perverted or twisted secular view or cause in the proverbial New York minute. This is the rape of the mind. These minds are not weak minds but according to the Bible they are blind minds and are easy prey. 2 Corinthians 4:14

In his brazen and irreverent style as a political humorist Bill Maher has caught the attention of millions of American minds. That these minds were largely suspended in mid air by absolutely nothing made them easy prey. His show “Politically Incorrect" which ended in 2002 won several Emmy awards during its run. In the summer of 2006 Mr. Maher appeared on the Jay Leno show and in his usual pompous style espoused a good bit of his liberal hype to the enthusiastic applause of the audience. The most excited applause was elicited from the audience when Mr. Maher decried the resistance to stem cell research that Maher attributes largely to the Bush administrations policies.

He raised the audience to the heights when he said that what stifle the good efforts of stem cell researchers are men like George Bush who have decided all on their own when exactly life begins. He inferred that it was Mr. Bush’s religious persuasions that have brought him to resist the great high priests of the secular world, the scientists. To the average couch potato trying to relax in his own home this may have gone unnoticed but perhaps a few good folks may have wondered how Mr. Maher decided when life does or does not begin. Why should his view of it be any more valid than the presidents?

If the beginning of life takes place at some unknown point after conception that is arbitrarily determined by just anyone then how easy it would be to make a mistake. Those that say it’s after the first trimester could be wrong by a month, a day or even a minute. What reasonable person would like to take a chance on that deadly error? Do the math, those that say life begins at conception could be dead wrong but that would still leave no one dead. The proponents of abortion have no such assuring outcome to their beliefs.

According to Mr. Maher and others who aren’t so sure when life begins, the Chinese who are attributed for stating the following proverb must be wholly incorrect. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." I suppose if we’re really to know if the proverb is true or not we could just start traveling to Hollywood from wherever we are. When we get there we could knock on the door of some celebrity and ask them if our trip started on the first mile of the journey or at some other point along the way. Oh, by no means takeoff for Washington D.C. because we already know what that dumb old president is going to say. He is going to tell us our journey began with the first step and with the first mile. Who could trust that nonsense?

The priests of ancient Baalism offered children as sacrifice to appease their gods. The Bible says these gods were actually no more than demons. Is the offering of our unborn to the priests of science and secularism all that much different? Has the end justifying the means now become an acceptable substitute for doing what is natural, right and obviously moral and humane? Humane? What would the animal rights activist do if they got wind of a group of veterinarians who were pulling out whole litters of puppies from their mothers bodies for some experiment? How many animal hospitals would get picketed, burned or worse?

Mr. Maher and his enthusiastic audience may not be as sure as Mr. Bush about when human life begins but there is one place they may want to visit to help them in their decision. Instead of the Hollywood tour of celebrity stars maybe they should travel to Wichita Kansas to see the building that Operation Blessing recently purchased. The building was formerly used by Central Women’s Services as an abortion clinic. On August 7th of 2006 it was reported by several news agencies that the people of operation Blessing sprayed the walls ceilings and floors of the building with a substance known as luminol. They took both still photos and videos of the inside of the former clinic that would curdle the blood of anyone regardless of how heartless or hardened they may be. The room glowed like something out of the worst horror movie of the decade. From the floors, walls and even the ceilings an eerie glow of death filled the room and one photographer grew so sick they had to flee the room before fainting.

Visiting this former clinic may not answer the question of when life begins but it would go a long way to show how and in what manner life ends. After that, the first question may be given a great deal more attention and thought. For most of us with an average measure of common sense we don’t need the Bible, the President or Hollywood celebrities to tell us that most things begin…at the beginning.

Rev Bresciani is author of two Christian books and hundreds of articles online and in print. He is a columnist for several online political news sites. Visit http://www.americanprophet.org