LifeDate Summer 2026 – God Said … And It Was So
by Rev. Paul Clark, Lutherans For Life of Michigan
He had done it. He had committed the perfect murder. There were no loose ends; he was sure of that. At least he had been sure until that nosy little detective had come snooping around. What was his name? Oh, yes, Columbo, that was it.
Now the doggone pest of a man was back. He was asking more questions, saying that certain things about the crime scene just bothered him. Now, he simply stood there, with that ludicrous smile on his face. It was just plain disconcerting. Finally, after a couple more questions, he sighed heavily, thanked him for taking the time to answer, and began to leave. Relief flooded over the crafty and arrogant murderer. But then, the door re-opened—just a crack, mind you—enough for Lieutenant Columbo to slip his head back in, saying, “Oh, just one more thing!”
Lieutenant Columbo is like a bulldog. As quirky as the guy is, he doesn’t give up or let go and struggles to the end to bring about true justice.
Maybe we all need to be a little more like Columbo when it comes to things that really matter, like our Christian faith, absolute standards of right and wrong, and the noble ideals of truth and justice.
The bitter and acrid assaults of the devil are everywhere. Satan is the murderer of souls. He despises God’s gift of life—human life, that is—and he does everything possible to degrade it, to eviscerate it, to empty it of meaning, so that we either give ourselves over to callous hedonism or to deadly despair. The devil dresses up the language of killing and death with fancy verbiage such as “reproductive health” and “death with dignity” and “personal autonomy.”
Satan hates LIFE, and thus he hates God’s creation of man as male and female. He cunningly implants thoughts of doubt and rebellion against God’s good order, knowing that lives will be destroyed in that way. He does the same with marriage, emptying it of its proper nature—as we confess in the traditional marriage ceremony:
The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind is intended by God for the mutual companionship, help, and support that each person ought to receive from the other, both in prosperity and adversity. God also established marriage for the procreation of children, who are to be brought up in the fear and instruction of the Lord.
You can almost smell the odious fumes of Satan’s hatred of God and his deadly desire to mislead and shipwreck the lives of God’s people. Husbands and wives who have been married for years, raised children together, faced good and bad times suddenly want more. Their search for “personal” happiness and pleasure can take them to places where they never thought they would go—places of great danger. Children who were raised and taught what the Lord Jesus did for them on the cross abandon the Church, rationalizing that they really don’t need to go to church to believe in God. Yet, that “God” becomes fuzzier and more worldly all the time. No surprise there.
Consider the way that many in our nation have become so polarized, filled with hatred and vileness, not only in their increasingly foul language, but in their very thoughts and actions toward their neighbor.
ONE MORE THING. Even when we think that we are firmly planted in God’s Word and faithful to Christ, that doesn’t mean that Satan has given up on us. He attacks more fiercely. Let’s be real here: We all have those unsettling fears that scuttle around in the darkness and are striving to poke their horrid heads out into the light.
But it is the LIGHT that banishes those fears. This is why the best thing we can do is admit our failures, confess our sins, and receive absolution in Jesus—the Lord Jesus Christ, who died to take away the guilt and stain of the sin that would damn us, and has risen so that life and immortality can now be brought to poor sinners like us.
We must remain vigilant. God has revealed to you in His Word that which is true and good and right. We cannot plummet into the web of lies enshrined by so many in this cravenly wicked world. Expose them. Like Columbo, take them on. Be a bulldog when it comes to the truth of God’s Word—including on the sanctity of life, the biblical standard of marriage, and the unchangeable nature of man as male and female. Stand upright, remain faithful, fight the good fight of the faith until that DAY comes, when that monstrous murderer, Satan, is finally imprisoned forever in the bottomless abyss. THEN the case will finally be closed.
When that DAY comes, you and I will inherit PARADISE, eat of the TREE OF LIFE, and explore the gloriously breathtaking reality of THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH, where we shall jubilantly dwell forevermore. That Day will not be the end. That Day will be just the beginning.
Please, ONE MORE THING! Let’s recommit ourselves to being God’s people—God’s men, God’s women, God’s children—strong in the Word, unafraid to speak the truth of what we believe and confess. Abortion kills 3,000 babies in America each day! Women’s lives are destroyed. Men abandon their families. Sexual predators abound. Marriages crumble. Children suffer. The social fabric of the nation is unravelling. NEVERTHELESS, we are FOR LIFE! We have the sure and steady underpinning of TRUTH in God’s Word. We have the unshakeable reality of the TRIUNE GOD, who loves us and has worked all things out for our salvation. We have what Holy Scripture calls a “future and a hope.” So, be a Columbo. Be God’s bulldog. Stand for what is true and right and don’t be afraid to talk about it. STAND FAST.
OK, I’m reopening the door just a crack, forgive me! JUST ONE MORE THING! I promise it will be the last.
JESUS CHRIST stands with you and for you. He will NEVER abandon you. And THIS JESUS is RISEN from the dead, LIVES and REIGNS to all eternity. This is most certainly true! ALLELUIA!