Discover the profound impact of the New American through the discerning eyes of Rebecca Terrell, senior editor and my esteemed guest, whose journalistic roots and legislative expertise have shaped her into a formidable voice in the fight to preserve our republic. As we sit together, Rebecca's narrative unfolds, revealing her path from a family steeped in journalistic tradition to her influential tenure with Congressman Ron Paul. Her role in crafting key pieces of legislation such as the American Sovereignty Restoration Act reflects a deep-seated dedication to citizen engagement and the defense of national sovereignty. Our conversation illuminates the magazine's steadfast mission to educate and inspire action in these politically intricate times.
A landmark Alabama Supreme Court decision has stirred a national conversation on the definition of human life, marking a pivotal moment in the pro-life movement. Rebecca and I explore the court's recognition of frozen embryos as human lives, delving into the scientific and ethical dimensions that bolster the argument that life begins at conception. Justice Tom Parker's ruling, rooted in religious and philosophical principles, has potential to influence a new wave of legal thought on the value of life. This discussion extends beyond the ruling itself, examining the contractual intricacies of fertility clinics and the broader societal implications of our attitudes towards life's inception.
We confront the challenging cultural and ethical questions surrounding in vitro fertilization, abortion, and same-sex marriage, viewing them through the lens of depopulation and societal decline. The conversation takes a critical look at the repercussions of equating men's and women's societal roles, the importance of immigration in shaping national identity, and the power of returning to a God-centered way of life to remedy our cultural ailments. With gratitude for Rebecca's insightful contributions and her commitment to these pivotal issues, I invite you to join us in this exploration, and I encourage you to engage with our mission by sharing and following our content. Together, we can seek the path to repentance, humility, and societal healing as guided by our biblical foundations.
Discover the profound impact of the New American through the discerning eyes of Rebecca Terrell, senior editor and my esteemed guest, whose journalistic roots and legislative expertise have shaped her into a formidable voice in the fight to preserve our republic. As we sit together, Rebecca's narrative unfolds, revealing her path from a family steeped in journalistic tradition to her influential tenure with Congressman Ron Paul. Her role in crafting key pieces of legislation such as the American Sovereignty Restoration Act reflects a deep-seated dedication to citizen engagement and the defense of national sovereignty. Our conversation illuminates the magazine's steadfast mission to educate and inspire action in these politically intricate times.
A landmark Alabama Supreme Court decision has stirred a national conversation on the definition of human life, marking a pivotal moment in the pro-life movement. Rebecca and I explore the court's recognition of frozen embryos as human lives, delving into the scientific and ethical dimensions that bolster the argument that life begins at conception. Justice Tom Parker's ruling, rooted in religious and philosophical principles, has potential to influence a new wave of legal thought on the value of life. This discussion extends beyond the ruling itself, examining the contractual intricacies of fertility clinics and the broader societal implications of our attitudes towards life's inception.
We confront the challenging cultural and ethical questions surrounding in vitro fertilization, abortion, and same-sex marriage, viewing them through the lens of depopulation and societal decline. The conversation takes a critical look at the repercussions of equating men's and women's societal roles, the importance of immigration in shaping national identity, and the power of returning to a God-centered way of life to remedy our cultural ailments. With gratitude for Rebecca's insightful contributions and her commitment to these pivotal issues, I invite you to join us in this exploration, and I encourage you to engage with our mission by sharing and following our content. Together, we can seek the path to repentance, humility, and societal healing as guided by our biblical foundations.
Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson, and his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller. So listen up, because the doctor is in.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctor's rusty, dusty scrapbook. Well, I'm delighted today to have on the phone with me Rebecca Terrell. And you know, I don't even know Rebecca where you live. And you know, I don't even know Rebecca where you live, but anyway, she's a staff writer, a senior editor, is that what you told me?
Speaker 2:
That's right All right, senior editor for the New American, and I was just telling Ms Rebecca that I've been reading the New American since 1981. It used to be called Review of the News and American Opinion and I've read the news magazine faithfully for all these years. And I told Rebecca that people ask me all the time Dr Jackson, how do you know all these things? And I'm going to have to be honest and say it's because I read the New American faithfully. It is one of my sources of information that I rely upon, and now I'm relying upon folks like you, rebecca, as sources for my podcast. So I'm delighted to have you with me and I want to ask you to tell my listening audience a little bit about yourself. Take it away.
Speaker 3:
Well, thank you, and it is an honor to be on your podcast. And thank you so much for that endorsement of the magazine. I too have been. I was born into a john birch family, and so we always had copies of american opinion and a review of the news sitting around even before I could read. So that is, that is my legacy, and I just feel like I've kind of stepped into where god wanted me to be, and, being senior editor, I have been writing for the magazine since 2009. I came on staff full time a couple of years ago and have been a senior editor since then, but I live actually in Memphis, tennessee, right along the Mississippi River, and I used to, though many moons ago. In the 1990s, I worked for Congressman Ron Paul when he was.
Speaker 2:
Wow.
Speaker 3:
And I actually wrote. My claim to fame is that I authored his American Sovereignty Restoration Act to get us out of the United Nations.
Speaker 2:
How about that? How about that?
Speaker 3:
Right, I reached my pinnacle then, so it's all downhill from there.
Speaker 2:
Well, I understand that there's some legislation even now to get us out of the UN that's been actually introduced in the House. Is that true?
Speaker 3:
That is true. In fact, every year for the past 28 years, someone in Congress, at least in the history of the UN that legislation to defund the UN and get us out has been introduced in both houses of Congress and the bills in both houses are called the DEFUND Act, and that's an acronym for disengaging. I can't remember the exact words, but Chip Roy is the congressman in the House and Mike Lee is the senator.
Speaker 3:
You have introduced those companion bills. Not a lot of never a lot of support, unfortunately. 1997, when we first authored that bill, congressman Paul had it attached to another bill as an amendment, forcing a vote on the House floor, and at that time there were 54 people who voted for it. I know that that's obviously not enough to pass it, but it was very telling to see who actually supported it, and I wish that they'd do that again.
Speaker 3:
It would be nice to be able to tell. Now. It's got six co-sponsors in the House right now and two co -sponsors in the Senate, so we really need to drum up some support, because I think right now is the time to jump on the opportunity. A lot of people have opened their eyes to the fact that, hey, those conspiracy theories that we always scoffed at, they might have been on to something After all. You know, after we've seen all of the evidence of election fraud from 2020, we've seen COVID and how it shut down our world- and people are realizing now, if you know, if anything good came from those things.
Speaker 3:
People are starting to wake up, take notice and actually take action, which before it's always been hard to get people out of that armchair, that's right, get them engaged, you're right hard to get people out of that armchair, get them engaged. So that's the important thing. Was it Benjamin Franklin who said we've given you a republic if you can keep it? And it does require.
Speaker 3:
You know the old adage rights require responsibilities, and freedom is not free, that's right so that's what the New American is all about waking people up and also giving people a plan of action of what to do.
Speaker 2:
I like it. I like it and that's why I love it. I love reading the New American and I encourage my listening audience out there to join the John Birch Society. Read the New American. It's just fascinating, the information is amazing and it's very educational. Well, let me ask you this how did you become a journalist and a writer for the New American?
Speaker 3:
I come from a long line of journalists, actually my grandfather, my great-grandfather. I have two sisters in journalism as well, so it's kind of in my blood. But, like I said, I was writing freelance for the magazine for a number of years. Just when I was doing other things career-wise and recently made a change of career, decided now is the time to go ahead and do this full-time, because they'd been asking me to come on full-time on the staff for many years. So I thought, well, I might as well do it now. It was the right time and I'm glad I did.
Speaker 2:
Well, you do a lot of articles. I mean, like I read all the stuff you write and I'm like man, this lady, she's, she's so smart and she knows so much, and how does she get all this information?
Speaker 3:
Oh goodness, I don't know, I don't I actually I feel like I'm walking with giants, but but I do have good research tools at my disposal. But I do have good research tools at my disposal and, of course, robert Welch, who founded the John Birch Society in 1958, all of his writings and being raised on that gives you a good foundation and that really shows you how important it is. You know, thank God, I thank God for my parents. Nobody's perfect, but, my goodness, I wouldn't trade my parents for anything because they really raised me and my sisters right. They tried to instill in us those fundamental core values that are so very important that make a difference for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:
You're right, You're exactly right. All right, Now there's an article in the New American from a couple of weeks ago entitled Sanity and Sanctity in Alabama Supreme Court Unborn Life Ruling. And you wrote this article and I found it fascinating and that's why I called you and wanted you to be on my podcast, and it discusses a Supreme Court decision by the Alabama Supreme Court and I'm not going to give it away. I want you to talk about it. And first question I have is what prompted you to write about this recent article regarding the Alabama Supreme Court's pro-life decision regarding frozen embryos?
Speaker 3:
Right? Well, I'll tell you what prompted me, and actually most of the article is just straight quotes from the Supreme Court justice in Alabama, his concurring opinion in the case. The background of the case is that several families sued a fertility clinic because of some frozen embryos that were destroyed accidentally, and they sued saying that those were actual lives that were destroyed. That's correct. So that was the fight, of course, because there's still the big lie that life doesn't begin at conception. We know that that is not true. Medical science knows that's not true. Because there are changes that take place in a woman's immune system at the moment of conception. That's right. If those changes do not take place, her immune system will identify that as a foreign substance and get rid of it. That's right, and so medical science knows this for a fact. You don't have to bring religion into it to be able to prove that life does begin at conception. So there was a big you know that was what the case was about.
Speaker 3:
And the Alabama Supreme Court surprisingly, I think in this day and age ruled that yes, those were lives that were destroyed and they held the fertility clinic liable for those, for those lives. So it has really changed, they say. Of course, the left just has gone into apoplectic fit over this. Oh, this is going to have such negative repercussions on fertility clinics and this and that. Well, this is the odd thing, this is the horrible thing to me, that I learned in writing this article that when you do contract with a fertility clinic so you have the artificial insemination egg and sperm and the frozen embryos, you actually have an agreement that says, okay, if we don't use these frozen embryos within a certain amount of time, here's how they're going to be discarded.
Speaker 2:
That's right, that's exactly right, right.
Speaker 3:
They're going to be donated to research or donated to another couple that's trying to have a baby or discarded as medical waste. That's right, have a baby or are discarded as medical waste. And it seemed hypocritical that these couples who were suing this fertility clinic for an accidental destruction of their frozen embryos were just fine with signing them away in the contract. So I actually was a little bit surprised at the Supreme Court ruling. However, what moved me so much when I read the Supreme Court justices' ruling was the fact that he invoked Almighty God and said that man is made in the image and likeness of God and any destruction of man is an affront to God. That's right.
Speaker 3:
And not only did he say that which is so sound is absolutely sound judgment, but he also invoked St Augustine, st Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica, john Calvin. It was an amazing. I thought this man it's like he's from out of time.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:
And just placed here. This is something that you would think that came from the founding father's era.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
Speaker 3:
And it was so beautiful, I said I contacted the editor-in-chief of our magazine. I said we have to print this. This is absolutely amazing. So that's why I say most of the article, the article that you're so impressed with, I can't take credit for it.
Speaker 3:
It was really the Supreme Court justice in Alabama who did that, and I really, and I want to say too, as I read it, I thought he knows. I mean he's an older man, he knows I mean all of our days are numbered. I'm not saying he's any closer to, I could well pre-decease him, but he knows he's going to stand face-to-face with his creator before too long, exactly Right, and he wants to be able to come. He wants to hear well done, good and faithful servant.
Speaker 2:
Yep exactly.
Speaker 3:
Because of his important position, the important position he has and, yes, this can have wonderful implications for us, because young people are going to see that, they're going to be inspired by that, People who are studying law and people who are coming into their careers and they're going to see that and they're going to go. I'm going to do that too, because what we're seeing across our country is this annihilation of our culture, all sacrificed at the altar of tolerance, right.
Speaker 2:
That's right.
Speaker 3:
We have to tolerate other people, we have to tolerate other cultures, we have to tolerate other beliefs. Now did they practice that same toleration?
Speaker 2:
of us? No, absolutely not.
Speaker 3:
And so you say, okay, what's the happy medium? Where do you compromise? Well, when it comes to the rights of God over his creation, there is no compromise. And that's what that Supreme Court justice stood up for. And he stood up in the face of a very hostile world and said those things.
Speaker 2:
Exactly right, and his name is Tom Parker, justice Tom Parker, and people need to remember that man's name because he's a hero. He's a hero to the Christian faith. He's a hero to pro-lifers. He's a hero to every unborn child. He's a hero to every frozen embryo. You know that.
Speaker 3:
He is, he is.
Speaker 2:
He's a champion of the faith, he's a champion of the pro-life movement, he's a champion to every frozen embryo that's out there in suspended animation, because he's a defender of life and he was an unapologetic defender of the truth and a speaker of the truth. And, just like you said, yeah, there'll be future generations that will read his decision and be emboldened and encouraged, but there'll also be people who are liars and deceivers Sure.
Speaker 2:
Who are going to read that and they're going to have to sit down and ponder and they're going to be confronted by the truth and you know it's hard, when you're confronted by the truth, to deny it and there'll be people who will lie awake at night staring at the ceiling and pondering what Tom Parker said, because it's truth.
Speaker 3:
Right, yeah, and we hope that they will. Right, yeah, and we hope that they will. There is, I mean, we have had now generations of lies regarding this and this pervasive feeling sentiment in our country that life is discardable. Yeah, right, I mean we have, for since the 1970s, we've had quote legalized abortion, which is really we shouldn't even use that term, the term abortion. We should call it what it is it's murder it's infanticide, it is murder.
Speaker 2:
Infanticide or murder exactly.
Speaker 3:
Innocent, unborn just in the fifth and sixth weeks of life, that medical science can detect a heartbeat before the heart is even formed, when there is only cardiac tissue that will become a heart. And that makes you think of that line from scripture before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And if we really believe, if we really believe what we say we believe, then we're going to not stand up for our rights, we're going to stand up for God's rights. That's why I loved so much about what Justice Parker wrote. He said this is God, this is God's creation. You can't fiddle with it. It's not yours to either save or discard, and you know to. By extension now this wasn't part of the case, so he didn't rule on this. But by extension, if what he said is true and I do believe it is we shouldn't have any of this in vitro fertilization, these fertility clinics, because of the fact that they do discard some of the frozen embryos.
Speaker 2:
Many of them and those, not some of them, but many of them.
Speaker 3:
Many of them. Well, yeah, most of them, yeah, because a woman can't possibly have that many, can't carry them all, have that many babies.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's a whole other issue in itself that people don't want to admit to or even discuss that so much of the in vitro fertilization lends itself to discarding and aborting fertilized eggs which are embryos. And you know, the fertility clinics don't talk about that, don't want it to be discussed that don't want it to be discussed, but so many of those fertilized eggs which are human beings nascent human beings are discarded?
Speaker 3:
Yes, absolutely. And you know another thing that we need to talk about, that we must, we must stop spitting in God's face because the the retribution that we're getting right now, that the just punishments that we're enduring right now in this country look around at how many there are I say they are just punishments because again, we've had this child sacrifice legalized in this country since the 1970s. We've legalized homosexuality. But we have to remember too I mean that homosexual quote marriage. But we have to. All of this is aiming us toward depopulation. All of these. Look at all of the various agenda that we have. We have the opioid epidemic. The target of that is the demographic that is most affected are the people who are supposed to be the parents of the next generation, that's correct.
Speaker 3:
The target of the people who are most adversely affected by the COVID jab are the young people, the young men who are supposed to be the fathers of the next generation. We need to see this as look, god is smiting us. This isn't taking God by surprise, and we have to look at ourselves too and go okay, what am I doing? Am I keeping up with the Joneses or am I trying to follow God's law? Am I limiting my family size so I can live in comfort? We're not supposed to look for heaven on earth. We're supposed to look for the glory of God on earth, so we can share that glory when we die and join him in heaven right.
Speaker 2:
The thief comes to steal, to kill and destroy. It's the work of the enemy that leads to destruction of the family. By abortion, by homosexuality, by all manner of means, the family is destroyed, procreation is prevented and the image of God is denigrated. Everything that's happening in our culture that destroys the family is the work of the enemy. The enemy of God is denigrated. Everything that's happening in our culture that destroys the family is the work of the enemy, the enemy of God.
Speaker 3:
Absolutely, and we need to teach our daughters too, that, as the women of a country go, so goes that country. When we were convinced, when we allowed our daughters to be convinced, that they needed to be equal with men, that took them down, that actually devoted them from their very high, dignified position as the hand that rocks the cradle. What's that old adage? The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, rules the world.
Speaker 3:
Now we took that hand off the cradle. We allowed our hands to be taken off the cradle. Nature abhors a vacuum, correct? That's right. Who comes in and starts rocking that cradle? The state, that's right right and now we're slaves. We have enslaved ourselves and we have asked for it.
Speaker 3:
I teach my daughters the greatest job in the universe is being a mom that's right and it is because, not only does it, not only does, is it propagation of the species, it's also propagation of our culture. Again, all these other cultures that we're supposed to be tolerant of are not tolerant of us. No, so you know, it's just, and we have. You know, we do know right now that the US population is on the decline, except for immigration. If it were not for immigration and the longer lifespans that people have I mean, we have the baby boomers now entering retirement, so we do have the longer life expectancy spiral downward, we're not going to. And all of these immigrants who are coming in from all their different countries that apparently, that supposedly, they have to flee because they're looking for freedom, why are they crossing our southern border and waving the flags from those oppressive nations? That's a message. A flag is a symbol of this is what we intend.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, they're not coming here to be Americans.
Speaker 3:
Right, and it's not. And it is true that they are a drain on our economy because they're getting the social welfare programs that are denied Our own people are veterans and our own citizens. But it's not just the economics. It's a lie that James Carville coined that phrase. It's the economy stupid. No, it's a lie that you know James Carville coined that phrase. It's the economy stupid.
Speaker 3:
No it's not. The economy is one of many tools that God gives us to lead us closer to him, and if we misuse, if we put that economy up as our God, we're doing exactly what they did when they worshipped the golden calf.
Speaker 2:
That's right, that's right. Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 3:
So we've got to get back to this, get out of this mentality, very materialistic mentality, and more toward God's will. Let not my will but thine be done, that attitude of our Lord suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane before his passion.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 3:
And he will provide for us. He says that in the Bible, in the book of is it Solomon? He says if my people will do penance and admit and humble themselves and admit their fault, I will heal their land. He has the recipe right there. It just takes us following it and he gives us the grace if we ask him for it. But that's what it takes. It takes us asking yep confession it does take some effort on our part.
Speaker 2:
Prayer, sure does we have to turn from our wicked ways right and he will heal our lands. Well, let me. That is it was.
Speaker 3:
It was absolutely so refreshing to read that uh judgment uh justices down by the justices. It was just so refreshing to read that and know, okay, there is hope. Let me read his summary.
Speaker 2:
Let me read his summary and we can comment on it a little bit it said in summary, the theologically based view of the sanctity of life adopted by the people of Alabama encompasses the following, and he gives, I think, three things here God made every person in his image. Number two each person therefore has a value that far exceeds the ability of human beings to calculate. And three, human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God who views the destruction of his image as an. And then he quotes a section in the Alabama Code that recognizes that this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human life, that even before birth all human beings bear the image of God and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing His glory.
Speaker 2:
The people of Alabama have declared the public policy of this state to be that unborn human life is sacred. We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness. It is as if the people of Alabama took what was spoken of the prophet Jeremiah and applied it to every unborn person in this state. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you Before you were born. I sanctified you. All three branches of government are subject to a constitutional mandate to treat each unborn human life with reverence. Carving out an exception for the people in this case, small as they were, would be unacceptable to the people of this state, who have required us to treat every human being in accordance with the fear of a holy God who made them in his image. For these reasons, and for the reasons stated in the main opinion, I concur.
Speaker 3:
And you just want to stand up and cheer.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, you want to stand up and cheer? You know that famous theologian Dr Seuss once had one of his characters, horton. You remember Horton? Here's a who.
Speaker 3:
I remember.
Speaker 2:
He said a person is a person, no matter how small.
Speaker 3:
That's right. Absolutely Amen to that. He got some things right.
Speaker 2:
He did.
Speaker 3:
I don't so much prefer the Lorax though.
Speaker 2:
No, no, no, Horton got it right, that's right. And so did Justice Parker in his would you call it a consenting or concurring his concurring opinion. Well, ms Rebecca, I want you to know I've really enjoyed this discussion. I appreciated your article and many of your other articles in the New American over the years and I appreciate you being on my podcast and I hope you'll come back and be with us again some other time.
Speaker 3:
Absolutely. It would be my pleasure. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
Well, thank you for being here. You're listening to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctor's rusty, dusty scrapbook. I hope that you will like, follow or share. I hope you will download and if you have to delete it in a week, but that's how we measure our progress and I hope that the Lord will bless you real good.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Production at bobsloancom.
