The War Against Abortion

      I would like to break with my normal blog posts about Proverbs and focus on a matter that I feel is very important. I would like to show the root cause for abortion and what is the best way to deal with abortion. I am not going to show how terrible abortion is. This is assumed. It is murder. I think this is very self evident. When people want their baby, it is a baby and we do all we can to protect the baby, even the government encourages us to do this. When we don't want the baby, then we are permitted by the government to kill the baby. Such is the strange hypocrisy in our land.

 The reason people allow, perform, and ask for abortions is not a lack of information. We know more about what happens in the womb than all the generations before us. We have ultrasound machines. We have research and pictures. These may reinforce what we already know deep down inside that this baby is really alive. But abortions are legal not because of a lack of information. Abortions are legal because of the sin of mankind's heart.

Abortion is a spiritual problem. When we fight against abortion, we are engaged in a spiritual war. People allow, perform, and ask for abortions because they are selfish and proud. Abortion is a form of child sacrifice to our idols. The Israelites were warned never to sacrifice their children to the god Molech. "You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD." Lev 18:21. If they did, they were to be killed. And if other Israelites ignore what happens, God would kill them as well. See Leviticus 20:1-5. While our country does not worship Molech, it does worship other gods that may require the sacrifice of infants. The god Work may demand a child sacrifice when that child gets in the way of a career. The god Pleasure may demand a child sacrifice to get rid of the consequences of sexual promiscuity. We could go on, but really the god above these gods that asks for child sacrifice is the god Self. Self desires children to be sacrificed when ever the child prevents Self from pursuing what it wants. We abort babies because by nature we want to be God just like Adam and Eve when they ate the forbidden fruit. People are lovers of themselves. They have rejected God and His Word. They want to be God, so they can live as they please. Since they have rejected God, God has given them over to a debased mind. They call what is good evil and what is evil good. They don't want to listen to why abortion is wrong. The root cause of abortion is the wicked heart of man. Jesus said, "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder...." Mark 7:21. Abortion is murder and it comes from the wicked heart of man.

 Since abortion is a spiritual problem, it must be addressed by using a spiritual solution. If it is spiritual warfare, then we are fight against it with spiritual weapons. All other methods of ending abortion will ultimately fail, since they don't address the root of this sin; that is the heart. "For though we walk in the flesh, we are waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.
 
What weapons has God given us? We have two weapons to fight this spiritual war. The first weapon is the Word of God. " the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Ephesians 6:17b.  The truth is used to combat lies. God's word is powerful. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is he power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..." Romans 1:16. When it is preached, taught, explained, or read, the Spirit uses the Word of God to destroy the lies of Satan. The word of God is used by the Spirit to convert sinners and make them born again. "Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God."1 Peter 1:23.
 The second weapon we have in this spiritual war is prayer, "praying at all times in the Spirit," Ephesians 6:18a.  "The prayer of a righteous man has great power as it is working." James 5:16. Prayer is asking for the help of a Sovereign God with infinite power. He can change hearts, governments, laws and nations. With these two weapons we are fully equipped for any spiritual battle.

The most effective way to end abortion is then to use these two spiritual weapons. We need the word of God faithfully preached in churches so Christians are equipped to go out into the world and bring the gospel to those they come in contact with. Healthy churches that zealously evangelize will have the greatest impact on the culture. Praying churches and Christians are a powerful weapon against the sins of our time. These are more powerful to end abortion than all other methods and weapons of the flesh.

Christ commissioned His Church to "make disciples of all nations" and to teach "them to observe all that I have commanded you." Matthew 28:19,20 We are not called to change our culture. But when we do what we have been called to do then we have the greatest possibility to change our culture. We can be sure that when we do God's work in God's way that He will bless it. Our task is to be faithful to what God has called us and to leave the results in His hands. We may not change our culture. We may not end abortion. Those are not the goals of the Church. Faithfulness to the commission of our Lord is.

My concern is many churches have become side tracked in their task. Instead of being faithful to reach others with the gospel and teach others the gospel, we have focused more on ending abortion, influencing politics, and other social issues like euthanasia or childhood hunger. Some people seem more concerned about ending abortion than evangelizing to the lost souls around us. Our focus and passion for pro-life endeavors are overshadowing what Christ has commissioned us to do. Let me show by way of an illustration how important it is that we stay on task. A general has come up with a very detailed battle plan. Each regiment has a task to do that is key to the success of the battle. The officers are given their orders for the battle. But suppose one officer during the battle decides that the general was wrong about his objective. This officer thinks it is more important to attack another enemy stronghold. So he directs his troops to attack his objective. This foolish disobedience would greatly hinder the success of the battle. The same is true for the Christian soldier fighting the Lord's battles. Follow His plans!

 Another concern I have is the way they fight against abortion using the weapons of this world. The weapons of this world, such as protesting or political activism, can't be effective to stop abortion. Such weapons are of limited value as they cannot break the hard hearts of those who support abortion. Our country is becoming more and more depraved. Sin has a hardening effect. There is a moral downward spiral that we cannot get out of no matter what laws are made or what government we have. Our country has rejected God and the truth. Those in power, the government and the media, are the most corrupt or they refuse to do anything. Our country is a living example of Romans 1: 18-32. We may slow the slide with fleshly weapons, but we can't stop it. Only God could stop it with a revival and a reformation of the church. Use God's weapons!

I would say in conclusion, the war against abortion is best fought by staying true to the commission of our King and using His weapons. I do believe that we need to remind our governments in a respectful way of their duty to protect the lives of the unborn. We are blessed to have this freedom as we live in a democracy, unlike so many countries. While this is of some importance, it is always secondary to our commission to spread the gospel and live the gospel. Without that, all other efforts to end abortion are vain.

-Brad-