A Message Preached on January 22, 2006

TEXT: Psalm 139:13-16

INTRODUCTION:  This morning I want to confront us with the most horrific practice of murder and genocide in the history of the world!

I want to share with you the truth – from the Bible – about what the world calls “abortion”.

This morning I want to challenge us to leave here with “compassionate convictions” regarding an evil that has changed our culture, our values, and our morals.

TODAY…. marks the 33^rd “anniversary” of the legalization of murder -- of the unwanted un-born. 

33 years ago today something happened that radically changed our nation!

On Jan. 22, 1973, nine people in black robes said there are only 3 requirements in our country in order to have a legal abortion:

            1.) The baby must still be inside the mother.

2.) The mother must submit to the procedure willingly.

3.) A licensed doctor must officiate.

            These 9 Supreme Court justices actually wrote the law (legislation) defining abortion and clarifying when it could be done.

1.) They stated that a woman’s right to “privacy” included

      privacy over her “reproductive choices” – including

      whether or not to carry a baby to birth. 

      In essence, the Supreme Court expanded a previously

      unheard of “Constitutional right” = the right to privacy

2.) They stated that a woman had a “constitutional right” to

      pursue an abortion at any time during the 1^st & 2^nd

      trimesters AND could have an abortion at any time during

      the 3d trimester –up until the moment of birth – IF it were

      “medically necessary”.

Back in 1973, the Supreme Court…

3.) (They) did not argue that a baby in the womb was not

      human.

      They did not even debate the question of when life begins:

-- At conception?

-- At some point during the 1^st trimester? OR

-- At birth??

4.) They simply stated that since the baby in the womb could

      not survive on its own then it did not qualify for

      “Personhood” – and thus was not protected by the 14^th

      amendment of the Constitution. 

     The Supreme Court ruled that the un-born were NOT

     “persons”!!

Did you know???  The Supreme Court has been wrong about this issue of “personhood” before!!

In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court declared blacks "... a subordinate and inferior class of beings ..." in its decision in Dred Scott v. Sanford, 60 U.S. 393, 1856.  It was then broadly legal to kill slaves.

Let’s go back in history even further... Did you know that during the 1700s and most of the 1800s our government did not recognize native American Indians as “people” either???  For 200 years it was NOT against the law to kill an American Indian!!  They were NOT considered to be “people” – and thus were NOT protected by the Constitution. 

For most of that same period of time, it was NOT against the Law to kill a black person – for the same reason.  They were NOT considered to be “people”.

Our nation was wrong then; and we are wrong now – about unborn babies!

EXAMPLE: Now think about this for a moment….

How would it sound to you if some pious idiot runs for political office and says, “Well, I personally am against killing Indians (or lynching blacks) BUT I believe everybody ought to be given freedom to make their own choice”?? ---  (That’s Absurd!  That’s wrong!!)  AND YET EVERY SINGLE DAY you’ll hear someone say the exact same thing about abortion: “Well, I personally am against abortion, BUT I believe everybody ought to be given freedom to make their own choice”!

33 year ago today…

5.) (Basically), the Supreme Court ruled that a baby in the

mother’s womb – while it MAY be human and while it MAY be alive – it was NOT a viable person and therefore, could not be protected by law – and could be murdered at any time until birth!

In one momentous stroke; these Supreme Court justices…

n  …changed the laws of 46 states -- without the people (or the

      legislators) of those states ever having an opportunity to      

      vote on the issue!!

n  …imposed upon the American people a system of legalized murderous genocide!

n  …tore away the façade of public decency and revealed the paganism of the darkest regions of our society!

n  …ripped away the innocence of our nation!

n  …changed the moral fabric of our country!

What has happened to and in our country since January 22, 1973?

(Statistics)

WORLDWIDE

Number of abortions per year: Approximately 46 Million
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 126,000

UNITED STATES

Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996)
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700

SINCE 1973: An estimated 45+ million American babies have been murdered!!

ABORTION IS THE MOST HORRIFIC EXAMPLE OF GENOCIDE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!!!

• What is “Genocide”??
• Webster's New World Encyclopedia, Prentice Hall General Reference, 1992, defines "genocide" as "The deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, racial, religious, political, cultural, ethnic, or other group defined by the exterminators as undesirable."
• Planned Parenthood came out with their slogan in the 80’s: “Every Baby a Wanted Baby”.  Their answer for those babies who were not planned or wanted = Kill it!!

Who's having abortions (age)?

52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Teenagers obtain 20% and

Girls under 15 account for 1.2%.

20% of all young ladies today will have an abortion by the time they are 19! [Focus on the Family website, 2005]

What is going on every single day in our country??

3,700 babies will be destroyed tomorrow!!! 

Procedures

-          some will be cut up into small pieces

-          their bodies will be sucked out of the womb

-          their remains will be either sealed in jars or burnt (incinerated) just like any other medical waste product

Poisons – including salt (saline solution)

-          some moms will lay there and allow the doctor to inject a saline solution (salt) into her womb which will burn her baby to death!

-          Some moms will be injected with chemicals used for ulcers or for chemotherapy in order to kill the baby

-           

Partial-Birth Abortion

-          This is the process of partially delivering the baby (feet first), and before the head is delivered, they thrust an object in the head and suck out the brains and collapse the head.

-          In every case where this practice was supposedly stopped by legislation; it has been kept alive by radical judges! 

-          One such judge said, “…this gruesome procedure may be outlawed only if there exists a medical consensus that there is no circumstance in which any woman could potentially benefit from it.”

Morning-after pills + RU-486

-          Some women will refuse to use contraceptives and will turn around and destroy their tiny baby with the use of “morning after pills”

NOTE: Basic Principle of all Hormone-related Pills:  If these pills are used to prevent ovulation or fertilization, then they are considered “birth control” and I do not believe the Bible condemns that.  HOWEVER, if these pills are used after fertilization to prevent the implantation of the embryo (baby) in the wall of the mother’s uterus so that he/she can receive nourishment, then that is considered abortion.

The issue we face today is MORE than the evil, barbaric practice of abortion – at the rate of over 3,700 per day!!  The issue we face today is the total corruption of what the Bible calls “natural affection”.

II Timothy 3:3 and Romans 1:31 are two descriptive lists of the attributes of a godless society. One phrase found in both these lists is this:  “without natural affection”.

n  God made mankind with the innate sense of pity for that which is weak and defenseless.

n  God made mankind with a “natural affection” for family and (especially) for children.

n  God made mankind with a natural attraction toward members of the opposite gender

BUT TODAY….

• We live in a society that is NOT normal!!
• We live in a society that no longer has “natural affection” towards the weakest and most defenseless amongst us – the unborn!
• We live in a society that does NOT value babies!
• We live in a society that has lost its soul!!
• We live in a society that no longer blushes with shame at their sin!   They laugh and make movies about sin!
• We live in a society (the real “culture of corruption”) that does NOT value the joys of the home, the worth of child-bearing, and the value of being parents!!
• We live in a society that doesn’t even utilize common sense or common decency!

EXAMPLE of Ronald Reagan’s logic: "If you don’t know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it. I think this consideration itself should be enough for all of us to insist on protecting the unborn.”

• BUT INSTEAD… our society places all the glory on the pursuit of a career, your own personal life, and a materialism which can seemingly afford almost everything except another child!!

DID YOU KNOW????   The Supreme Court upheld Roe in a later case because they said it would cost society too much to change the law!!   

In 1992, in a decision in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey 505 U.S. 833. The plurality in Casey (Justices O' Connor, Kennedy & Souter) made no serious attempt to justify abortion constitutionally or morally. They simply argued that the cost of ending abortion was too high:

“... [F]or two decades of economic and social developments, people have organized intricate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail. The ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives. The Constitution serves human values and while the effect of reliance on Roe cannot be exactly measured, neither can the certain cost of overruling Roe for people who have ordered their thinking and living around that case be dismissed.”

IN OTHER WORDS… the Supreme Court upheld Roe v. Wade in 1992 so that women could continue to make as much money as men in the pursuit of their careers!!!

May God have mercy on our nation!!

We are a nation that is “without natural affections”!

We are a nation of double standards!!

We are more concerned about the protection and care for animals than for the unborn!!

(In 1999) The Endangered Species Act protected 3 amphibians, 56 birds, 7 clams, 2 crustaceans, 29 fish, 8 mammals, 21 reptiles, 2 snails and 42 plants - and their unborn offspring.  But America does not protect an unborn human baby.       

EXAMPLE: A Florida man was arrested for stealing turtle eggs from the beach.

a) He defended himself by saying that the eggs were not yet      

    "life."

b) His argument was not good enough; he was convicted and

    fined.

c) According to the law, a turtle egg is alive, but an unborn

    baby is not alive!

EXAMPLES:  Here are some of the outrageous fines recently levied by our courts:

a) $4,000 for killing cats.
b) $1,360 and 60 days in jail for torturing and killing rabbits.
c) $10,000 for doing anything to a tree other than hugging it!

d) But no fines for killing a baby - even a partially born baby

EXAMPLE: The penalty for killing an unborn eagle in this country used to be a fine of up to $5000 and up to five years in prison. But, the killing of an unborn baby is not considered a crime at all, as long as the mother approves.

What a double standard!!!

We all have heard about the girl who a few years ago left the prom, gave birth to her baby into a toilet, and then returned to the dance.  She was arrested for murder (as she should have been…), but wait a minute.  Wasn’t she told it was ok?  After all, she could have taken care of that an hour earlier at a clinic and it would have been fine!

            Or, you probably heard about the father, who, when handed his newborn son, threw him against the wall of the delivery room, killing him.  He was arrested for murder, as he should have been.  But wait…it would’ve been ok just minutes before to let a doctor kill it.

A few years ago a mother drowned all 5 of her children, why did she go to jail?  Can’t you see the double standard?

How do intelligent people defend this barbaric practice??

The basic argument of Pro-Choice Feminists is that abortion is a matter of reproductive rights – and that they have a right to choose for themselves whether or not to reproduce – because “it’s their body”!!

How do we answer that? The Bible’s teaches…

1.) Only God has absolute rights. The only rights I have are really

      privileges God allows me to possess out of Grace. Mankind has no

      absolute rights.

2.) No one has rights to his own body. Whatever liberties God has

     extended to us, the freedom to do with our bodies as we wish, is not

     among them. (I Cor. 6:19, 20)

a.)    In marriage especially, one’s control over his or her own    

      body is delegated to the marriage partner. (I Cor. 7:4)

b.) Even if the mother had rights over her own body, the

     developing unborn baby is not part of her body.

This is a biological fact!!  The preborn child has a separate blood supply, separate brain waves, separate circulatory system, separate heartbeat, and its own separate will.

EXAMPLE: Life magazine in the April 30, 1965 issue noted that from the day of fertilization the human embryo is antigenetically foreign tissue to its mother.

THIS IS the 1^st KEY TRUTH --- CONTROL OF ONE’S BODY BELONGS TO THE LORD.

THIS IS A 2^nd KEY BIBLE TRUTH – “Life Begins at Conception”!! 

That baby inside your womb is NOT a part of your body!!  The baby doesn’t become a person…

…at some point during the 1^st or 2^nd trimester!

…at some point of “fetal viability”!

…at birth!

Life begins at conception!! And, even in the womb, God confers upon that unborn baby all the attributes of personhood!!

NOTICE WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES:

Psalm 139:13-16 = For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Isaiah 49:1 & 5 = Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (5) And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.

Jeremiah 1:5 = Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Exodus 21:22-25 = teaches that if a man hurt a woman to cause her to have a premature birth, that man would have to pay a fine.  BUT if either the mom or the child died, then that man would have to pay with the death penalty!

Luke 1:41 & 44 = And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: (44) For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

LET’S SUMMARIZE:

1. Your body is not your own to do with as you chose!
2. Your body belongs to God!
3. The baby in the womb is NOT a part of your body anyway!
4. Life begins at conception!!  Upon conception, that baby is a living, human being whom God recognizes as a distinct person!
5. If God gives you the gift of baby, you have a responsibility to take care of that child as best you can – either through parenting or placing the child up for adoption!

Why do women have abortions?

(Statistics)

Why women have abortions:

The Alan Guttmacher Institute (the research arm of Planned Parenthood) states the following:

-          1% are victims of incest or rape,

-          1% had fetal abnormalities,

-          4% had a doctor who said their health would worsen if they continued the pregnancy,

-          50% said they didn’t want to be a single parent or they had problems in the current relationship,

-          66% said stated they could not afford a child,

-          75% said the child would interfere with their lives or career.

A recent poll of couples in New England revealed that if they were able to know the future 1% would abort a child on the basis of sex, 6% would about a child likely to get Alzheimer’s disease, and incredibly 11% would abort a child predisposed to obesity.

HOW DEPRAVED AND PAGAN CAN WE SINK?!!

We are in a battle!

-          a spiritual warfare

-          a cultural warfare

-          a culture of death verses a culture of life

-          a war of values and morals!

What can you do to stop this genocide??

1.      Study (for yourself) God’s Word about this issue!

2.      Make up your mind!! You MUST be 100% convinced that abortion is the intentional and direct killing of an innocent human being.  It is a form of homicide.  The unborn child is always an innocent party.  Even when conceived through the horrible circumstance of rape or incest, the fault is not the child’s.  He or she should not be killed for another person’s sin.

The Arguments Against Abortion after Rape:  Will killing a baby conceived in rape somehow "unrape" its mother? Will the baby's death miraculously heal her injury? Will killing this child cause her to forget the horror of her assault? Or will all the guilt and pain and injury of the rape simply be compounded by the guilt and pain and injury of the abortion?

3.      Be informed. We simply cannot bury our heads in the sand.  We need to study the issues and the arguments – and the Scriptures – and be able to give an answer!

4.      Work and Pray… for a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade.  A majority of Americans say they believe abortion is wrong in some circumstances.  BUT THEY HAVE BEEN LULLED TO SLEEP.  After 33 years, there’s no horror!  There’s no outrage!!  These unborn children need us to speak for them!! We may never get that law changed, but we can educate people and show them there is a choice, and help them choose life.

We need to work to change the laws!  We need to support every possible legal measure that will limit / restrict abortion!

5.      Teach sexual morality and traditional values in your home!  We need to teach our children the value of life and the virtue and honor of marriage and motherhood.  We need to teach our kids a higher standard than “safe sex”!

6.      Have more compassion for unwed mothers.

A.    God loves them! 

B.     We must preach against pre-marital sex, but once the mistake is made, she needs unconditional love – especially here at church!

We soon forget there are two victims in abortion – the child who dies and the mother who bears the emotional and psychological scars.

David Reardon in his book, The Jericho Plan says, “Abortion is an act of despair.” He notes over 70 percent of women undergoing abortion believe the procedure is morally wrong. They have fallen prey to Satan’s conception deception and act against their conscience because they feel they have no other choice. David Reardon points out that those who are experiencing doubts, grief or regret about the abortion are unable to share that pain. He said, “They don’t feel they can share with their own family, much less within their church, because they’re afraid of the rejection.” If they try to share their grief with someone who is pro-choice, they are going to be told: “Just forget about it and go on with your life. It really wasn’t a baby yet.”

7.      Speak out clearly without apology!! The abortionists are winning in the sense that they are convincing the public that this is a private issue – and really shouldn’t be discussed in public or politics.  Nearly 60% of Americans believe that, although abortion may be wrong, it is a private issue between a woman and her doctor – and the politicians and preachers should mind their own business!  If you accept that, you’re giving in!!

8.      Be careful NOT to incite violence!! Rather than assaulting women in pregnancy centers, we must be assisting women in crisis pregnancy centers.

9.      Vote with Biblical convictions! We need to elect public officials who are pro-life!! This issue should absolutely be a litmus test for our political support.

10.  Pray for God to have mercy on America, and to give us space to repent…and to bring national revival.

Today we don’t take our babies and children and sacrifice them to the god Molech as the Cannaanites did!  We don’t take our babies and sacrifice them to the Nile River as the Egyptians used to do.  We don’t sacrifice our children to idols --- BUT America has no problem with sacrificing their babies to the god of convenience!!

FINAL PLEA: By the time you come home from work tomorrow, 3,700 – 4,000 more innocent people will be submitted to capital punishment, although they will have had no trial before they are executed. 

They have no attorney, and will not be granted the basic rights of even a prisoner of war. 

Not only will they not be treated humanely… not only will they not be afforded the basic anesthetics used by every veterinarian in the world, but they will die a torturous death, ripped apart by forceps and injected with toxins.

Someone has to do something to stop the killing of innocent babies!

CONCLUSION:  Abortion is not the unforgivable sin. Those who have had abortions and those who performed them can and will be forgiven, if they will repent.

We have a job to do… At the very least let us teach our children and others, there are alternatives and show them the love that God has for them and the children.

INVITATION:

1. Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?  Was there a definite time and place to which you can look back to as your spiritual birthday?

2. What are you doing to stop this horrible genocide? 
   1. Have you prayed for our country and our leaders?
   2. Have you written any letters to your elected officials?
   3. Have you debated with your neighbor? 
   4. Have you stood up and spoken out? 
   5. Have you helped or supported any unwed mothers – who were trying to do the right thing? 
   6. Have you voted with Biblical convictions?
   7. Have you made a difference at all? 
   8. Have you at least influenced your own family (children and grandchildren) with the truth about morality and values?

3. Part of the problem is that our society is so wrapped up in materialism and lust for things – that there is little value placed on just being a mother and raising a family. 
   1. How much have we, as a church, fallen into that same mindset? 
   2. How consumed with the world and things are we?
   3. It should not surprise us, when our children turn out far different than what we expected – because, although we spoke about old-fashioned values and family, our children could see it really wasn’t what we lived for!!

Pastor’s Note: Please understand that these notes were derived from hours of research. Many books, articles, and websites were consulted and many of the ideas are borrowed from others. Although I have attempted to give credit for direct quotes, other footnotes may have been unintentionally omitted. I have not knowingly attempted to steal anyone’s material. Please use these notes with the understanding that many of the ideas are not original to me.