Author Archive for Mark Davis Pickup

Martin Luther King's Dream Revisited
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Martin Luther King’s Dream Revisited

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It has been forty years of unrestricted abortion across the United States under the infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling. It proved that even a nation’s highest court can make the lowest of decisions. The January 2013 edition of the magazine Columbia published by the Knights of Columbus deals with abortion in America. Supreme Knight, […]

What Have We Learned About Injustice Over the Past 156 Years?
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What Have We Learned About Injustice Over the Past 156 Years?

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In his excellent (although vaguely anti-Catholic) book THE MARKETING OF EVIL: How Radicals Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom, David Kupelian wrote about the Dred Scott Supreme Court case of 1857. The Dred Scott decision denied blacks American citizenship and even questioned their full personhood. Kupelian laid out the case and quoted […]

Opportunities to Glorify God
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Opportunities to Glorify God

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I was recently told I have cancer. We often hear that other people have the dreaded “C” word but now it is my turn. Initially it was hard to get my head around the news. The oncologist at the Cross Cancer Institute was unsure how to approach my treatment. My situation is complicated by the […]

A Major Threat to Disability Rights and Inclusion
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A Major Threat to Disability Rights and Inclusion

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The goal for disability inclusion into mainstream society has made major strides forward. But make no mistake, it has been a long and difficult road toward equality and inclusion for people with disabilities. A reluctant public was unaccustomed to seeing people with profound disabilities in their midst. Remember, for centuries people with serious disabilities were shut […]

Exclusion in an Era of Politically Correct Inclusion
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Exclusion in an Era of Politically Correct Inclusion

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The main newspaper in the city near where I live is the Edmonton Journal. The September 3rd 2012 edition carried a short entry under the title PRIDE PARADE PREMIER. It was accompanied by a photograph of Alberta’s Premier Allison Redford wearing the rainbow sash. The entry said: “Premier Allison Redford attends the Calgary Pride Parade on […]

Healing in the Fire: Conclusion (Part 7)
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Healing in the Fire: Conclusion (Part 7)

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Please click for: Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5, Part 6 In 1991, the MS forced me into medical retirement from the Canadian Civil Service. I sank into a clinical depression. Being put out to pasture at 38 years of age is not a pleasant prospect. Now, more than 28 years since my diagnosis with MS, my physical health is gone, but […]

Be Still My Soul (Healing in the Fire, part 6)
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Be Still My Soul (Healing in the Fire, part 6)

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Please click for: Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, Part5 I considered not including the first part of this posting. It’s too incredible for most people to believe and so I rarely mention it, but it’s absolutely true.  It happened. I decided to include it to illustrate God’s hand over my life. In 1982, there was a recession […]

Turning to Jesus (Healing in the Fire, Part 5)
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Turning to Jesus (Healing in the Fire, Part 5)

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Click for: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. The next eight years were spent in a spiritual wasteland. The only bright spots were that I married LaRee in 1973 and we had two more children we both adored. But even those bright spots were threatened by my alcoholism. I carried the emotional and […]

The Mark of Cain: Healing in the Fire, Part 4
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The Mark of Cain: Healing in the Fire, Part 4

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Click for: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 In the initial few months after my father’s death I was in a haze of grief. The remainder of winter and early Spring were spent dazed, going through the motions of daily life on automatic pilot. It was the Catholic priest, Father Lynch, who consoled me. My father’s Protestant Church […]

I Cursed God: Healing in the Fire, Part 3
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I Cursed God: Healing in the Fire, Part 3

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Click for: Part One, Part Two Dad began to slowly recover.  We were ecstatic the day he was moved from the ICU to a regular ward. He had slipped out of the clutches of death.  The day he was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, it was like we had turned a corner into sunlight.  In […]

Life and Death in the Balance: Healing in The Fire, Part 2
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Life and Death in the Balance: Healing in The Fire, Part 2

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Please click here for part one. In 1967 I was 14 years old. One summer evening at the cottage, dad and I were playing chess at a table outside. The last vestiges of sunset sparkled on the lake then fading into dusk. Crickets could be heard in the distance. A fire crackled in the fire-pit giving […]

Healing in the Fire, Part 1
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Healing in the Fire, Part 1

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Many years ago, I was asked to give my personal testimony to a church. I would like to share some of what I said that day, and expand on it. It’s rather long, so I will break it up into parts. Please forgive my self-indulgence. I hope you find a kernel of truth from my experience to help […]

Men and Abortion
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Men and Abortion

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In 1971, my girlfriend became pregnant with our baby. I pressured her to have an abortion; eventually she succumbed to the pressure and had an abortion. For decades I regretted my role in that abortion. Throughout the years, feminists have emphatically maintained that abortion is a “women’s issue” that does not affect men. They must  […]

Setting the Record Straight: Tracy Latimer Was the Victim, Not Robert
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Setting the Record Straight: Tracy Latimer Was the Victim, Not Robert

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In response to the previous article of mine entitled “Canada’s Seething Prejudice Against The Disabled” I received an Anonymous comment concerning the tragic case of Robert Latimer murdering his disabled daughter Tracy nearly twenty years ago. The comment was typical of people who relied on the gross distortions presented by much of Canada’s secular, liberal […]

Canada's Seething Prejudice Against the Disabled
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Canada’s Seething Prejudice Against the Disabled

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Earlier this month, Global Television Network in Canada featured a documentary about the so-called “mercy killing” of children with severe disabilities. The very fact that such a topic is even entertained on national television reveals something about the moral state of my country. The documentary featured two parents: the first was Annette Corriveau who wants […]

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Marketing Infanticide

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Recently, I addressed the idea of Christian perinatal hospice, a concept whereby parents facing a pregnancy involving a terminally ill unborn child are supported to carry their baby to term and prepare for their child’s death. It is a ministry of loving care for the entire family while honoring the humanity of their baby. No […]

The Importance of <em>Christian</em> Perinatal Hospice
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The Importance of Christian Perinatal Hospice

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I do not know what it’s like to lose a child and I hope and pray I never do. All my children, and now grandchildren, are healthy and strong. My family is truly blessed and I try not to forget that fact. There are expectant parents who face the terrible reality that their baby will be […]

Dying Time Can Be Good Time
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Dying Time Can Be Good Time

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The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is an advisory body to the European Union.  Based in Strasbourg, France, PACE has more than three hundred delegates. Their pronouncements of human rights issues are highly influential within the E.U. Last month, PACE passed a resolution (No. 1859) that made a strong statement against euthanasia. […]

The 'Why' of Suffering
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The ‘Why’ of Suffering

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Recently, my wife, LaRee, and I addressed about 75 Christian medical students who came from across Canada’s three western provinces to hear us. We spoke about our sorrows and grief that have accompanied our twenty-eight years living with chronic, degenerative multiple sclerosis. We shared insights we have gained from our Christian perspectives. I spoke about […]

Today's Struggle for Human Rights
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Today’s Struggle for Human Rights

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In America, today commemorates the life of the great civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was one of those moral giants God raised up to guide a nation toward a new stage in its collective moral development. Like Abraham Lincoln, William Lloyd Garrison, and others, he played a pivotal role in opening […]

God Can Transform the Worst Sinners into Saints
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God Can Transform the Worst Sinners into Saints

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Things designed for good can be used for bad purposes. Art in its proper context captures images of beauty in the world or perverted to promote evil such as pornography. Books can teach and enlighten while others promote falsehoods or hatred. (Be careful what you read or watch.) Sometimes that which is life affirming in […]

The Mystery of a King In a Manger
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The Mystery of a King In a Manger

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A tiny heart beat steadily within the baby boy’s mother. The blood circulating through that tiny heart would save us and change millions of human hearts across the centuries; hearts of stone and violence would melt into hearts of flesh and peace and joy. The infant’s birth was like no other birth. It had been […]

Abortion and Euthanasia Acceptance are Historical Aberrations
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Abortion and Euthanasia Acceptance are Historical Aberrations

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Canada and the United States treat abortion on demand as a right. This is a recent development and an aberration from the course of human history. The Hippocratic Oath for doctors dating back thousands of years forbade abortion and euthanasia. Since the 1st century, the Catholic Church has unwaveringly maintained the moral evil of procured […]

The Eyeless "I" of Assisted Suicide
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The Eyeless “I” of Assisted Suicide

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A Canadian court is considering a challenge to the nation’s law prohibiting assisted suicide and euthanasia. Consequently the topic is in the news. I received an email from a woman who doesn’t know what to think as the assisted suicide camp is pulling out all their compassionate sounding euphemisms to promote death. She wanted my […]