Pro-Life Musings
Today was the
twenty-eight-life chain event in the United States and for me the 25th
time I had stop to make a prayerful and silent witness of the value and need to
protect unborn children from abortion.
It was the first time
I had stood there alone without my best friend and wife at my side. My dear Terry passed into the arms of Jesus
on July 14th so she could not be with me this time making a
testimony of concern about the life of the unborn children and the willingness
to help any woman facing a crisis pregnancy.
We had planned for her to be in wheelchair at this even during rehab but
the Lord had different plans.
So today was sad for
me due to that lack of my partner and friend by my side after all these
years. It was sad also because it caused
me to think about just how long my pro-life witness has been and how we are
still facing this dreadful and painful reality of abortion.
My personal journey
on the issue of abortion went back to my political days in 1971 where as part of
an elite mock congress of politically motivated high schools students I gained
the support of the woman’s caucus for my environmental agenda by supporting
their bill making abortion legal.
This was all before
the Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs. Wade in 1973. I was a Christian and would even feel the
call to ministry during that youth conference held on Georgetown University but
had never heard even one message on abortion and thought it no different than
other types of birth control.
In 1972 I would be in
Bible College where they would tell me that abortion was morally wrong but also
said we should not get involved in politics.
The teaching on this was minimal but formally my position changed from
“pro-choice” to “pro-life”. [1]
Since the “rapture” was suppose to take place at anytime there was no use in
attempting to make the “Titanic” of this world any better but just attempt to
get people into the “gospel life boat” before tribulation began and judgment
day appeared.
Amazingly, even when
the Supreme Court ruling took place in 1973 little was said or done to make
note of this cultural changing event.
Now that year was difficult and wonderful to me since in it I struggled
with becoming an agnostic/atheist over the problem of evil and God in his grace
delivered me from my doubts, providing me fresh faith in the gospel of Christ
Jesus. So it is possible that my Bible
College did say something and I was so consumed with my own spiritual struggle
that it just did not come up on my radar.
Part of my
intellectual struggle had led me to Dr. Francis Schaeffer who was giving honest
answers to honest questions. I started
attending a fellowship inspired in part by the La’Abri movement founded by Dr.
Schaeffer. In 1976, Dr. Schaffer’s
teaching that had only been known to a few took the Evangelical world by storm
with his film series and book, How
Should We Then Live. Many of us
for the first time began to think of our Christian faith as a way to think
about every aspect of life from science to art.
This lead us into the realm of thinking about how beliefs and ideas
impact culture and politics.
Then in 1979 Dr.
Schaeffer and Dr. Koop came out with a new book and film series entitled Whatever
Happened to the Human Race. The
Evangelical church has supported Dr. Schaeffer’s first conferences filling
stadiums around the country to see his films.
But now churches boycotted this series, which called upon us to think
about and then apply consistently a Christian World View concerning abortion,
infanticide, and euthanasia. What was
being proposed was just to “hot” for the church to handle.
But Terry and I were
moved by that conference. We were
determined to be part of the answer to the huge cultural problem outlined by
Dr. Schaeffer From it I would motivated to finish my under graduate degree
having been thrown out of Bible College over my changing perspective on
prophecy and my struggles with how to think consistently from a Christian world
view. My hope was to become a teacher
and helping young people gain “Christian Minds” overcome the worldview that
could promote and practice abortion.
After graduation
Terry and I would found a local chapter of the Christian Action Committee in
Hollywood around 1983. We began offering
free pregnancy tests and doing sidewalk counseling to woman facing crisis
pregnancies. In time we began working
with a group of people and helped form “A Women’s Pregnancy Center” which
eventually would evolve into Hope Pregnancy Center”.
I would In 1984 I
became the Executive Director of Communications and Counseling at Coral Ridge
Ministries for Dr. James Kennedy. We
co-authored a book on abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia in 1985 entitled A
Nation In Shame. When Terry and I
were on our honeymoon I was writing out my goals and one of them was to write a
book. This was the first fulfillment of that
goal.
We would do
presentation at churches on pro-life, defend the pro-life position on local
radio talk shows, and would adopt our first child to provide an alternative to abortion
to a woman facing a crisis pregnancy.
Terry and I had young women facing crisis pregnancies stay with us in
our apartment to provide them free and safe haven during their
pregnancies. We attempted in every way
to help women facing crisis pregnancies and helping them see why abortion is an
immoral solution to a problem of a difficult pregnancy.
This went on for a
decade.
Then as I attempted
to finish my Master and Doctorate programs we had to back away from our
leadership commitments in the pro-life movement. We continued to support pro-life causes and
efforts. But just did not have the
ability to make it the priority that it had been in our schedules.
Lots of things
happened during those years I was finishing my education. Operation Rescue would try for a decade to
stage sit in to shut down clinics. This
effort fizzled out and burned out a lot of people who were pro-life. Unfortunately, a few individuals also
independently began bombing abortion centers and turning to violent answers to
attempt to stop abortions. During my
educational sabbatical from active pro-life activism many things changed.
But one effort Terry
and I, always promoted and participated in was the “Life Chain”. The first year our church along with others
brought out thousands in Broward County and there was a continuous chain of
thousands of people going up and down University Drive spanning Dade and
Broward Counties. But each year fewer
and fewer people participated. Sometime
our small congregation who would provide 10 to 20 people would be all that we
could see without any other groups in sight.
It was sad to see support for the
life chain decline so radically.
This year was better
than last year and we could see people holding signs and praying on both sides
of University. It seemed that some of
the concern had been revived. I know
that Terry would be happy about that because this event was always an important
event each year for her. This year also saw us have about 25% or our
congregation shows up numbering 20 people, so I praise God for that effort by
so many.
Today in prayer and
preparing spiritually to participate in the Life Chain the huge weight of what
has happened since 1973 hit me. It is
estimated that about 40 million children are aborted each year worldwide. This means that from 1973 till now we could
be looking at 2 billion babies aborted around the globe. The impact of this number is staggering. It makes Hitler’s holocaust seem like child’s
play in comparison. [2]
In the United States
it would appear that the number is around 56 million children, which have been
aborted.[3] How could any nation come to admit that it
had allowed the killing of 56 million innocent citizens? The weight of the cultural guilt would
simply be staggering. Only a movement of God’s Spirit could bring us
to a cultural repentance concerning abortion.
It took Germany 25 years to face their national guilt for the Holocaust
of the Jews. [4]So
how could America ever face the reality of 56 million unless the Holy Spirit
brought about a change of mind and heart concerning all of these deaths?
Today in worship I
listen to the song “Be my voice; cry of the unborn”. Part of the lyrics were:
“I’ll be your voice,
Crying out to break the silence
I’ll be your strength,
A defender of the dawn
I’ll be your light,
And take away the darkness
O Lord help us,
To cradle them in loving arms”
I found myself crying as I sang these words. Part of my tears was remembering the long
battle that Terry and I had battled all those years and now missing my partner
in this long crusade. The other was how
after all these decades we were still facing such horrible realities.
I also cried because I knew I had not done enough or been
a faithful enough voice for the voiceless.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who originally preached that we
should be the voice of the voiceless, is one of my spiritual mentors through
his writings. He once said:
“The only fight which
is lost is that which we give up.”
So we must continue
this battle for the unborn children, for mothers with crisis pregnancies, and for
those who now suffer emotional distress due to abortion. Our hearts must go out to all those who have
suffered loss and harm due to having abortions even as we strive to end
abortions.
But how? Clearly we must continue to do many things we
currently do. Yet, we need to begin to
seek for God to bring us a “great awakening” so that the massive repentance
that is needed can take place. Such
times of spiritual movement have radically change societies in the past.
“Only a mighty
spiritual awakening as we have known in our past can reverse these plagues! We
need a massive course correction that only a Sovereign King can bring. Without
it we will continue to spiral down into moral oblivion. We need God to “rend
the heavens and come down”19 in manifest, saving power. And He has done it
before. Every major awakening in American history has been followed by
extensive cultural transformation that nothing else could accomplish.
During the Welsh
Revival, the jails were emptied, drunkenness was cut in half as were unwed
pregnancies, and the judges were issued white gloves signifying there were no
more cases to try!
“[5]”
“[5]”
Currently the
American people would not support a reversal of Roe vs. Wade and are deeply
divided on the morality of abortion.[6] Only if there was a significant and deep
change of mind about abortion being moral could we hope to see a change. Culture ultimately is controlled by the
values and beliefs of the people in the culture.
If 90% of the women
in the nation were full convinced that abortion was morally wrong then the
“market” for having abortions would dry up and for all practical purposes it
would stop even if the laws were not changed.
This would be double the current number who holds to this position. So just as in the Welsh revival the jails
were emptied because of the power of the gospel and Spirit, so a spiritual
awakening today could empty the abortion clinics in America without any change
in the laws.
We must strive to
help people see clearly why abortion is immoral, provide alternatives to
abortion to women facing crisis pregnancy, and show respectful love towards
those who disagree with us on this issue.
Our hope is in the seeing the Lord change the hearts and minds of
people. Ultimately, without this we can
never see long-term protection for the lives of the unborn.
So I can see that
there is a need to again pray for a revival of right moral reasoning, which
will lead to conviction about our sins.
One of these moral failures is that we have failed to provide counsel, nurture,
care and support for women facing crisis pregnancies and especially those among
the poor.[7] By providing practical alternatives to
abortion many women might see an alternative to this action and take it. Our efforts to provide such alternative need
to increase. We must show compassion and
help to women facing hard decisions.
We must also be there
to minister to the deep guilt that women will feel if they come to see that
abortion was not the right choice and had and abortion. Also men who recommended and pressured women
to have an abortion will have to face the fact that they promoted the death of
their own children. If millions changed
their minds about abortion they would need to know there is forgiveness in
Christ Jesus for participating in an abortion.
The only atmosphere
in which the gospel of the free forgiveness of our sins through the sacrifice
of Messiah/Christ Jesus and HIS resurrection is gladly heard and received is
when people see that they need a Savior from their sins. A self-righteous and guilt free society has
no need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Only people who are convicted of their sins see any need for the Lord
Jesus to save them and bring forgiveness. So the first step towards revival has to be a
moral renewal and awareness that we are moral failures.
So we must explain,
teach, and discuss the morality of abortion but also the gospel of free grace
and forgiveness in Christ Jesus must also be presented to give people
hope. Confession and repentance
normally can only take place where there is the promise of forgiveness and
restoration provided by God (1 John 1:8-10).
This will be critical as we pray
and work to see a new great awakening take place in our generation.
Conclusion
The Life Chain Sunday
was a time of sadness and struggle as I thought about many of these
things. It was a day of rejoicing in
seeing many take a prayerful stand for life.
It was a rekindling of a passion to try to be a voice for the
voiceless. May the Lord have mercy. Amen
[1]
For those looking to understand why anyone would be prolife here are some
resources.
[2] http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/21/earth-day-abortion-has-killed-1-2-billion-worldwide-in-50-years/
[5] Paulus, Byron; Elliff, Bill (2014-03-01).
OneCry: A Nationwide Call for Spiritual Awakening (Kindle Locations 730-735).
Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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