Abortion, the Devil & the Church

I gave the morning message at First Baptist Church of Stuart this morning at their annual Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Dr. Darrel Orman, Senior Pastor, has a heart for the unborn and the plight of the post-abortive.

I spoke on "Abortion, the Devil & the Church - Exposing the Spiritual Forces Behind Abortion," and witnessed First Baptist's support of the ministry of CareNet Pregnancy Services of the Treasure Coast that operates two pregnancy resource centers in the area as well as an abortion recovery ministry.

Abortion has Satan's fingerprints all over it. Jesus said as much in John 8:44, when he identified the devil as a "murderer," a "liar and father of lies." He is unmistakably the Architect of Abortion.

With the deaths of 55 million pre-born children in America over the last forty years, the devil has proved to be very successful in carrying out his agenda, which Jesus identified in John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." It should be apparent that abortion is a Satanic enterprise.

If abortion is first and foremost a diabolical plot, then the church is the only organism (institution) spiritually equipped to engage the spiritual forces behind abortion. It must, therefore, step up and take the lead in the effort to end abortion.

My message to First Baptist Church acknowledged that abortion is often a complex issue for those facing an unplanned or crisis pregnancy, and demands a practical and compassionate response by the church. There is a way to resolve the guilt, shame and hurt that abortion brings to the human experience, for there is forgiveness, healing and restoration for the post-abortive in Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution to America’s abortion crisis. Innocent blood has polluted the land and profaned the name of the Lord, but there is a greater blood shed at Mount Calvary that can transform the heart of a mother so she will choose life for her child, that can cleanse the guilty, forgive, heal and restore those involved in abortion.

What America needs to hear is God’s truth about abortion wrapped in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I had the privilege to share with First Baptist Church of Stuart this morning.

Christ the LIfe - A B Simpson

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"Raised With Christ"

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"Dead to Sin"

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"Crucified With Christ"

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He Died a Person Not a Casualty

Earlier tonight I preached a Sanctity of Human Life message, "The Sanctity of the Unborn" at New Life Romanian Baptist Church in Hollywood (Abortion was legalized in Romania in December 1989).

After reviewing the  Biblical accounts of the personhood of John the Baptist (Luke 1:15), Isaiah (Isaiah 49:1), the Apostle Paul (Galatians 1:15), and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5), I quoted Douglas Erlandson (Abortion: Answering the Arguments),

“God deals with the lives [of these men] from conception to adulthood. The Bible does not appear to recognize a special change in God’s dealings with man at birth. God values each of the above men while he is still in the womb – knows him, chooses him, shapes him.”   

I continued,

"...the  Biblical evidence is very clear. The unborn are created by God and for God. They were created in His image and they are recognized by God as distinct and unique persons from the moment of conception." 

After reviewing the scientific evidence for human life at conception, I said,

"Whether you approach the issue of the personhood of the unborn from a Biblical point of view - and we must - or from a purely scientific or biological perspective, the inescapable conclusion is that life within the womb is human life, a distinct person, worthy of protection." 

Later in the evening, I watched this moving video testimony someone had posted on Facebook. His parents CHOSE to be pro-life, allowing this precious PERSON to bless their lives, knowing their child, even if born alive, would have a very brief life. Their baby was five days old when he succumbed to severe medical difficulties...but died loved, cherished and with dignity.

Thomas Paine one of the authors of the Constitution wrote (The Rights of Man),  

“...All men are born equal and with equal natural rights, in the same manner as if posterity had been continued by creation instead of generation, the latter being only the mode by which the former is carried forward; and consequently every child born into the world must be considered as deriving its existence from God. The world is as new to him as it was to the first man that existed and his natural right in it is of the same kind.”  

You can watch the moving testimony of these parents, who perhaps unknowingly, lived out Thomas Paine's words. 

http://www.godvine.com/Parents-Refuse-to-Abort-Their-Sick-Baby-These-Are-His-Precious-Last-Moments-2401.html#.ULvsJq2iNKi.facebook

Unintended Consequences

According Ryan Anderson and Andrew Walker,

"Until Tuesday, no state had redefined marriage by popular vote. Indeed, 32 out of 32 states that put the issue to a vote defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman. But in this week’s election, citizens in Maine, Maryland, and Washington State all passed ballot initiatives redefining marriage to include same-sex relationships. Meanwhile, citizens in Minnesota failed to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a man and woman. (It remains so defined, however, by statutory law.)"

(http://blog.heritage.org/2012/11/08/how-marriage-fared-in-the-2012-election/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=culturewatch)

I guess the silence of America's pulpits regarding marriage and the Word of God paid off for those who are attempting to change the legal definition of marriage in America. 

The failure of pastors to share the whole counsel of God regarding the Christian and their civic responsibility also contributed to almost 30 million evangelicals not voting on November 6, and of those that did over 6 million voted for President Obama who supported the ballot initiatives in the three states that voted to legalize same-sex "marriage."

Did your pastor help prepare you for the issues confronting you and our nation in the November 6 election? Did you hear an exposition and application of the numerous biblical texts that address the Christian's civic responsibility and the critical moral issues that were tied to virtually every vote you made?

The prophet Isaiah said, "Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray." (Isaiah 9:16) The unintended consequence of silence?

Silence is a failure to lead. Can you imagine Moses or Isaiah, Jeremiah or the Apostle Paul, remaining silent in the face of evil that threatened their people?

The Apostle Paul instructed the church at Ephesus with these words,

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5;8-14 NIV)

If every pastor in America had followed the Apostle Paul's admonition in Ephesians 5:8-12, their people might have been  biblically instructed how to "live as children of light...find out what pleases the Lord" and "have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, rather expose them" at the ballot box on November 6.  

Silence can have unintended consequences. I'm not sure the silent preachers of America anticipated this one.