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Lessons From Adrian

Posted by James P. McGarvey , 27 July 2010 · 1168 views

Adrian is my first grandson. He was unplanned but not unwanted or unloved. He was born out of wedlock but not out of God's Providence. When I look into his eyes I am mindful that he is fashioned in the image of God, a reflection of the glory and majesty of his Creator. When we take the life of one of these little ones while in the sanctuary of their mother's womb, we both deface the image and glory of God and wound the heart of their Father. As a father and grandfather, I think I can understand the grief and sorrow that God must experience when one of His innocents suffer indescribable pain and indignity as they are denied their right to live. Can you imagine what their Father's response must be? I should not want to be in His way when He metes out justice to those responsible for the shedding of their blood. God's holiness demands an accounting. He said to Cain, "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground." (Genesis 4:10 emphasis mine) God "…avenges blood… he does not ignore the cry of the afflicted." (Psalm 9:12).
Over three thousand babies die each day in the USA - 137 every hour 24/7. How are you personally responding to this epidemic of premeditated bloodshed? Do we individually bear any responsibility? Are we indicted by our silence? Are we culpable for our ambivalence to the killing taking place in the abortion clinic, OB-GYN office or hospital we drive by each day? Those who sacrificed their children to the demon god Molech (Psalm 106:37) and those who did not intervene, were both held accountable by the Lord. "If any of them devote their children as burnt offerings to Molech, they must be stoned to death by people of the community. I myself will turn against them and cut them off from the community, because they have defiled my sanctuary and profaned my name by giving their children to Molech. And if the people of the community ignore this offering of children to Molech and refuse to execute the guilty parents, then I myself will turn against them and cut them off from the community, along with all those who commit prostitution by worshiping Molech." (Leviticus 20:2b-5 NLT)
Perhaps the Church, like our society, has become desensitized to the ritual child killing taking place daily behind closed doors, perhaps unable or unwilling to consciously process the magnitude of the slaughter. Could this explain the silence of the pulpits – hearts numb to the carnage of over fifty million murdered since 1973? Does this give us license to remain unconcerned, uncaring and un-involved? Is the Church so self-absorbed with its own well being, success, acceptance, and "relevance" that it has lost its prophetic voice in a culture of death and abandoned its compassionate response to the abortion minded? Has the fear of man (a pastor who told me half of his people would leave if he spoke on abortion, or another who said, "I don't address that subject from my pulpit.") over ruled our fear of God? Are the proponents of abortion rights, the abortion minded, and the post-abortive, beyond the reach of the Gospel? On the contrary, the Gospel is the only solution to abortion despite the silence of our pulpits. In his book, Answering the Call, Pastor John Ensor reveals that thirty percent of his congregation were post-abortive. He writes, "…this sin so stained their conscience that many struggled with whether God could or should really forgive them…The silence of the pulpit only adds to their condemnation. The message sent is that this sin is so horrific that we cannot address it. And perversely, silence for those who, at that moment, are frightened and embarrassed by pregnancy, is interpreted to mean approval of abortion." Perhaps this explains why 18% of women having abortions in America identify themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians. That translates to well over two hundred thousands babies a year.
Abortion is first and foremost a spiritual issue. Abortion is a satanic enterprise. Satan is the architect of abortion. (John 8:44) The Church is the only institution that is spiritually equipped to engage the satanic forces behind abortion, therefore the Church must take the lead in the effort to end abortion. Martin Luther said, "If I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proven, and to be steady on all the battle-fronts besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." I know how I feel about little Adrian – it must be similar to God's heart for the unborn.