Note from the Editor/Publisher:
Yesterday was “Mother’s Day” in America, the day we’ve designated to give tribute to and honor the hundreds of millions of mothers in our nation, for all they have done and do in the vital role as mothers to and for us all. Everyone has a natural mother, though, sadly, some individuals, through various circumstances, were deprived of a relationship with their mother, or even knowing who their mother is or was. Nevertheless, a person cannot be born into this world without a mother. We all were conceived in the womb of a mother. Mothers are vital to our lives, in innumerable ways, and we are all born with a God-placed love in our hearts for our mothers—that’s why we’ve set this one day aside in our nation to honor and express to them in various ways how much we love and appreciate them and all they’ve done for us.
For this reason, it is mindboggling how a woman who is the mother of five children and the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives over this past weekend could be so denigrating to the high office of motherhood as to send out an email to Democrat party members denouncing “Republican lawmakers for voting for a bill that would eliminate virtually all taxpayer funding of abortions across all governmental programs and agencies” (Read article at: Pelosi Trashes Pro-Life Bill on Mother’s Day), and appealing to constituents to contribute to enable the party to purchase advertising to aggressively oppose the legislation.
With what may be the most pivotal national election cycle in our nation’s history approaching, it is vital that Christians consider and solidify their own position on one vital issue concerning which American voters will require political candidates to declare their position, and which may just be the most critical issue determining our nation’s future.
Such unimaginable political crudity on, of all times, Mother’s Day weekend, really demonstrates just how indoctrinated and hardened some abortion proponents are in America and how determined they are to continue their campaign to legitimize the barbarous murder of the unborn through the legalization of abortion. It also punctuated and confirmed for me, the Lord’s leading to publish the following edited article by contributor John Stallings.
America’s Greatest Sin
By John Stallings
[As edited by Steven Lambert]
Recently I heard an economist explaining how America got into the financial trouble we’re now in. Toward the end of his rather lengthy presentation, he said something I wasn’t at all expecting that in fact shocked me! He said, “Abortion is at the root of all our (economic) problems. America could come out of this current dilemma in a few years, but the one thing that would stop us from getting the American dream back would be that soon there won’t be enough people alive to have a robust work force. We’ve killed too many.”
This man wasn’t on an anti-abortion rant, and actually alluded to the subject of abortion only in passing. His field of expertise, as well as the topic he was addressing, was economics.
He said something else that floored me as well: “Our only hope for a future is the Latin-Americans and other ethnic groups who are still having lots of children.”
Just one example of the many economic dilemmas our nation is facing in this hour is funding of the Social Security Program. Fact is: for every retired American currently drawing Social Security payments, several working Americans must pay into the system through the federal withholding tax (FICA), even though those workers themselves will likely not collect Social Security payments when they reach retirement age, because if the funding input/output ratio remains as it presently is, there will not be sufficient FICA funding taken in to pay the ever-increasing number of retired Americans looking to draw from the system. Indeed, federal agencies such as the Government Accounting Office (GAO) and Social Security Administration (SSA) have been up front about the fact that, if current trends continue, the Social Security Program simply will be bankrupt and defunct when those presently under the age of fifty-five reach retirement age. Why? Not enough people in the work force to support it.
According to one recent report, every human being that is born and lives in America has the average potential of contributing more than $250,000 to the tax base during their working years. However, the unintended but nevertheless real consequence of the massive numbers of abortions in America since Roe v. Wade, is that it will reduce tax revenues by billions of dollars over the next 40 years, as well as drastically deplete the national goods and services consumption, the bedrock of the nation’s economy, by billions of dollars.
On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, consisting of nine judges, ruled that under the auspices of the U.S. Constitution the unborn are not legal persons. Essentially, the court said that an unborn fetus is the chattel or personal property of the owner, that is, the mother, and that as the owner, she has the right, with the agreement of her physician, to at any time, even right up the time of birth, request her physician terminate the pregnancy—meaning, kill the baby. In effect, the court legalized genocide of the unborn at will, and during the less than four decades that have passed since that ruling, best estimates are that more than 50 million pregnancies have been aborted in America alone.
Let us be clear about what abortion actually is. Bluntly stated, in the overwhelming majority of abortions, what we are talking about is a willful decision by a mother to evacuate her impregnated womb for the sake of her own, as well as her sexual partners’ in some cases, convenience and perceived happiness, with the end result being the cessation of the life of her unborn child. I realize that the terms I am using in this article stand in stark contrast to the euphemistic terminology invoked by pro-abortion commentators in order to obfuscate and lessen the psychological impact of the unvarnished truth about what abortion is and its immediate consequences, nevertheless, what I speak are the irrefutable facts.
One of the great tragedies of this epidemic en masse extermination is that there’s no way of knowing how many great musicians, scientists, ministers, architects, economists, inventors, and so on, were among that multitude of terminated lives. Nor is there any way to know how many problems will go unsolved, dilemmas that will remain unresolved, discoveries that will not be discovered, and inventions that will not be invented in America and the world because all those prospects were annihilated with the cessation of those unborn lives.
Pulling Back The Curtain To Examine The Unadulterated Truth About Abortion
Sometimes I wonder if women realize what they are really doing when they have an abortion. I don’t mean I doubt their intelligence, but rather if they are deliberately turning a deaf ear or closing their eyes to the truth, as some do regarding tobacco use, gluttony and other eating disorders, alcohol abuse, and the use of other substances irrefutably proven to be harmful to human life, and simply refusing to be confronted with in-depth information on the matter in order to avoid psychological conviction and the responsibility that inures with it.
Think on these few facts about that life that has been conceived inside a mother’s womb:
- From the moment of conception, a baby has its own unique individual identity; its own set of genes, chromosomes, and many other physical traits entirely unique to that human life.
- At 19 days after conception the eyes begin to develop.
- At 24 days the heart is developed enough to begin beating.
- At 30 days the unborn baby is an inch long yet has a brain, eyes, ears, mouth, kidneys, and liver.
- At 35 days his/her fingers have formed.
- At 40 days brain waves can be detected and recorded.
- In the tenth week after conception the baby squints, swallows, and hiccups, and has fingerprints that will remain for the rest of his/her life.
- By the fourth month the baby’s ears are functioning and he/she can hear his/her mother’s voice for the first time; he/she begins to suck his/her thumb developing the instinct needed for sucking the breast after birth.
- By the seventh month, in addition to hearing, the baby actually recognizes the mother’s voice when she talks, and can now also see, taste, and experience the sensation of touch.
- By the ninth month the baby typically weighs between six and nine pounds, and his/her heart pumps 300 gallons of blood per day, which courses through a highly developed circulatory system consisting of millions of vessels; and, at this juncture, the baby is fully capable of life outside the womb, if only given the chance.
Indeed, one positive and somewhat encouraging development is that since the invention and employment of the sonogram as a prenatal aid abortions have decreased, presumably due to the psychological impact upon a pregnant mother actually seeing with her own eyes the amazing and inspiring images of the little person living and developing inside her womb.
Again, speaking forthrightly, what besides “satanic” can a law that legalizes the killing of an eight-week old fetus be called? An eight-week old fetus has a beating heart, an EKG, brain waves, pain sensitivity, a unique genetic code, and can suck his/her thumb and grasp his/her own fingers. But under our present laws, an unborn baby isn’t a human person with rights under the 14th Amendment of our Constitution, which provides that “no state shall deprive any person of life without due process of law.”
Strange Legal Comparisons
Why is it illegal in every state in America to maim or mutilate an animal, but the life of an unborn human is not so protected under our laws?
Isn’t it strange that there are quotas and limitations on the harvesting of porpoises, whales, and other sea creatures, and a host of endangered species, but it’s effectively always “open season” on unborn babies?
If you destroy the egg of a bald eagle you can be fined $5,000, but if you are a licensed medical practitioner you can terminate the life of an unborn baby and make about $350 for the process.
Do you think that our ghettos and crime-ridden streets are the most dangerous places in America? Think again. A baby in its mother’s womb has a one-in-three chance of making it out alive.
Isn’t it a little schizophrenic that today in America a 14-year old girl cannot legally buy cigarettes or alcohol, or attend an x-rated movie, and in some places can’t even get her ears pierced without parental permission, but she can legally have an abortion, terminating a human life, without any legal ramifications? I ask you, does that not sound like a diabolical plan or satanic plot to you?
If you took a pregnant female dog and abused her like a woman is abused in an abortion clinic, and then evacuated her womb of the pups she was carrying, and the authorities found out about it, you would be arrested, punished some way (even by our liberal courts), forever identified as a felon for animal-cruelty, and be treated by the liberal media as scum of the earth. But, if you undergo a “medical procedure” to suck out of your womb the living “tissue” of your unborn child, you are simply doing what you have a legal right to do, and no one thinks a thing of it.
Abortion Was Hatched In The Halls Of Hell!
There is no doubt in my mind whatever that abortion is a weapon in the arsenal of Satan that was hatched in the halls of hell itself. My wife and I live fairly close to an abortion clinic, and almost every day we drive by it, we see people lining the sidewalk in front of it holding signs and lawfully engaging in peaceful protests. From time to time, we see a large refrigerated big-rig truck and trailer backing up to the rear of the building, holding up traffic for several minutes in the process. Knowing some things I know about what goes on in such clinics and some of the gory details of the procedures they engage in, I won’t drag your mind into the scene, but I always get a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach particularly when I see this big-rig making its way to the back door of this clinic, because in my heart I know what the cargo is that is on-loaded into that refrigerated trailer. This whole business is the work of Satan and those who profit from it. The people who traffic in this awful enterprise will someday face a Holy God in judgment to give account for their despicable deeds!
Nonsensical Pro-Abortion Arguments
What about some of the absurd arguments people make in an attempt to defend abortion? Here’s one: “We’re running out of room on the planet.” That’s about as silly of a lie as they come. Have you driven around this nation lately, especially in the interior and western states west of the Mississippi River? Have you ever driven through Texas? Whether you were traversing the Lone Star State from east to west or vice-versa, or north to south, you were driving for many long and seemingly endless hours. In some parts of Texas there’s so much open-space that with a good pair of glasses you can see next week’s train coming today.
Ever been to Australia or New Zealand? I haven’t, but they tell me those expansive island continents are extremely sparsely populated.
I went to China in 1981, and remember there being thousands of square miles of open, undeveloped, and unpopulated spaces there.
Have you done any flying lately, whether in the U.S. or oversees? In some countries there are cities that are densely populated, but mostly what you see as you look out the window is wide open spaces, undeveloped territory. Yes, some of that wide open territory is uninhabitable, but nevertheless there’s certainly still plenty of room on this earth to accommodate the entire world’s population twice or thrice over, making the proposition of the need for population control via on-demand abortion ludicrous.
Another flimsy excuse I’ve heard people invoke concerning abortion is: “There’s not enough food to feed multitudes of new people! All those babies could someday starve!” That’s not only a lie, it’s a ridiculous lie! There’s plenty of food, and God has made the universe in such a way that we can always grow more if we need it, that is, if the government would stop the subsidy and other programs that are aimed at forcing farmers to stop growing food, and get out of the way and let farmers do what they are very capable of doing. If they did, we could in a few short years once again have a food surplus large enough to feed the entire world’s population.
At present, in one of the most fertile areas of farm land in California, the government has shut off vital water supplies, leaving farmers unable to do their work, because the Liberals in Washington are afraid of doing harm to some species of supposedly “endangered” indigenous critters. May God help us!
No, this is just another preposterous excuse that doesn’t hold even a drop of water. If you say it’s okay to snuff out the lives of young Americans because we “can’t afford” or choose not to feed them, we should remember what we call people who put economics above morality – among other things, we call them prostitutes, thieves, drug dealers, Wall Street Ponzi-Schemers, and self-aggrandizing politicians.
Then, how about this preposterous claim: “We’re running out of natural resources.” Are you kidding me? You can’t really be serious with this one! I know all the tree-hugging Greenpeace and Sierra Club types really have bought into this bizarre and totally groundless deception, but do you really think the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth would tailor-make a planet on which He placed His cherished Mankind-Creation that would run out of everything needed to sustain human life and civilizations, thereby causing the annihilation of that Creation? I guess that would be the equivalent of a Divine “ooops!” Didn’t happen; couldn’t happen! The unexplainable mysteries and intricacies of God’s design of humans and the universe He supernaturally manufactured simply through oral decree that are so manifestly visible to every seeing human vehemently and vociferously totally negates such a prospect!
Al Gore’s fear-mongering movie about Climate Change, which has contributed so much to the widely accepted delusions concerning the environmental future of our planet, was fraught with absurd lies and scientifically unproven theories. In no way am I advocating thoughtless squandering of global natural resources, for I personally believe we should take reasonable measures to be good stewards of the beautiful planet and its natural resources God has given us through His unfathomable Creational works. However, the polar bears at the North Pole are doing as well as they ever have, and are in no danger of extinction, and will continue that way far into the future, along with all the other creatures of God’s Creation, so long as we respect them as God’s creatures and refrain from destructive human activities that endanger them.
Regarding the matter of pollution of our natural resources – air, water, and fuel sources – the reality is that the greatest source of environmental pollutants, in many ways, is the earth itself. Far out in the middle of the world’s oceans, crude oil can be seen on the surface of the water seeping out and up from massive unexplored undersea oil-fields. There are places on the planet where you can walk along and see large ponds of unmined crude oil lying on the beaches along the shorelines as well as on the top-soil of interior land areas. In many of those places, you can’t walk the countryside without collecting oil on your shoes. That seems to me to be the earth itself revealing the superabundant and inexhaustible supply of oil that is hidden deep within the bowels of the earth that was placed there by God for Man’s use for as long as “the earth remains” (Gen. 8:22).
Such assurances spring from knowing God and His nature personally, experientially, and intimately. One of His names is, “El Shaddai,” which literally means, “the God who is MORE THAN ENOUGH!” Names are markers of the nature of the entity bearing the name. God’s nature is to be hyper-generous in His giving. When He gives, it’s not in stingy, paltry proportions, rather His nature is to lavish with not barely enough, but MORE THAN enough—“pressed down shaken together and running over” (Lk. 6:38). His promises are always on the order of “opening up the windows of heaven and pouring out such a blessing that you will not be able to contain it all” (Mal. 3:10), or as the NASB puts it, “until it overflows!” When God bestows, it is always “exceedingly abundantly beyond all we can ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). God always gives His BEST and fullest, which is manifestly clear in who and what He gave for Man’s redemption: “God so loved the world that He gave His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON” (Jn. 3:16). Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it MORE ABUNDANTLY” (Jn. 10:10, KJV). If only believers would shun the natural tendencies toward the covetous nature of Satan and abandon themselves and their resources to walk in the footsteps of God and Jesus! If we ever did, in wholesale fashion, there would never be a shortage of ANYTHING on planet earth! Regardless, I believe it is a certainty that there are no shortages of natural resources on planet earth, because for that to be so, God would have to forsake His own nature, which can never happen! Because of the nature of God, I personally believe, though I may not be able to offer scientific “proof,” the oil-fields He has placed in the bowels of the earth are OVERFLOWING with oil, MORE THAN ENOUGH to sustain mankind for as long as God’s plan requires.
Americans Have Been Duped!
Can you see how America has been duped into falling for a big lie from hell—the lie that we need to curb our national birth-rate based on all the preposterous reasons cited by the proponents of social-engineering and all the other false philosophies proliferated by the anti-God humanists, and that abortion is a necessary method of birth-control in the campaign to decrease the number of children being born and achieve the goal of zero population growth in America? Moreover, the real, albeit, hidden motive in most cases behind this collective objective to drastically reduce the number of new births in America is nothing more than base self-centeredness, self-aggrandizement, and naked avarice. But, as we pull back the curtain, a la, The Wizard of Oz, we see that the one who has been standing there pulling the marionette strings of the human “actors” in this whole scenario all along is none other than Satan Himself, and that the clandestine plot of the “play” of which he has been the director is: the utter destruction and annihilation of America! And the real reason he has such a desperate need to annihilate America is because America is the native host of the global headquarters of the Church-Bride of Christ! THAT is the reason America poses such a threat to him, his kingdom, and his plans!
No Condemnation In Christ—ALL Have Fallen Short
Before going any further, I want to be clear that in no way is the intent of anything contained in this article to cause anyone to go back into their past, especially regarding already confessed sin, and bring condemnation upon them. God’s Word makes it clear that if anyone confesses their sin to God, He is both faithful and just to forgive their sin, and to cleanse them of ALL unrighteousness (1 Jn. 1:9)! That means any and all manner of sin (Mat. 12:31), whether it’s abortion or any other sin! Sin is sin is sin is sin! Jesus came into the world to save us from our sin, not to condemn us for it (Jn. 3:17).
If you are a woman who’s had an abortion, I condemn you not! But far more importantly, you need to know, neither does God! The Word of God declares emphatically and unequivocally, “There is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1). Understand that there’s a huge difference between conviction and condemnation; the former is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the latter, the work of Satan. God will never condemn you for your sin, and Satan will never convict you of it!
We all need to be mindful of the irrefutable fact that we’ve all made serious mistakes in our past—we’ve “ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).” Thus, none of us have any right whatever to judge and condemn anyone else for their sin, faults, and failures.
It would be my prayer that anyone who’s the biological mother or father of an aborted child, would ask God for forgiveness, and then purpose, by His grace, never to do it again. It is critical that you receive God’s lavish forgiveness and mercy, as well as the understanding that He has cleansed you from all unrighteousness, and allow Him to make it right in the very depths of your heart, because the reality is that, if you are a believer, one day, in heaven, you will meet that innocent creation of God who was conceived in your womb and spend eternity together with him/her in the perfect Love of God.
So again, my intent in writing about this matter is not to condemn anyone, but rather to remind us, though sometimes in stark terms, what abortion really is—i.e., the taking of a human life.
Righteous and Innocent Blood Has A Voice That Cries Out To God
…so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. (Mat 23:35; cf., Lk. 11:51)
Because of the sins of her prophets And the iniquities of her priests, Who have shed in her midst The blood of the righteous…. (Lam. 4:13 )
…and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel. (Heb 12:24)
Many people do not know that blood has a voice that speaks! Moreover, God’s ears are especially attuned to the voice of righteous and innocent shed blood. The Word of God says the life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11). All throughout human history God has avenged the shed blood of the righteous and innocent (cf., Rev. 19:2). If God could hear the voice of Abel crying out to Him from his righteous and innocent blood that pooled upon the ground as his brother Cain murdered him, who can imagine what the cacophony of the voices of the righteous and innocent blood of more than 50 Million murdered unborn babies must sound like to Him!
Does anyone in their heart of hearts really believe that a nation can legitimize genocide of more unborn human lives than the combined current population of the states of Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming, and not incur the wrath of a righteous and holy God, who is the Creator of each and every one of those precious lives? The number of aborted pregnancies in just the last 37 years in America is one and one-half times the current population of Canada. And you think that the murder rate of His Creation means nothing to the Creator? I think that’s not possible!
God’s Viewpoint and Instruction Concerning the “Pro-Life/Pro-Choice” Question
I think it is fairly obvious to those who believe that God is the Creator rather than the Creation itself that the God who created life is PRO-LIFE! It doesn’t take a theologian to figure that one out! But, the amazing thing is that God is also “pro-choice”:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may live, you AND your descendants” (Deut. 30:19)
The one thing that distinguishes humans and the lesser creatures of God’s Creation is FREE-WILL! God has infused into the soul of every human a will, which means a right to choose. God declares to all mankind in the above Scripture passage the immutable fact that He has given Mankind a free will, personal autonomy, if you will—a divinely granted RIGHT to choose, to make choices. And, among the list of things that God cannot do, despite the inspiring and righteous-sounding claims of many that “God can do anything, and there’s nothing that God cannot do,” is the fact that God CANNOT violate human will, meaning He cannot rescind the human right to choose and make choices. This is the immutable law that God Himself has established: that He cannot violate human will. Consequently He has set before every human the two polar opposite choices of either LIFE or DEATH, and it is the individual human who makes that CHOICE, never God! But, the choices that we make as autonomous beings are subject to the judgment of God. In the end, HE will determine if our choices were right or wrong, not Man himself. And the standard against which His plumb line will be compared is His perfect holiness and righteousness, and not the precedents of men.
What may be the strongest statement in the Bible concerning God’s prenatal care says:
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. (Psa. 139:13-14)
How much does God know about the unborn baby growing in the womb? Everything! Like a skillful weaver, God takes the tiny hands and legs, and joins them together; He forms the heart and then starts it beating; He watches out for the little thumb to make sure it finds the mouth so that it can learn to suck before it is born. Who makes babies? God does! Human life is God’s doing and making! Life is a God thing! That’s why one of the “Ten Commandments” He gave to Moses was “You shall not murder (kill, KJV)!” (Ex. 20:13), meaning you shall not kill a fellow human being; though He made exceptions to that with respect to the breaking of certain civil laws involving trespasses against fellows He also communicated to Moses.
The bottom-line is that all Life is precious to God, but especially human life, because we are fearfully and wonderfully made in the very Image or Likeness of God Himself. We are all bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh! When you take a human life, it is an assault on God Himself which He must judge, because we are part of Him! If He hears the sound of the tiny sparrow as it falls to the ground dead (Mat. 10:29), then He certainly hears the last heartbeat of every aborted baby, no matter how early in the pregnancy cessation of life occurs. For the fact of the matter is, He knows each of us BEFORE our physical human body is formed in our mother’s womb (Jer. 1:5) – before each of us were ever a thought in the minds of our parents and before we existed in our mother’s womb, we already existed in the heart of God! So the fact is: human life does not begin in the womb of a woman, but in the heart of God! Human life is a spiritual thing, not merely a physical thing, for Life originates with and comes from God!
Abortion is wrong because it’s wrong to kill babies. The issue of abortion is as simple yet as profound as that, and I know of no other conclusion that’s consistent with the Christian faith. I made up my mind where I stood on the abortion issue a long time ago, but I can’t, nor would I, attempt to compel your conscience on the matter. Rather, you have to make up your own mind. However, God has implanted in your soul a conscience that consists of righteous and truth, and through it you know what is right and what is wrong, and you will stand before God one day to give account for your deeds to Him (Rom. 2:6; et al.), without any just excuse claiming you did not know (Rom. 1:20).
America’s Greatest Sin Is Abortion!
All this is what leads me to concur with the conclusions of the economist I mentioned at the outset, that one of the strongest contributing factors to America’s many present economic woes is abortion. In fact, as a believer and a minister of the Gospel of Christ, I must take it a step further than the economist did, and say that America’s greatest sin is abortion, and the nation is now paying a big price for its sin! The Word of God warns us that it is a certainty that your sin will one day be found out or revealed (Num. 32:23). America’s collective sin as a nation is being found out and revealed in this hour, I believe! The Bible also says, “the way of the transgressor (sinner) is hard” (Prv. 13:15), and that sin has wages or consequences, the ultimate of which is death (Rom. 6:23; et al.). America seems now to be suffering an economic slow death, and it may just be the consequence or earned wages of our national sins, the ultimate of which is abortion!
That’s why it’s critical in the up-coming elections that each American, or at least every God-fearing American, do everything possible to do their part in seeing to it that no more “pro-choice” candidates are elected to political office in America, at every level – local, state, and federal. It’s critical that we vote our consciences, and our consciences should be affected first and foremost on what is right and righteous.
Political Perspectives and Christian Responsibility Regarding Abortion
A while back I spoke in a church and made the remark: “An election is coming, and I’d like to tell you how to vote!” That got their attention. The good folk grew so pale you’d have thought five double-hump camels had just walked into the room. I almost considered not making my next statement for fear that someone would have a stroke. I was certain I’d wounded, if not killed, one of their sacred cows by mentioning politics from the pulpit, but I forged on: “First of all VOTE!” Then I added, “VOTE CHRISTIANITY! No political candidate has ever, nor ever will, get my vote who believes in abortion!” The extended ovation the congregation gave my remarks really surprised me, and I later learned that the church leadership never mentioned civic or political issues from the pulpit, nor offered any information about political candidates prior to elections.
I’ve heard church leaders and congregants say —“If we preach against the sins of our day, we might lose our tax exempt status.” Well, then we could do what the vast majority of churches do around the world that never had a tax exemption in the first place — preach the Gospel!
I’ve heard people say — “Churches should stick to preaching ‘the Gospel.’” Well, the genuine Gospel is based on and all about Truth, and sometimes we must expose the sins of darkness (Eph. 5:11), which is what makes the Gospel of Christ necessary in the first place.
I’ve heard people say— “If we said anything about abortion in our church, people would leave.” My response to that would be: That’s okay; let them leave! There are plenty of other churches those kind of people can go to that won’t take a stand on anything!
I’ve heard people ask — “If we preach this, won’t it offend people?” Maybe, but Jesus said that knowing the Truth is what sets people free, and people need to hear what from the perspective of the sinner may sound like the bad news in order to understand and properly value the Good News, which is the literal meaning of the word, Gospel! If what we preach rubs the cat the wrong way, the cat needs to turn around, but we can’t stop preaching the truth because it will offend the offenders!
To me, it’s simple: vote your convictions! Yes, how you vote is between you and God; that’s true. But, God is never going to tell you to vote to kill babies!
Who in the world are these people who would be offended when we say we’re going to “vote Christianity” to the best of our ability? We can’t always know everything there is to know about a candidate and their thinking and views on every political matter, even by examining their voting record, if they have one, because people sometimes change positions on issues over the process of time, and unfortunately that time period is sometimes while they are holding an elective office. But, as much as is possible, as Christians we should vote our Christian principles, which are predicated on the Word of God! It’s really that simple.
Then there’s the question often posed today of whether or not to be “single issue voters.” My thoughts on that are that most of us approach the matter of which candidates to vote for by asking ourselves, “What are his/her qualifications for office?” However, I’m not at all sure that’s the best approach. I would propose that the more appropriate approach would be to ask ourselves, “What, if anything, disqualifies this person from holding office? Is there any issue he/she stands for that is so obviously wrongheaded that I wouldn’t vote for him/her regardless of any other issues we agree about? In other words, single-issue voting but in reverse from what is normally meant by that term. Let me illustrate.
What if a candidate were to say, “I’m running on a platform that supports bribery as a matter of public policy?” Would we not conclude that that man is disqualified for office on the basis of that single issue no matter what else he might believe that is in line with our own beliefs?
What if a candidate said rape isn’t so bad, and we should therefore repeal the rape laws? Would you vote for that man?
What if a white candidate admits to being a racist white-supremacist, and proposes that black people should be denied the right to vote and that slavery should be legal in America? Would you vote for that man? Would it matter if he also claimed to be “pro-life?” I don’t think so.
Leaving political analogies for a moment, what if a woman were to marry a man, and the day before the marriage he told her he believes adultery is okay, and while he does love her, he intends to have sexual relations with other women as well? Wouldn’t you agree that if a man told his sweetheart that, it would be a “deal-breaker,” no matter what other good qualities he brings to the relationship?
The question I think we should be posing when considering political candidates is: What, if any, are the issues that would definitively disqualify a candidate from holding public office?
My personal answer to that question would be that any person who stands up and says he or she will do everything in his/her power to promote abortion in America and other nations of the world disqualifies that person from holding any public office. In my mind, endorsing and promoting abortion would be no different than endorsing racism, fraud, or bribery, for example, except that abortion, which is child-killing, or infanticide, is a more heinous moral issue and violation of God’s Law than all of those others.
As discussed already, every civil society in the world has laws against intentionally maiming or harming dogs and cats, and other animals, and laws that protect a wide range of “endangered species.” Thank God! But, what about the protection of unborn human life? Jesus said, “whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt.18:6). These are solemn and what should be sobering words from a righteous, holy, and almighty God telling us that those who deliberately hurt little children will someday stand before Him to be judged! Maybe somehow you’ve been so indoctrinated with all the feminist lies authored by the devil himself that you’re not offended by the wholesale killing of “these little ones,” but GOD IS! And unless you repent, which means change your mind, concerning this matter, Jesus said, “You will all likewise PERISH!” (Lk. 13:3,5).
Passivity and Pollyanna Thinking
As for me, I have always been and will continue to be a thorn in the devils side on the subject of abortion. But, there are many who are ambivalent about abortion on the grounds that they “don’t want to be ‘crusaders.’” Those types say things like, “I’m against abortion, but I don’t want to impose my views on others.” Well, let’s use that logic in other areas of moral values. How would you respond to someone who said: “I’m against slavery, but I don’t think we should go overboard and make it illegal?” Or, “I’m against slavery, but I’m not offended if you still own a few slaves. After all I’m not going to be a radical on the subject.” Or, “I’m against slavery, but other issues are much more important.”
Now, what if a political candidate was aligned with this kind of thinking, but also added, “Oh, by the way, I’m pro-life,” would that matter in the slightest? No, it wouldn’t and shouldn’t! Support for slavery is an absolute disqualifying issue for any potential leader, regardless of his positions on any other issues. Notwithstanding that those are the very attitudes over which the most costly war in our nation’s history was once waged, the outcome of which was indisputably on the side of right!
Personally, I feel the same way about abortion! And as I said, I will not, nor have I ever, voted for anyone who believes it is permissible to kill the unborn! My hope and prayer is that you and millions of other “yous” will agree with my conclusions in the upcoming elections so that America can avert the judgment from God that looms large over our nation if it doesn’t!
I conclude with two Scriptures I alluded to at the outset that I believe are pivotal to what our mindset should be on this controversial subject:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have LIFE, and have it abundantly. (Jesus; John 10:10)
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may live, you AND your descendants” (God; Deut. 30:19)
God commands us to choose LIFE — for ourselves AND for our descendents! And His command is directed to individuals, families, churches, cities, states, provinces, and whole nations!###
[Source: http://johnstallings.blogspot.com/2011/04/americas-greatest-sin.html; accessed Tuesday, April 26, 2011. The original article was substantially edited by Steven Lambert.]
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John Stallings is a leading award-winning Southern Gospel music composer of numerous classics such as: Learning To Lean, Love Grew Where The Blood Fell, Touching Jesus, One Day I Will, You’re All Invited To My Mansion, Blessing After Blessing, Light The Light, Angels Camping All Around Me, God’s Gonna Do It, and many more. His songs have been recorded by many well-known Gospel artists, including The Blackwood Brothers, The Speers, The Stamps Quartet, J.D. Sumner, Wanda Jackson, Del Reeves, Wendy Bagwell, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, among many others. His singing career was launched at the age of six in a citywide revival at famed Soldier Field in Chicago, and he began preaching at the age of sixteen. John was Nashville’s prestigious Dove Award recipient in 1977, and many other awards over the years. He’s also a veteran pastor, evangelist, church-planter, and travels internationally with his wife, Juda, as singing evangelists. They reside in Altamonte Springs, Florida. John’s twin-daughters, Mary Alessi and Martha Munizzi, in addition to co-pastoring churches with their husbands, are both award-winning Gospel recording artists and songwriters in their own right. John’s blog, Wisdom and Wit of John Stallings, is a featured column here on Spirit Life Magazine.
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