By MariaMaria #467 CM/FM 3221 11/98

A Heavenly Perspective
On Life and Death!

1. (Mama:) After years of helping sick and terminally ill people kill themselves, Dr. Jack Kevorkian recently went a step further and, with the consent of a patient and his family, killed a man himself! The death was aired on nationwide television in the U.S. during prime time and was watched by millions of people, as the follow­ing news clip describes:

U.S. news program shows

Kevorkian killing patient

(Reuters) The CBS News program "60 ­Minutes" on Sunday [Nov.21] aired a dramatic video­tape of euthanasia advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian administering a lethal injection to a patient suffering from a terminal disease.

Kevorkian, a 70-year-old retired pathologist, had previously acknowledged assisting the suicides of as many as 130 people, but said this was the first time he inserted the needles and killed a patient himself.

Kevorkian has been tried and acquitted three times on charges of assisting suicides and took the videotape to CBS News in an attempt to force a legal showdown and move the public debate to mercy killing from doctor-assisted suicide.

The "60 Minutes" program was only the second time that a death by such means has been shown on national television in the United States. In December 1994, the ABC News program "Primetime Live" showed segments of a Dutch television documentary, "Death on Request."

In the broadcast, reporter Mike Wallace asked Kevorkian, "You killed him?"

"I did," Kevorkian replied. "But it could be manslaughter, not murder. It's not necessarily murder. But it doesn't bother me what you call it. I know what it is. This could never be a crime in any society which deems itself ­enlightened."

Kevorkian said that if he was arrested and convicted he would starve himself to death in prison.

Roman Catholic Cardinal John O'Connor of New York on ­Sunday slammed Kevorkian in remarks from the pulpit at St. Patrick's ­Cathedral. He said eu­thanasia advocates "have come to see suicide as a cure for disease and a way of bringing death's power under human control."

2. (Mama: ) When we read about this show and how far Kevorkian had gone‚ we asked the Lord if He could let us know what He thought of this situation and what effect it might have on others. He sent Dad with the following mess­age, explaining the difference between the way the Lord sees things and the way man sees them‚ as well as the proper per­spective on life and death! Thank the Lord for His answers, and that we can trust Him with everything!

3. (Dad speaking: ) A great polarization is happening! People are finding it more and more difficult to be neutral and to avoid issues, because the issues are getting heavier all the time. The Lord wants people to make choices, and Kevorkian is certainly a catalyst for people in the debate over assisted suicide. Right now he's the king of those who insist on being the masters of their fate. He's shaking his fist in God's face, because he's denying that it's God's divine right to choose when the end of a person's life should come.

4. The problem is, he's the hole in the dike that will only open wider. His influence has already caused young people to more readily toy with the idea of ending their lives. He may say that he's only doing it in cases of terminal illness‚ when the quality of a person's life is so diminished as to make it worthless to consider living‚ but then the masses take it further. They figure‚ "Well, even if I'm not sick, I'm still miserable. Why go on living? After all, if there's a painless way out like Kevorkian says there is, why not put myself out of my misery?" So Kevorkian's message is really getting through to people and is numbing their conscience, which might otherwise tell them not to do such a thing.

5. Apart from that, there's the whole issue and question of whether it's right to allow a person to end their life when they're in pain, or when they no longer have the use of their faculties and can no longer enjoy life. Many Family members and other Christians have also struggled with this question, because it does sound merciful and humane to allow a person to pull the plug when it seems there's no hope of their condition improving. But God's ways are not man's ways, and this is where God's children need to pray for His proper per­spective on things. They need to pray for God to open their eyes to the real motive of the Enemy.

6. If it were up to man alone, he would never allow himself to be placed in a position of helplessness, a position in which all he could do was commit his life to God. The Enemy certainly fights that too. One of his first messages to man in the Garden of Eden was, "Here, eat this and you'll be as gods too. You can determine your own destiny without God!"

7. Just watch‚ soon people will be clamoring for the same "choice" for old people. There are already many doctors who will recommend an abortion on a fetus if they detect any defects in it. So, "Kill the terminally ill, the old folks who are of no use anymore," and the innocent children who are in danger of not coming out "perfect" and thus "ruining" the lives of their ­parents!

8. Can you see how vile the Enemy's plans are? If the Enemy can get mankind leaning to the arm of the flesh, "taking care" of society's "little prob­lems" in the arm of the flesh, then he'll have man­kind going right down his road. Well, he does already, but there's still a great deal of choice for the un­de­cided right now. But the crunch is coming soon, and all these little decisions are just leading up to the big one, when the Antichrist, Satan incarnate, says, "Worship me or die!"

9. The love of many is growing cold! Can you imagine? People are so duped! The general masses are being led by the nose to believe whatever seems to be the trend at the moment. But then show them the cold, hard truth of what assisted suicide means, like they did on that "60 Minutes" show, actually filming the man dying, and people protest at being shown such distasteful, unpleasant scenes. The Lord allowed those scenes to be shown because He wanted people to be totally accountable if they see that and still support this disgusting new religion—because that's what it is: "Live as you please, and die when you will. You are the master of your fate and have total control over your body."

10. The Devil uses that same reasoning with some people when it comes to abortion, too—that their body is theirs to do with as they will, even if it comes to killing the life that's within them! The so-called pro-choice people use that argument all the time. Of course, they'd have a lot less converts to their cause if they showed you the end result—bucketfuls of dead babies. That's why they get furious at the pro-life people for even mentioning such things! Nevertheless, the truth is getting out‚ and people are accountable for the decisions they've made.

11. God's children need to arm themselves with the Word and with God's perspective, so that they can have an answer to give to any man who asks them. This is a hot topic right now‚ and you can use it in your witness to folks.

12. Goodness, look at me! I was sick for many years, and couldn't eat a solid, delicious meal for years. I grew old and frail in my last few years and even had to be wheeled around in a wheelchair sometimes. What if I had been duped by the dork Kevork?! I was serving God till my last breath‚ but what if I'd cut His plan short? I certainly wasn't able to enjoy life as much during those last years as I had all my life. I could've had a good excuse‚ if I were leaning on the arm of the flesh. But I thank God for every day I lived‚ whether in sickness or in health. I'll tell you, Jesus rewarded me for every last day—and even more for the days that I was old and sick and frail‚ yet kept going.

13. For those of you who are suffering a terminal illness, just put your life in God's hands. He gives more grace when the burdens grow greater! Every moment of pain is known by the Lord, and your determination to trust in His never–ending love during the dark hours of sickness counts for so much on This Side. What's more, your example of trusting the Lord till He sees fit to bring you Home holds great weight and is a great witness to those around you, and will be an even greater witness as time goes on. You've trusted Him with your life, so you can trust Him with your death, including the timing and circumstances.

14. As for Kevorkian, he's filling his cup of iniquity full, and helping fill the Whore's cup to boot. Don't be duped by his lying lines! The wisdom of men is foolishness to God! God bless you with Heavenly wisdom—and He will, if you ask Him. I love you! (End of message from Dad.)

Kevorkian charged with murder

New York Times News Service

A Michigan prosecutor brought first-degree murder charges against Dr. Jack Kevorkian for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man who wished to die, a videotaped act of euthanasia that was nationally televised.

Prosecutor David Gorcyca said Kevorkian's actions clearly fit the definition of premeditated murder, and that the consent of the dying man was no legal defense.

While Kevorkian claims to have presided over more than 120 suicides, this case was the first in which he took a direct role in causing a death. If convicted, he could face a sentence of life in prison.

The American Medical Association issued a statement that condemned Kevorkian as "a self-admitted zealot killing another human being to advance his own interests and ego-driven urge to martyrdom."

15. (Mama: ) Kevorkian is due to go on trial in December, so we'll soon see how the issues he's raised affect public opinion and medical policies in the U.S.! As Dad said above, the love of many is growing cold, and some may soon be clamoring for the "right to die" for old people, the sick and the handicapped, with or without their consent! After all, once it's an accepted practice to put people out of their pain and misery, it's easy for doctors to get a bit carried away, to become judges of life and death. This is what has happened in Holland, to the point where many people now carry "passports" stating that they don't want to be killed if they get sick!

Dutch carry cards that say:

Don't kill me, doctor

Electronic Telegraph

More than 10,000 people in Holland have started carrying anti-euthanasia "passports" be­cause they are frightened of being killed prematurely by over­enthusiastic doctors if they fall ill.

The move comes as the newly-elected Dutch government presses ahead with a proposal to legalize "assisted suicide" by doctors, the first of its kind in Europe.

The bill is being pushed through despite the government's own surveys showing that Dutch doctors are increasingly practicing non–voluntary euthanasia and are ending patients' lives without their approval. It is estimated that every year up to 25,000 people die when their treatment is terminated on medical grounds.

According to the most recent survey into euthanasia—carried out in 1995 and sponsored by the Dutch government—23 percent of doctors said that they had ended a pa­tient's life without his or her explicit request.

The "declaration of life" cards‚ which are being distributed by pro–life groups throughout Holland, carry the words: "I request that no medical treatment be withheld on the grounds that the future quality of my life will be diminished‚ because I believe that this is not something that human beings can judge. I request that under no circumstances a life-ending treatment be administered because I am of the opinion that people do not have the right to end life."

Anneke Verhoeven, a spokesman for the Life-wish Declaration Foundation, part of the Dutch Patients Association, which produces one of the anti-euthanasia passports, said: "When you are ill, euthanasia seems to be a solution but it is not. Sometimes people too quickly think that the pain is unbearable and that life is no longer worth living."

Kevorkian the artist—and ghoul

Mona Charen, Jewish World Review

Is "ghoul" too strong a word [for Jack Kevorkian]? Only those who haven't had the pleasure of viewing Kevorkian's artwork would flinch from that description. One of his paintings, titled "Very Still Life," features‚ in The New York Times account of his show a couple of years ago, "a blue flower blossoming through the gaping eye socket of a skull with a twisted lower jaw." Another painting depicts a severed head, blood dripping from the neck. In yet another painting, titled "Paralysis," Kevorkian rendered a man whose brain and spinal cord have been ripped from his body and hang above him from chains.

This is not the imagination, it seems safe to say, of your run–of-the-mill humanitarian.

Some may wonder why, in his latest defiance of the Michigan law banning assisted suicide on CBS' "60 Minutes," Kevorkian decided to deliver the poison himself rather than let the suicide pull the string that would release the deadly chemicals.

The answer is that Kevorkian is after far more than simply challenging the assisted suicide law. That's old hat. He has already "assisted" more than 100 people to kill themselves, and the authorities in Michigan have been able to do little about it. Three juries have acquitted him.

No, Kevorkian's goal is larger than that. His is a eugenics project. He would like to see those with disabilities‚ those who are ill and those who are troubled eliminated, preferably by their own hands but by his or others' if necessary. "The voluntary self-elimination of individual and mortally diseased or crippled lives," Kevorkian once wrote, "taken collectively, can only enhance the preservation of public health and welfare."

One of Kevorkian's victims, Rebecca ­Badger‚ a 39-year-old woman who came to him claiming to have multiple sclerosis, turned out not to have been sick at all, at least not physically. The coroner found no evidence of MS.

Others of those Kevorkian has hurried to the cemetery were ill, but not terminally. All, it is safe to say, were depressed. Some of his "patients" are dead within 24 hours of laying eyes on him. Is that time enough to establish anything?

16. P.S. For more on Dr. Kevorkian, euthanasia and "mercy killing," please see ML #3062:2-45, GN 690. n