Father's Day
( A Pro-Life Worship Celebration!)
by Richard W. Fischer , Jr

"...I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live..." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
†††All Scriptures quoted in this article are taken from the New King James version of the Bible.†††

     On the morning of June 11, 2006, after witnessing this Indigo Bunting fly head first into my closed office window, according to the time stamp on my camera, at 7:28:58am, I took the first of the two photos on the front of the above postcard I'm in the process of creating. Being filled with Holy Spirit compassion for this feathered creature, and after a very brief prayer asking God to heal it, at 7:30:34am, less then1 1/2 minutes after the first photo was taken; I was blessed to capture the miraculous answer to my prayer! So what does this have to do with Father's Day? Well, I'm glad you asked!

     The way I see it, for Father's Day to even exist as a holiday, two very important things need to be in place. Although it seems ridiculously obvious to say this, we must first have Father's. In like fashion, it's imperative that we also have children who are thankful God brought them into this world through their parents, and that these children would desire to freely express their love and gratitude to their parents in some way, much like the daughter of some special friends of mine who innocently offered me a flower she'd just picked (see photo below). Given that my wife and I don't yet have children of our own, this photo holds a very precious place in my heart! My thanks to the Grutz family for making me feel part of your family on so many occasions, and for allowing me to use this photo! As I honor my own father (and mother) this month, I also honor you today for endeavoring to raise your children in the ways of our precious Heavenly Father!

Ephesians 6:2-3, in harmony with Deuteronomy 5:16, says,
" Honor your father and mother,”
' which is the first commandment with promise:'
“that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

     Early on the morning of April 27, 2008, I woke up and began watching a TV show which was sharing the very sad fact that every 20 seconds in the United States , an innocent unborn baby's life is terminated in its mother's womb through the practice of abortion. I knew instantly I needed to find a constructive way to be involved in the pro-life movement. As I prayed that morning asking the Lord what I could do to help, it came to mind that I could use my construction skills to help build God centered pregnancy counseling centers, much like the one spoken about in the show I was watching. In addition, both as an evangelistic outreach tool, and for fund raising purposes, I could produce the above postcard, and make it available to those who would be led to join me in getting the word out to others about this work. Though this work is not at this time a formalized 501c3 ministry, as with all other ministry or business endeavors, it must first begin with a vision or dream in someone's heart, or, relating it to having children, there must be a time of conception. In keeping with this, I'd like to share a bit more of how this work was conceived in my heart.

     About a year and a half ago, I was attending a healing service at a conference I'd been at for the last two evenings. During the worship time before the healing service began, the Lord spoke to my heart and gave me the phrase, "Photo Evangelist," relating to the numerous miracles I've been honored by the Lord to capture with my camera over the years. At the close of the worship time, one of the leaders on the platform invited a woman to share a vision she'd received earlier that evening, and I've included that vision below as I wrote it in my Journal.

     She stated that she had been transported in this vision to a place where she was soaring high above the clouds, and everything around her was bright white. She then swooped down below the level of the clouds, and she saw the ocean, but the ocean, covered in very large waves, was also bright white. She then saw a bird flying, and the bird looked somewhat like a dragon. The bird was then struck by white lightning, and the bird turned bright white. Then, the bird was struck by lightning a second time, and the women said she was amazed that the bird then became even a more brilliant white. She was amazed because the white it had previously become was already brighter then any white she had seen before. The bird then turned into a Phoenix bird. This bird was then engulfed in fire, and turned to ashes, but was later resurrected. She went on to describe this vision as a, "Living Photo." After she finished sharing the vision, the leader then gave the interpretation that there were many people who have had visions and dreams die, but the Lord was resurrecting those dreams and visions!

     Since then, I've seen one attempt at fulfilling my dream of becoming a photo evangelist die, when I had no choice but to close down a greeting card company I'd established in April of 2006. However, like the bird in her vision, as well as the bird pictured in the postcard above, what was once dead is now being brought back to life again!
    
     In addition, a few days before seeing the show on the pro-life movement, due to a serious medical condition she was diagnosed with a year ago Thanksgiving morning, I took my wife BJ in for a sonogram of her abdomen to check on suspected fluid build up, as well as other concerns related to her condition. During her sonogram, even though we know she is not pregnant, while watching the sonogram screen, on two separate occasions, the image I was seeing contained what appeared to be a human hand reaching out towards us! Not only did this give me great encouragement that a good report would be coming from the doctor, but when the pro-life show came on a couple days later, I learned a very incredible statistic. Specifically, on a national level in our country, of all the women who walk into a pro-life clinic seeking an abortion, if they are shown a sonogram of their unborn child, 90% of these women have a change of heart and make the choice for life!!  That's some incredible fruit my brothers and sisters, and I just knew God was speaking to me that it was time to get actively involved in this awesome life giving harvest!

     As I bring this article to a close, I'd like you to prayerfully consider several ways you might honor your father this year. First, for those reading this who may have very limited budgets, it might be as simple as e-mailing him a personal note with a link to this article attached to it. If however you have at least some finances to spare this year, to assist me in offsetting the expenses of this work, you could send a donation in his honor, and in so doing, you both would be involved in not only saving the lives of innocent unborn children, but also sharing God's love and forgiveness with various men and women who are suffering the guilt and shame for a previous decision to abort a child. However you choose to honor your father this year, which I believe to be a Godly act of worship, I declare over you according to the above mentioned promises of God, that your days on this earth may be long, and that it may go well with you as you follow the Lord your God into the land He is giving you to possess! Let's all do our part to possess the land around us, and more importantly, possess the inhabitants of that land for the Kingdom of God! There are many lambs to be brought into the fold, and I'm looking forward to serving with you in this awesome end time's harvest!

Partnering with you to end abortion in our lifetime!
Richard W. Fischer, Jr.
Founder/Phoenix Photo Evangelism
A division of Mourning Glory Ministries
http://www.kingdomdomains.ws/page8.html
e-mail: mourningglory3@aol.com
cell: 865-719-9096
snail mail:     
4638 Primrose Circle
Maryville, TN 37804