ABORTION: THE SHEDDING OF INNOCENT BLOOD

"There are six things which Jehovah hateth; Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him:  Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood... "  

Proverbs 6:16-19

In the first week of October 2018, we have seen shocking rage in the streets of Washington, D.C., over the fears that a new judge might infringe on the right to an abortion. They still make the same old and tired arguments to disguise the evil of assault against an innocent human baby while he is growing inside his mother's womb. I have updated and expanded an earlier study of these issues to defend the right of a baby to live and be protected by adult society. Let's take another look at the issue of the false virtues of abortion, the shedding of innocent blood.

Some issues are nearly impossible to discuss without becoming emotional.  The silent scream of an unborn baby still in his mother's womb moves me from tears to rage. This has clearly been the most painful work I have done in a long time.  I don't know how anyone can dispassionately talk about cutting off arms or legs without anesthesia or crushing a baby skull to abort an unwanted child. Nevertheless, I have prepared a study as complete as I am able to make it. I hope it may help someone to understand a little better what is at stake in the current controversy.

Abortion and Planned Parenthood has been in the news continuously since a series of disgusting videos came out that show how abortion doctors bargain and dispute over the cost of infant body parts.  It makes us weep and then leaves us a little nauseated!  

Abortion is just another example of the bloodguilt that stains a life that is lived without Christ.  Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in our nation today. Once again, our country appears to be divided.  Abortion is an anti-human issue that humanists aggressively defend. They have legalized a form of murder! Those with a humanistic worldview strongly affirm that the sanctity of the life of an unborn child is superseded by the sanctity of human autonomy.  On the other side, we have those with a Christian worldview who know that life is precious.  Planned Parenthood has once again come to the forefront of the abortion debate.  The fact is, abortion has been around for a long time.  We are reminded of the days of the prophet Jeremiah, when God's people and His work were in sad condition, for many cared very little about what had happened to their beloved city of Jerusalem.  The prophet asked, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?  Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,  which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger."  (Lam. 1:12). God's people should have been afflicted and affected by this instead of passing by on the other side.  Today is no different, for that same attitude of indifference prevails, apathy, and lack of concern toward moral issues such as abortion.

Since 1973 over fifty million babies inside their mother's womb, not "fetuses," have been killed in our nation with horrible abortion procedures.  Fifty million people, a significant percentage of our population!  This staggering number is enough reason to be alarmed and talk about.  Today the issue at stake is:  Does the pre-born baby have an absolute right to live under any circumstances, or does the mother have the right to terminate her pregnancy? If she is having trouble caring for two children, can she strangle one of them to care for the other? Can she shoot the children to improve her marriage or give her a better shot at her career?  The pro-life position has not changed, for it is that the pre-born baby is human and that it is inconceivable to take the life of that innocent person.  It amounts to murder!  And since the mother knows that there is a baby inside her, it is premeditated murder.

The pro-abortion position has changed. Since the argument is no longer over whether the fetus is just a mass of tissue.  Now the argument is that if the pre-born baby affects the mother's mental or physical health or the future welfare of her family negatively, then it is safe and legal to have abortion options which must be kept available to the woman.  Indeed, these are very opposite views that many are passionate about, becoming not only vocal but violent with one another.

So, to understand better the current debate over abortion, it will be better to take a look first at the history of abortion.  It is crucial that we understand the aspects of this issue in the light of today's debate.

I would like for us to consider four aspects of this issue: 

1. The facts about abortion.
2. The Bible view of the unborn and abortion.
3. The ethics of abortion and
4. The conclusion that we must accept.

I.   FACTS ABOUT ABORTION

• MEDICAL DEFINITIONS

“Induced abortion” (as opposed to a miscarriage) is the intentional termination of pregnancy before the fetus can live independently.  Such abortion is based on a woman's personal choice or to preserve the health or save the life of a pregnant woman.

“Fetus” is an unborn offspring in the embryo stage (the end of the eighth week after conception and when the major structures have been formed) until birth.

“Human embryo” is the developing organism from fertilization to the end of the eighth week.

• ABORTION STATISTICS

Worldwide Abortion Statistics:

The rate of abortions performed worldwide by 1,000 women of childbearing age between the ages of 15-44 was 28 in 2008.  Nearly half of abortions performed worldwide are unsafe for the mother.   Of those dangerous abortions, almost 98%  occur in developing countries.  In 2008, six million abortions were performed in developed countries.  In Europe, 30% of pregnancies ended in abortion.

USA Abortion Statistics:

Today, in our nation, all 50 states have legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.  Most of these abortions are performed for whatever reason.  In 1974, about 900,000 abortions were performed in our nation.  The rate is higher in Russia, for there are about 10 million abortion performed per year.  US statistics can be summarized as follows:

• US abortion rates are higher than those of Europe but similar to those in Australia.
• In 1990, abortion rates peaked and have been slowly decreasing (typically 21% of pregnancies).
• Nearly 1 in 3 American women will have an abortion simply because they don’t want the child.
• About 4 in 10 unintended pregnancies are terminated by abortion.
• In 2011, some 1.06 million abortions were performed.
• There have been around 53 million legal abortions between 1973 and 2011.

UK Abortion Statistics:

Under the UK Law (England, Scotland, and Wales), an abortion is generally carried out during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.  Their abortion statistics can be summarized as follows:

• Between 1968 and 2002, 6 million abortions were performed.
• There are usually 190,0000 abortions each year.
• The abortion rate up to 2011 rose steadily (21% of pregnancies).
• The number of teenagers having abortions has decreased.
• The majority of abortions (99%) are performed under Ground C (covering the mental health of the woman).
• Only 1% of abortions are carried out under Ground E (risk of the child being handicapped).
• Some 37% of all abortions performed in 2014 were repeat procedures (dozens of women have had at least nine abortions).
• The government funds some 96% of abortions.

European Abortion Statistics:

Nearly all countries allow abortion to save a woman’s life and to preserve mental and physical health. European abortions statistics can be summarized as follows:

• Some western European countries have the lowest abortion rates in the world.  Countries like Belgium, only 12% and Switzerland at 12%.
• Other eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, and Ukraine have some of the highest abortion rates in the world.

Israel Abortion Statistics: 

Nearly 97% of abortions are approved, which amounts to over 10% of pregnancies.

African Abortion Statistics:

Abortion is legal in some countries such as Angola, Central African Republic, Congo, and Somalia. While in other countries like Cape Verde, South Africa, and Tunisia, there are no restrictions on abortion.  In 2008, the statistics in Africa can be summarized as follows:

• Around 6.4 million induced abortions were performed, of which only 3% were carried out under safe conditions.
• Eastern Africa has had the highest abortion rate.  South Africa has had the lowest abortion rate.
• Some 13% of all pregnancies ended in abortion.

Abortion under Islam:

In many Muslim countries, abortion law is strict.  Abortion is usually illegal.  Countries such as Afghanistan, Libya, Sudan, Mali, and Iraq have very restrictive abortion laws.  But since 2013, some countries with a Muslim majority had legalized abortion:  Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, and Turkey. Their statistics can be summarized as follows:

1. In Tunisia, abortion is legal on-demand (typically 8% of all pregnancies).
2. The abortion rate in Turkey has steadily decreased (10% of all pregnancies) in 2008.
3. In Egypt, abortion is illegal except in some extraordinary cases.
4. Because of religious and social restrictions, women are forbidden to terminate their unwanted pregnancies.
5. Some claim there were over 2 million illegal abortions done in Egypt between 1995 and 2000.
6. In Iran, abortion is illegal except under exceptional cases.
7. Some 250,0000 illegal abortions still take place in Iran yearly.

I could continue with more statistics, but numbers can become obsolete.  However, the statistics above are enough to alarm us about the growing problem that we are facing today.  Are you concerned?  Do you want to remain ignorant about such horrible issues as this?  Ignorance will not excuse us, for the land itself cries out for something to be done!

• ABORTION LAW

On January 22, 1973, nine men, all dressed in black (judges) ruled on abortion, overruling state laws against it.  The United States Supreme Court, in a 7-2 decision, handed down two rulings legalizing abortion in America. Before these rulings, abortion was prohibited in most of the 50 states. It has been 45 years since the Roe vs. Wade. In our nation, abortion was illegal in the early 20th century, except in exceptional cases to save the life of the mother.  Today, abortion is legal in all 50 states for any reason whatsoever during all nine months of pregnancy.  On that day, the Supreme Court ruled that a woman and her doctor could have an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.  During the second trimester, the States could regulate an abortion procedure to protect the mother's health.  During the last trimester, the states could also regulate and even prohibit an abortion except when it was necessary for the mother's mental and physical health.  But that's not all, for more and more laws appear.  So Christians must consider those principles in God's Word to determine right from wrong.  And although abortion is legal, it is not morally righteous before God, the Creator, for it is murder, whether we kill before or after birth.

In Israel, there was a law in 1977 that ensured low-cost or free legal abortion to any woman who was under 18 and had mental health problems.  Israel's abortion law is now among one of the most liberal worldwide.

In the UK, abortion was a criminal act in the 19th century.  It was included in the Offenses Against the Person Act in 1861, which is still in force.  Later, in the 20th century, the legal exception concept was introduced under the umbrella to preserve the life of the mother to avoid detrimental effects on a woman's mental health.  Such concepts were entitled in the 1967 Abortion Act, which applied to England, Scotland, and Wales.  Although such acts did not legalize abortion, it allowed the illegality of abortion for exceptions in their 1861 Act.  Today, an official abortion needs the approval of two doctors.  Unfortunately, this rule has been ignored.  Since 1967, the number of abortions legalized in the UK has increased rapidly.

Abortion for "Social Reasons."

Most abortions are performed in developed countries for social-financial-career reasons.  Statistically, it seems that the mother's rights trump the rights of the child.  Take, for instance:

"It would be entirely reasonable for a doctor to decide that a woman who presents for an abortion saying that she cannot afford to continue the pregnancy can lawfully be provided with the abortion, as to refuse her might have relatively negative consequences for her health."

In fact, many doctors view abortion as a "health care need."  In the past, such abortions would only be performed in "extreme cases."  There are other cases where the parents claim they are not capable of caring for their child since the child will have an inferior quality of life.  This is pure paganism!  To allow a woman and a physician to make the decision to control life is a pagan belief. To believe that no sovereign and transcendental God governs man and the universe, but that man is to take control of life and that everything is in the hands of man, man's agency and government, is pagan because man assumes the role of God.  Abortions are merely an attempt by man to play god. It is idolatry and humanism to make a god out of man or to make a man his own god.

• CULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARD KILLING BY ABORTION

The first era of abortion on demand was during the Greco-Roman period.  Both Plato and Aristotle put the welfare of the society and family above the rights of a child.  They were strong advocates of abortion.  Abortion and infanticide walked together hand in hand.  The father could choose to have the newborn baby killed if he wanted.  This occurred most often if the infant was a girl. Plato's Republic made abortion or infanticide mandatory if the mother was over forty.  It was the spread of the Christian faith, the Gospel, that caused the practices of both abortion and infanticide to diminish in this Greek and Roman societies.  Christians stressed the sanctity of human life.  In Rome, Christians became well known for scouring the dumpsite for unwanted and exposed babies and raised them as their own.  The Didache was an examination of early church writings that pled for the value of children and life.  It was through the faith, conviction, and transformation of the early church that these practices were eliminated for the next fifteen hundred years or so. Their faith and conviction changed the world, and turned it upside down, even with abortion!

One of the earliest battles that Christians had to face in the Roman Empire was the subject of abortion.  Although Greek and Roman's laws had forbidden abortion at some time, they also permitted it.  The issue of abortion was regarded as a question of state policy by these pagan cultures:  if the state wanted births, abortion became a crime against the state.  If the state had no desire to birth certain children, abortion was then allowed or even required.  Since the state was to represent ultimate order, morality was whatever the state decreed was moral.  Therefore, to abort and not to abort was a question of politics, not of God's Law.  For example, Plato maintained that the state could force abortion, where unapproved parents could proceed without the approval of the state. 

The early Christians, very early, condemned the pagans and accused them of murder, maintaining that abortion was a violation of God's Law, "Thou shalt not murder."  Moreover, it was a violation of the law given in Exodus 21:22-25, which declared that even accidental abortion was a criminal offense. If, during a struggle, a child was accidentally aborted, but without any harm, even then, a fine was mandatory.  If the fetus died, then the death penalty was applied.

Since the Roman Empire's laws did not regard abortion as a crime, the early church imposed a life sentence as a substitute:  penance for life, indicating that it was a capital offense.  The Council of Ancyra, A.D. 314, limited the punishment to ten years since they were practicing more and more this act of abortion.  Even though there were often reversions to the earlier severity, abortion was still punishable by death.  The Greek and Roman governments weakened the Christian moral stand by raising the question of establishing when it was considered for a child or fetus to be a living soul. God's Law does not raise such an absurd question!  

Today, many still raise the doubt as to whether the fetus is a "living soul."  Others hold that the choice belongs to the woman since the fetus is part of her and that she can thus dispose of it. However, Science, especially Microbiology, has shown that, to the contrary, since the zygote is human and autonomous,  it is an independent organism from the day of conception.  Once fertilized, the cell is no longer dormant life.  It has its unique and full human distribution of chromosomes.  It is uniquely human like no other living thing, nor is it part of a thing anywhere on the “evolutionary chain.”

The Didache, an early Christian document, called abortion murder and a love of death, while Christians were called to love God and life (Prov. 8:36).

Also, under the Sumerian code (one of the earliest legal documents of the ancient world), abortion was forbidden.  

In the early 1800s, abortion was illegal.  But after 1840, abortion became more acceptable for women and doctors, and thus things began to change.  In the 1800s, the birthrate in our nation dropped from 7 to 3.5 children per family, with abortion terminating one-fifth to one-third of all pregnancies.  Abortion ads were abundant in both big and small newspapers.  Today we are in the third era of "abortion on demand." So how on earth did we get here?  Sadly, the pro-life victory of the second era was short-lived.  The newspapers began displaying abortion ads, and no longer referred to abortion as murder, the killing of unborn children.  Doctors wanted the anti-abortion laws reformed, reclaiming the right for the parents to decide what was best for them.  Those who called themselves Christians remained silent on the issue while promiscuity was lightened with the arrival of the "Roaring Twenties."  Media and the people's attitude shifted away from the rights of the unborn to the health and welfare of the woman.  Today, the modern attitude toward abortion has not declined, but rather it has become increasingly permissive.  Some have gone so far as to say that the sole reason for abortion is poverty.  In other words, abortion is not a sin but rather a primitive remedy for economic distress and for reckless sexual behavior.

In our culture, there is significant support for legal abortion under all circumstances since it is the woman's choice.  Many believe that a woman should have the right to decide whether or not to have an abortion.  They identify themselves as "pro-choice."

Since Biblical Law authority has declined, abortions have not decreased.  There is plenty of evidence that married women obtain the majority of abortions.  One major study of abortion in "primitive" societies showed that the principal motives for abortions are:  

• Revenge against the father.
• A hatred of taking responsibility (they state, "children are a burden, and we get tired of them.  They destroy us.")
• A desire to avoid shame.
• An analog to suicide.
• Hatred of life, men, and castration of the father.  

Among us now, abortion is an escape from parenthood. Some of the motives of abortion are:  

• A desire to preserve beauty.
• The desire to continue enjoying freedom from responsibility.  
• The essence of these motives is merely an escape from maturity.  

The most shocking thing is that some of these "primitive" societies are aware that abortion is murder.  Abortion is a return to pagan statism, placing life under the state rather than under God.  It places the control of life in the hands of man, man's agency, and the state.  How on earth can anybody be so twisted as to willingly kill their own baby?!  It is bizarre and barbaric!!

• WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?

Before I start discussing the ethics of abortion, it is crucial to ask:  When does life begin?  Pro-Choice organizations base their view on that of the US Supreme Court, which states that "legal personhood begins with birth."  They maintain that the beginning of life is not at conception, that embryos are but a cluster of cells with the potential of developing into a human life thus asserting that a fetus is a potential person.  What does medical science state?

"It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception."  

"By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."

"After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being."

Notice what a US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee concluded:

"Physicians, biologists and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being - a being that is alive and is a member of the human species.  There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings."  (US Senate Bill 158, the "Human Life Bill," 1981).

Below is a picture of a human embryo 6 weeks after conception.  

The other question that remains is:

• HOW DOES LIFE END?

Now, this is a delicate and touchy subject, and everyone must become aware of the painful facts. Why?

1. Because 21-24 days after conception, there is a measurable heartbeat.
2. Brain waves can be easily detected after 6 weeks of conception.
3. The unborn baby reacts to touch after 8 weeks of conception.
4. After 20 weeks of gestation, the body's pain network is established.
5. "The neural pathways are present for pain to be experienced quite early by unborn babies."
6. "An unborn baby at 20 weeks of gestation is fully capable of experiencing pain.  Without question, abortion is a dreadfully painful experience."

The truth of the matter is that all abortions terminate a precious little beating heart and brain waves, and this evidently is a very painful experience for the unborn baby.  This is cold-blooded murder, the shedding of innocent blood, and God hates those who commit such a crime!

In the words of President Ronald Reagan, 

"These children...will never laugh, never sing, never experience the joy of human love; nor will they strive to heal the sick, or feed the poor, or make peace among the nations.  Abortion has denied them the first and most basic of human rights, and we are infinitely poorer for their loss.  We are poorer not simply for the lives not led and for contributions not made, but for erosion of our sense of worth and dignity of every individual.  To diminish the value of one category of human life is to diminish us all."  (A powerful quote from President Ronald Reagan on abortion).

II.   THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF THE UNBORN AND ABORTION

Before I proceed with what the Bible has to say about abortion, I would like to sum up abortion in America.  It is sad to say, but our nation that prides itself on humanitarianism is committed by law and practice to a form of mass murder.  Our nation, in its murderous cycle of violence makes the Nazi Holocaust, and the ISIS killings look mild by comparison.  This is atrocious!  Why?  Because nearly 2 million babies are aborted in our nation every year.  Do you know that one-third of babies conceived end up being murdered, aborted?  As I said earlier, among married women, abortions now exceed births.  It is shocking that more babies are killed than are born!  There is an abortion every 15 seconds in our nation!  

It 's hard for me to fathom that in our nation, some of the metropolitan hospitals in our major cities, abortions by far outnumbered live births.  Planned Parenthood has gone to the extreme when it says this is nothing since it is a way of preventing disease (where pregnancy is considered as a disease). And if you think I am being illogical, let me remind you of what a doctor from the Planned Parenthood Physicians Association stated:  

"Abortion as treatment for unwanted pregnancy, the second sexually transmitted disease."   

Planned Parenthood views pregnancy as a sexually transmitted disease whose cure is abortion.  

Our nation, as well as other nations in this world, are actually wiping out an entire generation of human beings in mass infanticide.  It is estimated that approximately 75 million babies will be aborted, murdered by the end of this year around the world.  I am conservative with this figure. This is worse than all the deaths caused by wars in the history of humanity!

To me, this kind of cold-blooded murder is shocking!  Why?  Because the whole process of abortion is wicked and bizarre.  In the first trimester, the methods they use is dilation and suction called DNS, or Dilation and Curettage called D & C.  This is basically, where they tear the baby in pieces as a way of vacuuming, sucking all the parts out through a tube or a sharp instrument dismembering the fetus into sections.  Then they use forceps to crush the head, reducing its size.  What an atrocity!!!

This atrocity is what humanism has given us.  How in the world did such outrage ever start?  Who started this evil practice?  Well, this goes back to the beginning of mankind.  In the mind of Satan. According to John 8:44, he has been a murderer.  He provided Cain's motive to kill Abel.  Cain was a murderer.  Both in the times of Moses and Jesus, Satan made a great effort to murder babies, and he was successful.  Remember when Jesus was born?  Satan provoked Herod to order the massacre of babies under the age of two in Bethlehem, to get rid of the Messiah.

In the times of Judaism, the pagans practiced abortion, but it was not known among godly Jews for obvious reasons.  The Jews knew that life was sacred because life was granted by God.  They supported this with the second great commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Since they were conscious that a baby that was conceived was a person and a soul, that baby evidently was their neighbor.  Therefore, to harm their neighbor would be a violation of the second commandment.

In the New Testament times, there were, of course, pagans who engaged in abortion.  Again, the Jews and the NT Christians did not participate in this violent act.  On the other hand, there were philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, who endorsed family growth limitation through abortion. Abortion in the NT era was practiced among the pagans to cover up or hide illicit sex.  

In Ancient cultures, abortion was a form of contraception.  The early church took a stand against this atrocity.  The Didache, a codification of early church teaching, stated, "Thou shalt not murder a child by abortion."  The early church rejected abortion.  The Didache viewed this way of death as cursing, murder, and adultery.  They called them "corrupters of God's creatures."  They said abortion brought the judgment of God.  The church stood firmly against it since they saw abortion as a violent act of murder and a lack of love toward the one God had created.

Today, more than ever we must take a stand since abortion has become a massive industry.  A pure reflection of our culture!  

Abortion started as a result of the sexual revolution, which mainly said, "we want to be free to express ourselves sexually."  If you go back to the early sixties, it seemed that everyone was engaged in "free love."  The generation of hippies gave rise to this abortion industry since it shamelessly declared, "we have to be free to express ourselves sexually, and we don't really need to be dealing with the consequences."  What nerve!!!

That generation of women went to the absurd extreme of saying, 

"If we're going to be free, we women certainly can't be victimized by men.  Men can jump in and out of bed with anybody they want all day long, and walk away, and there aren't any consequences to them.  But what happens to us is we get pregnant.  And so their freedom has no impingement.  Their freedom has no consequence.  Their freedom has no detrimental results.  But our freedom does. So in order for us to be really free, you've got to eliminate the consequences, the major consequences of free sex, free love, and that is you've got to be able to eliminate pregnancy.  Otherwise, we become victimized by men, and we don't want to be victimized by men."

So, as you can see, the sexual revolution along with its agenda of  "free love," truly set the stage for the atrocious massacre of millions of babies, who were nothing but an infringement on the fornication of a degenerate, corrupt, wretched and adulterous society.  Along came the big thalidomide issue. Children were born without limbs!  Doctors who believed that such deformities were intolerable performed eugenic abortions.  Then came the feminist movement. Women began to say, 

"We not only want to be sexually free without consequence, but we want to be able to put on a blue suit and take our briefcase and go to work every day, too.  We want to compete in a man's world as equals, and if we have to have babies, we can't do that."

The feminist asserts that "women are not equal to men unless they are rid of childbearing responsibilities."  One of the major leaders of the feminist movement, Betty Friedan, stated, 

"Women must have abortion as a backup to contraceptive failure.  Contraception first, and if it doesn't work, then abortion because we can't be bothered with children.  We've got to work and make our way in a man's world."

The feminist argument is that if a woman is going to work in a man's world, being equal to him in every way, she cannot be worrying about taking care of kids at home.  So they say, "We've got to eliminate them from our lives."  No maternal instinct at all!!

To make matters worse, we have those who advocate population control who tell us that if we keep having babies, we are going to stand on each other's heads, crushing each other out of existence because of an overpopulated world.  This is what they were screaming in the '60s.  This was the building platform upon which the Roe versus Wade decision in the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973.  At this tragic point, the US Supreme Court excluded unborn children from the protection of the 14th amendment which states, "No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law."  They said, "Unborn children aren't persons."  But they were wrong. YES, they are persons!!!  They are humans beings made in the image of God their Creator!!

The phrase "pro-choice" means "pro-sin," or "free to choose sin."  It would be less shocking if they just said, "pro-abortion."  Why?  Because that would restrict it to a more specific moral problem.  But by turning it into what seems to be a euphemism, the pro-choice advocates have rung the final rhetorical death knell.

"The phrase 'pro-choice' means 'without conscience, or 'without inhibition,' or 'without restraint.'  It parades itself under the Jeffersonian banner of liberty of conscience and separation of church and state.  As a rhetorical gesture perfectly designed to function as a political banner, this phrase constitutes the last word, the official formulation of official apostate defiance against the God of Christianity."  (Dr. John Pilke).

I cannot help but agree with Dr. John Pilke since I honestly believe that abortion is the last official stand of official apostate defiance against a righteous God.  It is like blatantly telling Him, "God, You will not determine who lives or dies.  I will."

Sadly, here is where our culture is by law, the law of our government.  The US Supreme Court willfully ignored the issue of when life begins.  Although, anyone who attacks a pregnant mother, killing the unborn child is prosecuted as a criminal, yet that child is considered a non-person when the mother makes the decision of killing him by abortion.

There is no nation on the face of the earth except for China that has a more permissive abortion policy than the United States.  It is a product of our prurient, lascivious, immoral, perverted, and sexually revolutionized culture that has departed from the roles of men and women that God has ordained.  It is also a product of our selfish, materialistic value system.  It is the product most of all of our atheistic ethic, which is hostile to God.  God will judge the blood of these innocent murdered babies!

Medical science has openly asserted that life begins at conception.  This is undoubtedly a medical fact! At two months of age in the womb, the baby is less than one thumb-length from the head to the rump.  Although the baby can fit at ease in a nutshell, he is well-formed:  hands, feet, head, organs, brains.  He is conscious in the fourth week.  Everything is in place.

With the help of Satan, the US Supreme Court and all these people have orchestrated the killing of babies (who gets to be born or who dies) to be sexually free, and not have to deal with responsibilities. Women can do as they please to be fulfilled so they can live the kind of lifestyle that is materialistic and uncomplicated.  The truth is they have become mass murderers!

Now, all this being said about the ugly truth of abortion, I want to ask the most obvious and significant question.  What does the Bible have to say about all this?  Consider the Bible view of the unborn:

• Conception is an Act of God

We have already discussed from a medical, scientific point of view that conception yields a new person.  And that life begins at conception.  Although the Bible has no Scripture to the issue of abortion, that is, "Though shalt not abort," God's principles of righteousness found in the Bible are crystal clear about how God feels about human life, both inside and outside of the womb.  The Bible affirms that conception is an act of God.  "Lo, children are a heritage of Jehovah; And the fruit of the womb is his reward."  (Psalm 127:3).  The Word of God makes it very clear that God is the one who personally creates life.  God makes all human life sacred, valuable and precious in His eyes.  God's value on human life is determined in three ways, and those three ways are stressed in the Bible.

1. Value is determined by creation and design.  In Genesis 1:27, the Word of God states, "God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them."  Thus God is the Creator of human life.  That must give each human being infinite value and worth.
2. Value is determined by protection.  God values and protects His creation.  Consider what God dictates about human life in Genesis 9:6.  "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."  God has placed the maximum protection around human life, the death penalty.
3. Value is determined by cost.  God has paid a high price to redeem mankind.  In 1 Corinthians 6:20, we read, "For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."  The price for us was the life of God's own Son; the ultimate price for any father to pay!  The Son of Man gave His life as a ransom for many, for He did not come to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45).  Thus God says that human life is the most precious possession on this earth, for it was created by Him, it is protected by Him, and because our redemption cost the death of His Son.  Indeed, it is the highest price that has been paid for human life!

Now let us look at conception from a negative point of view.  

1. In Genesis 20:18, we learn that "Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife." They were not able to have babies since God did not allow it.  God closed the womb. 
2. In Genesis 16:2, we read that, "Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, Jehovah hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai."  
3. In I Samuel 1:5-6, we learn that "Jehovah had shut up her womb." We read this twice.  God is the one who closes the womb.  God is the only one who can say, "No child will be born in that womb."  He has control over that, and no one else!

From a positive viewpoint, 

1. God said to Abraham, "I will bless her, and moreover I will give thee a son of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations (God was going to open her womb); kings of peoples shall be of her."  (Genesis 17:6).  
2. Genesis 21:2 says that "Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him."  God closed and opened the womb. 
3. In Genesis 25:21-22, "And Isaac entreated Jehovah for his wife, because she was barren. And Jehovah was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.  And the children struggled together within her. And she said, if it be so, wherefore do I live? And she went to inquire of Jehovah."  God enabled Rebekah to have a child.  Here we see two children (Hebrew word "ben") struggling in Rebekah's womb.  The Hebrew rooting meaning is two sons, i.e., two individuals.
4. I Samuel 1:19-20 says concerning Hannah, "... and Jehovah remembered her."  God remembered her even though He had shut her womb.  "And it came to pass, when the time was come about, that Hannah conceived, and bare a son; and she called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of Jehovah." (Verse 20).  God opened her womb and gave her a son.
5. In Ruth 4:13, "Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bare a son."  This is such a great statement ("Jehovah gave her conception").  It is impossible for conception to occur on the face of the earth without God's purpose.
6. In Judges 13:3 we learn that Manoah's wife was barren and could not bear children and that "the angel of Jehovah appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son."  That son was Samson.  Again, God did not allow her to have a child but later did.

All these Scriptures have but one purpose, to point out for us that God has the power to barrenness and the power to conception.  So, for conception to occur, God has to make it happen.  Period!

On the other hand:

1. In Job 3:3, "Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night which said, There is a man-child conceived."  Job refers to himself as a "child" (person) at the point of conception.  
2. Again in Job 3:16 we read that "Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been, As infants that never saw light."  Job is referring to him as an infant (Hebrew word "olal") who is still-born. The Hebrew root meaning is a young child, delivered dead.  Note that parallel with abortion.
3. In Job chapter 10, Job ponders over everything that has gone wrong in his life, so he asks God why.  
4. In verse 8 he says, "Thy hands have framed me and fashioned me together round about."  Job acknowledges that God made him.  He asks God, "yet thou dost destroy me."  Job could not understand what was happening to him.  The word "together" in the Hebrew language literally means "together all around," comprehensively in every sense, You made me.
5. In verse 9, Job goes on to say, "that thou hast fashioned me as clay."  In other words, "You formed me just by picking up clay."  
6. In verse 10, Job uses another illustration, "Hast thou not poured me out as milk, And curdled me like cheese?"  He is saying, "You just - You extracted me and You molded me and formed me."  
7. In verse 11, "Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews."  He is saying, "You granted me life.  You made me."
8. In Job 12:9, "Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this."  So in whose hands is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind?  In God alone. He is the source of all life.
9. Notice what Job 31:15 declares, "Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?"  Whom do you think Job is talking about?  He is speaking of himself as well as us.  Didn't God make us all?  Didn't He fashion us in the womb?  So, it is undeniable that the process of life begins at conception.
10. In Job 33:4, Job goes to say that "The Spirit of God hath made me, And the breath of the Almighty giveth me life."  Job understood that God had made him.
11. In Psalm 22, David also acknowledges that God made him.  
12. In Psalm 22:9, David says, "But thou art he that took me out of the womb; Thou didst make me trust when I was upon my mother's breasts."  In other words, David is saying, "From the time I was in the womb, You made me and You were my God."
13. In Psalm 100:3, "Know ye that Jehovah, he is God: It is he that hath made us, and we are his; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture."  God is the one who makes us and not ourselves.  God is the one who imparts a soul at the time of conception when all the physical factors come together.  We know this because we read it in His Word, "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; And thou renewest the face of the ground."  (Psalm 104:30).
14. In Jeremiah 1:5, God said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations."  God told Jeremiah He had known him before he was born, before the point of conception.  
15. In Galatians 1:15, Paul goes to say, "But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me, even from my mother's womb, and called me through his grace."  So, like Jeremiah and Paul, all Christians must know and understand that God's hand was on us at the time of conception.
16. In the New Testament, this thought is emphasized more majestically.  Take for instance, Matthew 1:18-19 that speaks of the birth of Christ, the Messiah.  "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."  

The point that I want to emphasize here is that God is always involved in the very act of conception. Not only in the case of our Lord Jesus but of any life born in the womb.  God is involved!  We are the product of God's majestic and creative hand who breathes life into us, giving us a soul at the time of conception.  No one can deny that the Messiah came into the world at conception!  In Luke 1:41, 44, we read that “And it came to pass, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit... For behold, when the voice of thy salutation came into mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy..."  

We can see here the reaction of one person to the voice of another:  the babe (Greek "brephos") leaped in Elizabeth's womb when his mother heard Mary's voice.  The term "babe" is often used to represent an individual living person that has already been born as in Luke 2:12, 2:16, 18:15, and 1 Peter 2:2.  Notice that the Bible does not call it a fetus but a baby (born or not born).  So those who claim that life starts at birth are liars since life begins at conception.  The babe is the babe in the womb and out of the womb. There is no different terminology.  The babe is not a mere collection of cells.  It is a baby!!!

Therefore, conception is the act of God by which a person is created by God's sovereign will.  A soul is breathed into the living tissue by God.  Abortion then becomes a violent act against God.  It is not only an act of murder but an affront to the Creator!

Some dare to ask if God is the Creator of the disabled and deformed people.  In Exodus 4:11 God said,

"And Jehovah said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah?"  

To kill what God has given life is to play God and a serious affront against life itself and God who is the Creator.  To kill the life that God has created is the ultimate proof of wretchedness and atheism in our culture.

• The Person Created is Created in God's Image

1. In James 3:9 we read, "Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God."   At the moment of conception, God puts life into the person created, infuses person-hood, and gives an eternal soul.  It is not merely a collection of genetics, but something eternal in His likeness.  It is not an animal conceived, biological sequence, human tissue but a creation made by God in His image.  Everything that He has created is there for acting, thinking, feeling, knowing, trusting, hoping, for everything that is rational and moral.
2. In Genesis 1:25-27, we are reminded that "And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good.  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."   We are not just mortals, flesh and blood, but rather immortal. Our skin, bones, and muscle comprise only a vessel or place in which something in God's image resides. 
3. In Genesis 9:6-7, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: For in the image of God made he man.  And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein."  So if you kill someone, you die not because of an affront against human flesh but because of such an affront against God's image.
4. In Psalm 139:13-16, we learn that the unborn is God’s unique and extraordinary work created in His own image. “13 For thou didst form my inward parts: Thou didst cover me in my mother's womb.  14 I will give thanks unto thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well.  15 My frame was not hidden from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.  17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”
5. "13 For thou didst form my inward parts."  Literally means, "It is You who made my kidneys.  You made me in the deepest part of my being.  And You indeed weaved me in my mother’s womb."   What a beautiful picture of God’s majestic work!  The weaving together of all that is part of mankind.  The weaving of chromosomes in the DNA.  The weaving together of all the components that make up the human body.  All woven together with an eternal soul.  Indeed, God is involved in all human life:  the earliest development stages in the womb and after each human life is born.
6.  “14 I will give thanks unto thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  Fearfully means “awesomely.” The Hebrew word "noraoth," is used of God’s great power that calls for reverential awe.  There is no more wonderful and beautiful work of God in the whole universe than that of a human being.  Each human body has trillions of cells falling into five classifications and into the mysteries of the DNA, the most essential and useful element in conception.
7. “15 My frame was not hidden from thee.”  The King James says, “My substance,” meaning “my strength, my bones, my sinews, and my muscles.  It was not hidden from You when I was made in secret.”  That secret place is the place hidden within the womb where we are knit together with the complex and intricate patterns and colors of the weaver or the embroiderer, our God.
8. “And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.” Literally means “skillfully wrought” in the Hebrew.  It is translated “when I was interwoven of various colored threads.”  In other words, "when You embroidered me, You made the very fabric, You pulled together every tiny little piece, and You wove it all to make me."  What a beautiful picture of our Creator’s elaborate and complicated texture of the human body which He drew in the depths or parts of the earth, referring to the womb!!!  
9. “16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance,” meaning "my unshaped embryonic substance."  It literally means in Hebrew, “something rolled together.”  It is like saying, “When I was just a little ball of life, when I was just a little ball of chromosomes.  And in Your book they were all written, all my days, all my years, all the events of my life, everything.”  
10. “17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”  It is like saying, “It is so incredible to think about You thinking about me before I was ever made.”  God’s creation is wonderful and awesome since it is a creation made in His image.  Therefore, life is a gift from God, created in His likeness.

It is amazing and marvelous to me to see how wonderfully our God has designed the womb of the mother to be a protector, giving it warmth, health, and safety.  And God wants to bring all these precious little souls to birth no matter what the circumstance might be that brought on their conception!!  I am convinced that our God will bring His wrath on the murderers of His precious creatures who have not sought His forgiveness.  God is indeed the protector of the innocent!

Exodus 21:22 is one of those main passages about abortion.  Here God gives many laws regarding life and all of its many circumstances.  In verse 22, “And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow; he shall be surely fined, according as the woman's husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.”

So What is this passage saying?  Well, the literal Hebrew translation simply says, “And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child…”  Here is the Hebrew, “… so that her children come out…”  In other words, it causes the child to come out, “… yet there’s no further injury, then he shall surely be fined as the husband, or the woman’s husband may demand on him, and be paid as whatever the judges or the courts allow."

Yeled, is the common Hebrew word for “child.”  The verb yatsa often refers to ordinary childbirth.  And so if the two men are fighting, one getting involved in the fight, and if a woman steps in, perhaps the wife, to stop the fight and gets struck in the attempt so that her children come out (plural sense).  That is, an ordinary childbirth takes place.

The term yatsa refers to childbirth that comes out of the mother’s womb in Genesis 15:4; Isaiah 39:7; Genesis 25-26; Jeremiah 1.

The Hebrew word for miscarriage shakol is used in Exodus 23:26; Hosea 9:14.

“But if there’s any further injury...” means the loss of life.  “Then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life.”  So what is the point here?  The point is that if you are responsible for killing an unborn child, you must pay with your own life.  Period!  It is murder!

“No further injury,” can mean there has been some kind of miscarriage.  “Further” does not appear in the Hebrew text.  It just says, “if there is no injury,” meaning "if the child is born and there is no injury, it is okay to settle whatever would be the medical costs if any."  But there is more than that, if there is injury to the unborn child, to the mother, then lex talionis, i.e., tit for tat takes place.  The penalty would be the same if the child suffered in one area.  In the case of the child dying, then the sentence is life, lex talionis, the law of retaliation.

• God Cares in a Special Way for Those Who Are Helpless

The helpless creation is the special object of God’s loving care.  This unique creation that He has conceived in the womb of a woman is the special object of His loving care.  God identifies with sinners, the needy, the poor, the widow, the orphan, the helpless and defenseless.  We read this in Psalm 82.  God cares and is concerned for the helpless, the disabled, the weak and defenseless or vulnerable.  In other words, everything that our Creator has created in His image is of equal value and is to be treated with special care, consideration, and Christ-like compassion.

• We Must Have Compassion for all of God’s Creation Made in His Own Image.  God demands it of us!

1. In Matthew 22:39, “And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” 
2. Again in Romans 13:8, we read that love fulfills the whole law.  Therefore, the unborn child is your neighbor and is in need of protection and care, and we are to treat him with the same kind of compassion that is applied in all of God’s creation.

I cannot fathom how a mother might think of her baby as an enemy or intruder even if he was the product of rape or malformation.  God has given her the privilege of protecting that precious little soul, that life with all of its weaknesses.  Naturally, a woman who thinks this way is without natural instinct and must have been sold the idea by a decadent culture.

• Condemnation of Murderers is the Will of God

1. In Exodus 21, we have read that if a person strikes a woman allowing the baby to come out and die, it was life for life.  
2. In Exodus 20:13, God said, “Thou shalt not kill.”  
3. Again in Genesis 9:6, “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: For in the image of God made he man.”   In other words, if you take a life, you are going to lose yours.  Some would argue that this is an Old Testament teaching and that Jesus changed all that.  NO, He did not!!!  Jesus was the leading advocate of capital punishment.
4. In Matthew 26:51-52, “And behold, one of them that were with Jesus stretched out his hand (Peter), and drew his sword, and smote the servant of the high priest, and struck off his ear.  52 Then saith Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”  Jesus is repeating a divine law, i.e., if you take a life, you give a life.  Jesus was articulating God’s Law.
5. In Psalm 106:38, we find an indictment against the sinful.  Notice what verse 37-38 say, “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons, 38 And shed innocent blood, Even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, Whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with blood.”

Notice that it says, “And the land was polluted with blood.”  It is like God is saying, “You shed innocent blood, and that blood pollutes the land.”  Therefore, the blood of 2 million aborted babies in our land and 60 to 75 million everywhere else across the earth, stains and pollutes the earth with blood.  This innocent blood is crying out for retaliation, justice, God’s wrath on its murderers.  There will be a reckoning for the blood of these innocent, defenseless, and helpless precious souls that is crying out to God because it has been shed innocently.

Remember that the Bible declares, “And the blood of a certain person shall be on your head.”  In other words, you are responsible.

With a heavy heart, I believe that in our nation, God is demanding the death penalty for the shedding of innocent blood that cries out to Him.  I believe that our land is stained and soiled with the blood of these innocent babies who have been massacred.  There is nothing that shows a more decadent society than the one who disregards God, His Law, His creative work made in His image, His care, and His compassion.  It is shown in the mass murder of millions of babies!  A disdain for the sanctity of human life" for what society calls "quality of life," causing others to be murderers of innocent children and also causing our land to cry out to God for justice.  

All the medical doctors engaged in this massacre of babies as well as their advocates of abortion, feminist and liberal women, including politicians who abet such a crime, God alone knows what He has in store for them.  The wrath of God awaits these people if they do not repent and are forgiven. God will judge because the land is crying out!

I hope from the bottom of my heart that our God by Grace will redeem all the participants of this tragedy and that that same Grace will reach out to them if they are willing to repent and receive it. God graciously forgives those who repent of the killing of these precious babies!  Our Lord Jesus offers forgiveness for them if they from a sincere heart come to Him to be forgiven.  God, in His infinite mercy, is willing to forgive the penitent sinner (both the mother and the medical practitioner).

III.   THE ETHICS OF ABORTION

For centuries, the western world has managed and controlled what we call a "sanctity of life ethic." In other words, a person had a right to life merely because he was considered a human being since he was alive.  Unfortunately, there has been a tragic shift in recent years to a “quality of life ethic” instead of a "sanctity of life ethic."  On the whole, this new ethic claims that a person does not have a right to live solely because he is human.  This same ethic argues that a person exclusively has the right to live if he meets certain criteria and qualities.

This new modern point view also claims that a person has no right just because he is alive (even if he is physically alive).  And that this same person must meet (according to them) some additional criteria to be fully human.  If he does not satisfy these criteria, he is not, or does not have the rights of a human, including the right to live.  To them, the unborn must meet some kind of unclear or ambiguous standard of genetic respect or worthiness to have a life worth living, wanted by society, and meet the mother's own criteria to be considered human.

Sadly, this way of thinking opens the door for Utopian ideologies.  Hitler and the Nazis walked through this door, allowing them to get rid of unwanted genetic elements in the population.  Those whom the Nazis exterminated were not regarded as human either.  Sadly, the Nazi mentality is parallel to what our modern culture is portraying.

Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood (one of the world's loudest advocates of abortion) basically agreed with Hitler's approach of eliminating from the human race:  blacks, southern Europeans, Jews, and other "feeble-minded." This, of course, moves us from a sanctity of life to a quality of life to live.  This quality of life is then to be determined by genetic engineers, philosophers, or whoever.

As shocking as this might sound, such eugenic ideas are no different in principle to the present practice of abortion for any reason whatsoever.  For instance, if a baby is found to have Down Syndrome or any other birth defect, or perhaps it becomes an inconvenience, he is not worthy to be living.  Therefore, he is not human, and we can dispose of him.  Any attempt to justify abortion, claiming that it stops suffering forsakes the sanctity of life ethic and ignores the facts.  Whoever contends that the handicapped does not have a life that is worth living argues that this is a valid reason to reject him as unwanted.  For this reason, he must be aborted since being unwanted, his parents will abuse him.  Such reasoning is false.

To the contrary, there seems to be a connection between abortion and child abuse.  Did you know that when abortion was legalized in our nation, there were 167,000 cases of child abuse per year? So what is the connection?  The connection is that when society begins to be educated that a child is a non-person, not worthy of living and that they should not be an intrusion, this same society starts to treat them that way.

Abortion is often described as benefiting women.  Ironically, girls are aborted far more often than boys.  This is true in China, where you are allowed to have one child, and if she is a girl, she is killed.  Others argue that abortion is necessary because of overpopulation.  They ignore the principles of production and distribution.  

The present toleration on abortion is deeply rooted in individualism and the personal rights movement.  Pro-abortionists argue that a woman has all the right to control her own body. Therefore, she has the right to choose to abort anything that intrudes her body.  Yet society acknowledges that the rights of one person must be limited when they conflict with another's rights. Certainly, the person in the mother's womb also has such rights!

A Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia said,

"Whether a woman's right over her body extends to abortion depends of whether the fetus is a human life."  

A baby is indeed a human life with an identity of his own and not a part of the mother's body.  He has his own unique set of genes, his own circulatory system, his own blood type, his own brain, and his own soul.  He is made in God's image.  The baby can live or die separately from the other or vice versa.  He is a separate life!

Today, we live in a culture where the self-serving philosophies are the most dominant.  Such philosophies have but one purpose, to remove any kind of intrusion that impedes man's freedom and liberties.

As I said earlier in my discussion, conception is an act of God.  God makes us and forms us.  He breathes life into us.  He ordains who shall live.  He has all control to close and open the womb.  The Word of God testifies to this. Clearly, the abortion debate is not just about a woman's right, medical science, law, and even situational ethics.  It is about absolute morality as found in the Word of God and our relationship with God.  

When our morals are coupled with immoral behavior in the face of others’ immoral actions, the result is undoubtedly the decay and destruction of society and of those who pretend to be moral (hypocrites). Why?  

• Because moral decline is the erosion of moral or ethical standards, godly law, and order.  
• Because when people give lip service to God trying to re-interpret His Law to suit their tastes, moral decline is present.  
• Because moral decline generates a world in which people want law and order (morality) without its responsibility.  
• An example of this is those who are against abortion but with increasing qualifications.  Those who are against murder, but want to enforce capital punishment less and less, even though God demands it.  The truth is that we demand others to be responsible so that we will have fewer troubles ourselves.  This is all the product of rebellion against God (of moral relativism).

If one's morals are merely his own, then he has no right to impose them on someone else, nor can he logically do so. As a result, we have moral paralysis.  Why?  Because even what he views as good for him is meaningless since it actually has no roots for him.  Faith without works is dead.  As Christians, we must be willing to take public action against all evil so that society may be able to avoid God's wrath.  Notice the exhortation found in James 1:22-25.  We must act and not just hear.  Why? Because it is demanded by God that we take a public stand against evil and not just click our tongue in self-righteous disapproval on all issues of life.  Yes, it is not enough to simply recognize evil without taking concrete steps to eradicate it.  There is no righteousness in detecting evil but rather in doing good according to God's will.  

The goal of every Christian must be to eradicate all evil in every area of life.  The Lordship of Christ demands action in, through, and under Him.  Likewise, moral action demands the Lordship of Christ in the family and all society.  The Lord’s will must rule us in every area of science, art, industry, agriculture, culture, and life.  Therefore, it is our responsibility before our Creator to take action against all moral evil.  To do otherwise is to pretend that God does not care and does not want us to take risks for Him in history.  It is then that we can confidently face Him on judgment day by simply making this world He has entrusted to us as faithful stewards a better place than it would have been without Him and us.  Therefore, we must keep teaching the Gospel to turn the hearts of men into repentance!

Abortion (the destruction of the human embryo or fetus) has been regarded as murder according to God's divine standards, laws.  The grounds for such judgment is found in the sixth commandment and Exodus 21:22-25.  Some claim that there was no such law in the Old Testament, but Exodus 21:22-25 makes a clear statement.  According to God's Law, abortion is murder, despite its present definition in civil law.  God hates the shedding of innocent blood (abortion)! (Proverbs 6:16-19). 

God hates those who commit murder, as is the case of those who purposefully and unjustly take the life of another human being.  God hates murder, whether it is committed against one in the womb, the young one, or the elderly.  To demand that we should not call abortion murder is to avoid God's Law as the standard for all life and to offer as an alternative substitute, natural law, humanistic psychology and sociology, feminism, political correctness, "niceness," and worldly wisdom."

Notice that in Exodus 21:22-25, the text does not cite a case of deliberate abortion but rather a case of accidental abortion.  Imagine if the penalty for accidental abortion was so severe, it is undeniable that deliberately induced abortion was strongly forbidden.  The penalty for accidental abortion was death.  From the text, we can conclude that a man who intentionally bumped a pregnant woman while in the course of a fight, causing her to abort, was to suffer the death penalty.  So, how much more any person who intentionally induced an abortion?  And even if no injuries resulted to either the mother and the fetus, the man then was liable to a fine.  It is crystal clear that the law well protected the pregnant woman and her fetus.  In Deuteronomy 22:6-7, we cannot ignore that even a mother bird with eggs or young was covered by law, and any tampering with the birth was a serious matter. Therefore, to destroy life is forbidden by God's laws.

Having a firm scientific and Biblical basis, we are now in a position to consider the ethics/morality of abortion.  Pro-choice organizations maintain that it is vital that one avoid adopting one religious view over another and so are in the realm of moral relativism with very few absolutes.  Whether abortion is right or wrong, then depends upon one’s belief:

“Abortion is a moral choice made by a woman based on her moral beliefs and that every woman must be free to choose.”

The Pro-choice argument centers upon a woman’s right when there is moral relativism and little absolute moral belief.  But the truth is that there are moral absolutes set by God that no one can remove.

Let us consider the scientific and biblical view of abortion and stop talking about embryos and fetuses.  We must speak of human beings, personhood, from the time of conception.  The person in the womb is simply in the early stages of human development the same way a child grows up into adulthood.  So we are faced with the question:  When, if ever, is it right to take the life of a human being in the womb?

As I have said earlier in my study, the Word of God is very specific about this, “You shall not murder.”  (Exodus 20:13).  This draws the line for all believers.  We know that induced abortion is not an option.  But as I discussed earlier, many cultures, including some who profess to be Christians, accept that abortion may be justified in the case of the mother’s life being in danger.  There is also the question of fetal abnormality or child handicap.  Should induced abortions in such cases be legal?

So, in the event of these rare exceptions, and taking the scientific and biblical viewpoint, we should ask:

1. Are most induced abortion (i.e., over 95% of abortions) ethical?  
2. Are they morally wrong (sinful) in the sight of the one true God?  
3. Is it alright to murder a human soul simply for “social” reasons like 'the pregnancy was intended,’ I don’t wish to be a single parent.’ ‘it is unaffordable’ or ‘it is inconvenient?’"

Of course, the biblical and moral response must be a resounding “NO.”  Induced abortion is immoral and wrong (sinful) in the sight of God.  Period!  So any person who is contemplating abortion must consider their relationship to God, his Creator.

The Christian worldview must be incompatible with abortion.  Why?  Because if one believes that life is a gift of God, it is impossible to treat life with anything less than reverence.  Sadly, the more humanistic our culture gets, the more degraded it is the value of human life.  Planned Parenthood is but a tragic symptom of our world that places no value at all on human life.  As Christians, we must fight tooth and nail to resist such degradation.  Although we are subject to our earthly government, we owe God alone our faithfulness, loyalty, and obedience.  We owe the same things to His innocent image bearers!

CONCLUSION

Today, Christians must move courageously against lawlessness.  Surely we, along with our non-Christian neighbors, will come under God’s visible judgment.  I believe this judgment on us, especially Christians has already begun since many of us have failed to recognize that our apathy in the face of abortion, that is murder, is itself a judgment of God.  Our blindness is called judicial blindness!   

I believe God deliberately closes people’s eyes to the Truth so that they will not believe His Word. Jesus explained to His disciples why He spoke to them in parables, citing from Isaiah:

“Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.  And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:  For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them.  But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.”  (Matthew 13:13-16).

As faithful stewards, we must fight this “holocaust” today, in ways that are more aggressive than the earlier generation did back in 1971, before the Supreme Court's attack had been introduced. Failing to act with courage will surely bring down on us God's wrath.  Sadly, many Christians fail because of their own apathy in the face of this legalization of murder and are not aware that they are risking judgment from God.  Such blindness is but judicial blindness.  What many don't want to acknowledge is that God deliberately blinds people’s eyes to the Truth so that they will not believe in His Word.  (Matt. 13:13-16; Isa. 6:8-13).  

“And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me.  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.  Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste, and Jehovah have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land.  And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof.”  (Isa. 6:8-13).

In the days of Jesus, the Jews were judicially blinded as a preliminary aspect of God's increasing judgment.  We see God's increasing judgment toward the Jews a generation later with the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the slaughter of an overwhelming number of Jews.  It can happen to us again if we see but refuse to see.  

Today our people, even Christians, are very much blinded by sin and are not able to recognize abortion as murder.  It is regarded as "terminating the pregnancy," when, in fact, it must be seen as “ending the baby’s life.”  “Seeing they will not see.”  I prefer not to think about what may be the next step in God’s escalating judgment.  We must speak openly of this evil if we don’t want His wrath on us.

Today man plays God and seeks to have control of all life, granting or taking life on his own terms rather than God’s.  It is precisely this power that the humanists want to grasp by law, to take or to spare life in terms of their own decree.  My question is:  Does God demand capital punishment for such offenses?  The humanists will deny the validity of capital punishment for such crimes (abortion).  Does the Bible deny the right to abortion?  The humanist will establish a “right” to abortion on his terms, executing capital punishment on the fetus.  

It is not surprising to see such an increase in killing and murder.  When men turn to their own will and their own plan, setting aside God’s Law (which is His declared plan), they start seeking to control life apart from God.  Man then becomes an arbiter and god of life, choosing and deciding (concerning his own logic and reasoning) who shall live or not.

So if man arbitrarily decides who shall live or whom shall be killed, unwanted children then are aborted, the aged is put to sleep, all faithful Christians are killed or persecuted, all hated racial groups are wiped out.  So what is at stake is either God’s Law will prevail or man’s law.  If man’s law is accepted, everything will be an open question.  When man attempts to play God, he then becomes the victim himself.

Under God’s Law, the doctor is a minister of life and healing.  His profession has a long and needed connection with that of the priestly calling.  The Hippocratic Oath that doctors traditionally take prohibits their participation in taking the life of an unborn child.  Unfortunately, under humanism and abortion, the doctor ceases to be a healer and protector of life and thus becomes a murderer. 

Moreover, under the influence of humanism, most doctors have made a radical change in the medical profession.  Instead of being a man who regards life as sacred and wholly governed by God, the doctor is playing God in most cases.  But because he is not God, he becomes a murderer.  Who can respect an abortionist?  Even those pagan cultures that practiced abortion despised the abortionist.  Man, created in God’s image, reflects to some degree the judgment and Law of God. The medical profession has rapidly declined in prestige, and doctors are being hated and despised as murderers.

It is evident that abortion represents a hatred of life as well as a hatred of God, the Creator.  The love of death and the hatred of life manifests itself in an increased abortion rate.  To some women, it has become a kind of status symbol of “liberation” to have a safe abortion.  They have proven their freedom from God.  It is the mark of a dying culture, a hatred of life, and a desire to play god.  Indeed, all who hate God, love death!  And death shall be their destiny, but we Christians are called to life.

Those who justify abortion out of a fear of overpopulation must be reminded that there are no circumstances that justify the means (crime).  To allow or permit abortion to control the population is acknowledging that human beings may be killed at any age or in massive numbers if there seem to be too many of us around.  This is the way of thinking of the socialist regimes which affirm there are too many people, very few jobs, only so much food, so much land and so on.

The claim that a woman has absolute right over her own body is invalid since the body of the baby she is carrying is no more hers than it will be when the baby is outside the womb.  Under God’s divine Law, even the right to destroy her own body is not allowable.  Suicide and murder is punishable by God as are other forms of self-mutilation.

The claim that man makes law so he can change it denies the very existence of God’s Law, thus allowing for paganism, moral decay and lawlessness to be the rule.  Paganism is the pretense of one being able to do as one pleases.

The battles that marked the early church are still present with us today.  The first battle that the early church had to fight was the Lordship of Christ, the second was over the issue of abortion.  Abortion under the Roman empire was entirely legal as it is today but the early church from the beginning opposed and condemned the practice of abortion.  Take note that the abortionist of those days was not known to be as brutal and cold as some abortionists of our day.  

My fervent prayer to God is that we may continue to work toward the day when our civil laws on abortion are in accordance with the Law of God.  This will include an action plan to work together so that we can reach that goal.  As God's children let us rise up in holy indignation and strive to drive this evil and sin from our midst.  We must take up the Word of God so that we might win somehow our noble fight to save the innocent lives of these precious babies and souls whose lives are in jeopardy today.  It will demand a call to all pro-choice activists to change their policies and programs and that they should all come to repentance.  Abortion is not the unpardonable sin, for there is restoration and forgiveness available from God to those who have committed this sin. May God give them a clear conviction on this issue of abortion!

May the Lord help us His children to not tolerate abortion or anything that usurps His divine throne, whether it be violence or mass murder.  May He also help us to take a stand against all lawlessness. May we grant to those who have fallen into this sin mercy and kindness by teaching them the glorious Gospel of His Son.  May He call all men to come back to a righteous standard with Him. May our leaders move us in the direction that pleases God.  May God cause this our nation and the other nations of the world to be drawn to His Son and Savior, coming to the feet of His cross and surrendering to Him.  May we all cherish human life as precious and valuable, just as God cherishes it.  May we protect it to the best of our ability.

Luci

HABAKKUK: IN GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL HANDS

For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:  Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places.  

Habakkuk 3:17-19

I am reposting this discussion because of the recent shootings at San Bernardino, California, which once again remind us that there are powerful forces at play that we cannot stop without the providential hand of God.  Our message from the prophet Habakkuk reminds us of how important it is that we rest in our confidence in God to fix all the evil forces of this earth through His world government.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He reigns forever!

Habakkuk is one those prophecies that give panoramic insight into the way our God governs the kingdoms of men.  His words are medicine for our troubled souls. Let us see if we can make a practical application of the message to our times.

The brutal Paris bombings and slaughter and now the new slaughter at San Bernardino, CA reminded me that the Enemy is at work with an unbridled rage that is putting many stumbling blocks in the path of world evangelism, the furthering of the glorious gospel of Christ.  Those bloody images tell me that the world needs us to proclaim the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus more than ever.  We must pray for our leaders as well as their political adversaries that they might humbly seek and make wise decisions in the days to come to promote justice and peace rather than revenge.  I pray that we as Christians can reach out to those affected (families, friends, and neighbors) by this horrible massacre and help them to rebuild their lives but mostly to come to know the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Although the Muslim peoples perform indiscriminate acts of revenge that lead to much worse and threatening violence, my prayer is that the gospel of grace might reach out to them in kindness with a message of peace.

Many Muslims do not identify with these outrageous acts committed in the name of Islam.  Some of them by the grace of God have been drawn to faith in Jesus Christ.  Evil exists.  It abounds in the face of inconceivable and indiscriminate violence.  And that is why more than ever we must proclaim the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As I look at our nation and our world, I feel a heavy weight in my heart.  It afflicts me.  Every long-standing foundation seems to be collapsing.   Everyone is turning away from their faith, questioning the efficacy of the Scriptures more than ever.  Many are expressing doubts even unbelief.  Many just simply say there is no God and won't bother seeking the Truth.  They think chance put the world together. They don’t bother to know Him who made us and governs our universe.  They are blind to the working of God in the affairs of men.  That was exactly what afflicted the prophet Habakkuk.  He was puzzled by God's silence.  And in his ignorance, the prophet cried out to God for an answer as to why He was apparently unaware and not concerned about the unrighteousness of men.   What he did not know and found out later is that in God's time the unrighteous (the wicked) will be judged, and the righteous (the faithful) will be vindicated (Hab. 2:4).

Like Habakkuk, some call into question God's sovereignty, justice, and holiness.  The apparent inactivity of God in the face of wickedness (lawlessness and unrighteousness) troubles those who struggle to do what is right.  Some become bewildered and angered by God's supposed unwillingness to intervene on behalf of the righteous and judge the unrighteous.  We become anxious and discouraged because of God's lack of attention to our present situation.  Let us take heed lest we sin and be judged by the Almighty because of our lack of faith in His righteous government of the world.

We live in a world where evil seems to prevail.  We see a broad range of injustices:  

• Abortion.
• Oppressive governments. 
• Terrorism and so on.  

So what can the faithful do when wrongs are not corrected?  

Theodicy (the vindication of divine goodness and providence given the existence of evil) has never been more crucial since the infamous 9/11 terrorist attack on our nation (the World Trade Center). Some wondered:  

• Where was God?  
• Why did He allow such an atrocity to happen?  
• Was it His will or an act of His judgment?  

Sadly, both skeptics and ignorant Christians asked these questions.  Habakkuk experienced the same anxiety.  I sometimes wonder if our worries are not even worse than those of the prophet.  Our expectations of God do not match those of God's plan.  We are telling God when and how He should act.  How dare we do such a thing!  The church at times portrays God as the "big butler in the sky" waiting to attend to all our carnal and capricious impulses.  This theology suggests that if one asks God in faith, God is bound to give him what he asks.  We often respond the way Habakkuk did. Why?  Because when we pray that God may judge the wickedness of men (correcting the injustices) without getting an instant answer, we respond with a wavering doubting faith.  We start to question God's goodness and sovereignty over His creation as in Habakkuk's case.  There are many truths in Habakkuk that can be applied to the church today.

I am perplexed to see the reaction of many Christians on Facebook. Some express how they feel without using wisdom and common sense. They love to talk politics.  If I were to recollect all of their comments, links, comics and memes on Facebook, it would sound like this:

1. "America is a Chrisitan nation."
2. "We have lost our moral influence."
3. "Political liberals are to blame."
4. "But if the American people were to elect the right politically conservative (or libertarian) candidate, they would restore America's power, respect, success, and leadership.  Perhaps come to another great awakening."  

Let us be wise and not put stumbling blocks before the gospel of Christ.

Let us remember that we as Christians must never render to Caesar what is owed to God alone. Why?  Because we must reject the false gospel of American exceptionalism: the belief that America is special and unique.  A concept that can be useful but also problematic. To place our hope in any particular human government is at odds with the gospel of Christ.  American exceptionalism is a characteristic of civil religion whose primary purpose is to unite citizens with a common cause.  It is presumptuous to say that our nation is God’s chosen people like ancient Israel.  Civil religion must never be combined with revealed religion (God's sovereign plan) lest it be used to corrupt the Gospel. The most appropriate form of patriotism rejoices in our nation's strengths, acknowledging her shortcomings without conflicting with the teachings of Christ.

Therefore, we must reject all idolatrous forms of exceptionalism as false gospel especially when they appear to be religious.  Exceptionalism must be righteous and committed to the full authority of the revealed Scriptures as well as the transforming power of the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ.  

I encourage you to put your trust in God's providential hands.  Let us not lean on our flesh, our human resources.  They are not strong enough to hold us.  Only God is our Rock.  Only He is strong enough to help us bear our heavy burdens and traumas.  He is our Rock of strength from everlasting to everlasting.   

Let us focus for a moment on the faith of a man called Habakkuk,  a man who learned to take every problem to God in prayer and who rejoiced in spite of the evil around him.  He, like Jeremiah, was disturbed and distraught over the sins of his people.  

The name Habakkuk means "embrace or embracer."  It is to me a book of comfort when I need it. It deepens my faith, understanding, and prayer, helping me find joy and strength in our Almighty God.

I.  The Theme of the Book

The book of Habakkuk begins by addressing the subject of God's righteousness in the face of man's unrighteousness.  This prophet struggled to understand God's lack of immediate judgment over sin. His affliction blinded him to God's longsuffering.  Habakkuk thought it was a sign of injustice that contradicted God's goodness, holiness, and righteousness.  He believed that God's silence was encouraging continued sin and weakening all law and justice (Habakkuk 1:3-4;13). 

As we read this short book, we cannot help but notice how Habakkuk moves from burden to blessing. From worry to worship.  From restlessness to rest.  From wrongly focusing on God being the problem to a focus on the Person of God.  And finally from a complaint to a consolation.  In the end, the prophet acknowledged that God can turn sighing into singing.  But we must be willing to wait on Him with constant prayer and meditation on His Word.

Habakkuk presents to us a conversation and prayer between the prophet and Jehovah God.  As the book opens, he asks God when He will respond to Judah's oppression of its poor.  Notice that the Law of Moses regarding protection for the poor and the weak was no longer practiced, so he cried out to God saying, 

"O Jehovah, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? I cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.  Why dost thou show me iniquity, and look upon perverseness? for destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention riseth up."  (Habakkuk 1:1-3).

Then the LORD responds explaining to Habakkuk that He has a plan.  He will raise up the Chaldeans (Babylonians):

"For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling-places that are not theirs.  They are terrible and dreadful; their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves." (Habakkuk 1:6-7).

When Habakkuk heard God's answer, he was shocked.  No matter how bad Judah had become, Babylon was certainly worse.  God told Habakkuk that in His time, justice would prevail for the wicked, of both Judah and Babylon.  God would use the Babylonians ("terrible and dreadful") to reprimand the evil of His chosen people.  Judah would not get away with her sin.  Habakkuk struggled to understand how a just and righteous God could use such a wicked nation as Babylon to accomplish His will.

• The Babylonians (Chaldeans) were full of pride (Hab. 1:9-11; 2:4; Jer. 50:29-31).  
• They worshiped the god of might (Hab. 1:10-11).   
• A nation who killed, conquered and plundered other nations for "evil gain."  (Hab. 2:9).  

The prophet acknowledged that God has "ordained him (Babylon) for judgment and has established him for correction."  (Hab. 1:12).  God answered the prophet by explaining His sovereign power and control over the kingdoms of men, and all of His creation.  In Habakkuk 2:18-19, God explicitly warned Habakkuk about the man-made idols that His people were still trusting in.  Through Habakkuk, God continued to reveal Himself and His Laws to His chosen people.

The question remains:  Can a righteous God use a more wicked people to judge a people that is more righteous than their enemies?  (Hab. 1:3).  It seems to make more sense that Judah (a less wicked nation) should be the one to be used by God to punish a more wicked people (the Babylonians) and not vice versa.  Habakkuk saw God's plan as a conflict with His holiness and righteousness.  He thought it unjust (Hab. 1:13).  However, God reassured Him that Babylon would also be judged and punished for her sins only after He had used them as His vessel of punishment of Judah for her sins (Hab. 2:6-19).  All of God's creation is at His disposal to punish the wicked and his lawlessness, but He is a just God, who rewards the faithful.  The righteous who live by faith will be rewarded.  

"And Jehovah answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.  For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay.   Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith."  (Hab. 2:2-4).

The purpose of the prophecy is to prove God's sovereignty and wisdom in His judgment and mercy in history.  That purpose is perceived only by those who walk in faith.  God's holiness and righteousness (justice) cannot be questioned!

II.  The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

Toward the end of the chapter, Habakkuk understood God's plan as well as His holiness and righteousness.  That understanding led him to compose a beautiful psalm of faith because of God's justice and what He had done in the past for His people.  The final chapter of Habakkuk (ch. 3) is his prayer to God.  Habakkuk's conversation with God was profitable.  As a result of his fervent prayer to God, he began to understand God's sovereignty as well as His care for the righteous.  He acknowledged that God's will was to destroy the wicked of Judah using a nation whose wickedness was much greater than theirs.  His conclusion is one of great faith.  Despite the approaching tribulation that was coming to God's chosen people, Habakkuk concluded with confidence, knowing that his God would keep His word and would demonstrate His righteousness as He had foretold.

"I heard, and my body trembled, My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place; Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the people that invadeth us.  For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:  Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places."  (Hab. 3:16-19).

How comforting is this passage to me in that it proves over and over God's everlasting promises, keeping us afloat in this wicked and godless world that we live in!  So let the righteous today "live by his faith" and hope on God's eternal promises (Hab. 2:4).  The strength of our faith is through Jesus our Lord (Phil. 4:13).  Lest we forget, God is aware of all unrighteousness (injustices) and will judge in His time and in His way all lawlessness of the wicked.  He has shown us in history that He will demonstrate His justice on all the nations.  The wicked will never go unpunished.  The righteous will be vindicated and rewarded!  

So, when you find yourself discouraged and your faith seems to be wavering, carry your struggles before the throne of the Almighty like Habakkuk did.  And no matter how awful things appear, we must rejoice in the God of our salvation with hope.  Why not have the courage to approach God with your doubt and confusion as well as your unbelief?  Why not seek our Heavenly Father in faith and understanding of His Word?  It is the faithful who dares to come near the throne of God in prayer for answers when his faith is weakened.  Let us not make the terrible mistake of keeping them to ourselves because Satan will take advantage of our doubt. Let us not put our understanding of the Word of God in a box.  His Words help us in our times of distress, confusion, doubt, and calamity. Therefore, let us trust in God and not in any systematic theology that we have invented about Him. The danger is that it will lead us to misunderstand Him and lead us to error.  I guarantee that if we do all this, you and I will come out victorious!

Consider how we can overcome our doubts, deepen our understanding, our faith, prayer and find joy and hope in our Almighty God in the midst of our distress, confusion, doubt, and calamity.

1.    All Christians have to wrestle with the problem of evil:

One of the most common questions among skeptics and even Christians is the problem of evil. Indeed, we live in a world where crime, war, disease and terror seems to dominate.  Some have mistakenly concluded that since we live in an imperfect world, there is nothing supreme and intelligent in the universe.  Otherwise, if there is a supreme and divine being out there, He would not be indifferent to good and evil.  Therefore, God lacks goodness and power over His creation.  What they don't realize is that they are making a god of their own understanding of what God should be. Some want a grandfather in heaven whose purpose is to see all His creation enjoy themselves without any consequence whatsoever.

Atheists have not failed to make known this problem either.  In fact, some go so far as to say the problem of evil proves that God does not exist.  They say that if something is right and good, that does not prove the existence of God.

• So, how is it that when things go wrong, that proves that God does not exist, but then if something goes right, that also proves there is no God?  
• So if there is no God, why is there so much good?  
• If there is a God, why is there so much evil?"  

The question is not philosophical.  It is moral.  Read Psalm 14.

Psalm 73 wrestles with this problem of evil.  The Psalmist raises the question:  If there is a righteous and powerful God in heaven, why do evil men seem to prosper, but the godly suffer?  We see this portrayed in the NT with John the Baptist and Stephen.

Other skeptics outrageously say,

"If God is all powerful and loving, He would put a stop to evil and suffering.  Evil has not stopped.  Therefore, either God is not all powerful or He is not loving."

It is vital to know God accurately through His Word that one may understand the problem of evil. Many make the mistake of assuming that God is obligated to explain all that He does.  They expect to know God without examining the Scriptures carefully.  In Proverbs 25:2 we read that "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; But the glory of kings is to search out a matter."  Again in Isaiah 55:8-9 we are told that, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Jehovah.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."  

Indeed, it is hard to grasp all of God's ways.  There will be times when circumstances will not make sense to us and are hard to comprehend.  It is common to question God when one experiences evil and suffering.  Job felt this agony in Job 23:2-9.  David also did. (Psalm 13:1; Psalm 77:7-8).  Even our Lord Jesus felt this anguish on the cross (Mark 15:35).  Most of us have experienced some grief in our lives.  When evil or hardship afflict us, we feel as if God has let us down.  I have!!  But it is then that one must be careful not to allow Satan to take advantage of the moment to discourage us and make us abandon our trust in God.  It is crucial to recognize that trials, evil and sufferings are all part of the human experience.  The Bible is full of examples of heroes of the faith who underwent similar hardships.  Jesus told His disciples that even they should anticipate sufferings in John 16:33. The apostle Peter asserts this in I Peter 4:12-13.

When God created the universe, He acted freely and without compulsion.  We did not deserve to be created in His image.  Creation was an act of God's own free will.  We know this from Genesis 2:7. God provided life and a lush garden for man.  Likewise, God provided a special tree that offered eternal communion in His presence (Genesis 2:9).  He entrusted man with the care of His garden (Genesis 1:28-30).  He also gave man free will to choose between good and evil when He placed the forbidden tree in the middle of the garden.  He was not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17)  God sees value in choice.  It gives us the freedom to express our love for God that we may have a relationship with Him.  God does not want to force us to love Him.

Now, there is a risk when we are given the power to choose.  We can choose the desire of the eyes, the desire of the flesh and the pride of life over a fellowship with God.  In other words, God will not prevent us from choosing evil (Romans 1:18-32).  It is when man rebels against God that he brings upon himself the wrath of God (Gen, 3:15-19; Romans 5:12l I Cor. 15:22).  Adam and Even rejected God's offer of communion when they asserted moral independence.  When God acts against sin, even the innocent suffer.  In Gen. 3 we see Satan as an evil alien force in God's creation.  He, Satan, is always opposing and frustrating  God's purposes.  He seeks to destroy God's harmony with His creation.  Therefore, there is always a contest over the hearts of men.

It is Satan who inflicts us with evil and suffering (Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38).  But God limits and controls his power.  Therefore, we must always pray that He not lead us into temptation and that He may keep us from all evil (Matt. 6:13).  Moreover, the Word of God teaches us that God's righteousness and holiness cannot commune with evil (Psalm 54).  God is faithful to His promises and warnings!  

2.   Use your struggles along with the problem of evil to go deeper in your understanding of God rather than withdrawing from Him.

Let’s learn from Habakkuk's example.  He learned to take his questions and complaints to God through prayer, waiting on God to answer.  We must proceed with caution when we are faced with doubts and the problem of evil.  Many often withdraw from God and His people in depression and with a pouting expression.  Others prefer to be angry with God going back to the world, convincing themselves that God does not exist because if He did He wouldn't allow evil to happen.  Others hang on to their faith without going to God in prayer to help them solve their doubts and disturbing questions.  We must learn to live according to God's Word and let it work through our difficulties with prayer and hope in Him.  That is what  Habakkuk did.  He kept crying out to God in prayer for an answer.  When God's answer came, he said,

"I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what he will speak with me, and what I shall answer concerning my complaint."  (Hab. 2:1).  

Moreover, God's second response included the famous verse, "the righteous shall live by his faith." (Hab. 2:4).  So when Habakkuk reaches his final prayer of joy (Hab. 3:1-19), he still does not have all the answers, yet he rejoiced since he had grown in his understanding, faith, and prayer, acknowledging that God was his salvation and strength.  Let us always remember that our struggles will lead us to victory if we trust in God and His eternal Word.  There is a lot to gain from our struggles and calamities!

3.   God is Sovereign over all evil, and He uses evil to accomplish His purposes while holding the wicked accountable for their sins.

God's purposes are higher than any human being and our problems.  God explicitly told Habakkuk that He was raising up the Chaldeans and bringing Judah to judgment because of her sins.  He is the God of history, who raises up kings and peoples, taking them down again and again according to His sovereign purposes.  

I know that it is easy to lose our bearings when we are facing hardship, evil, pain, and suffering.  It was difficult for Habakkuk to grasp this when the Chaldeans were destroying the nation of Judah, leveling the city of Jerusalem and the Temple and slaughtering his nation.  The Babylonians had deported by force many of his people as slaves leaving behind a weak remnant in the land to care for it.  But he and the rest (the godly remnant) learned that they had to submit to God's greater purpose in kingdom history.  Likewise, we must view our lives within God's bigger picture and purpose in history.

4.   God is aware of all evil, and no evil person or nation will escape His judgment.

In an answer to the prophet's second question (How could God use an evil people like the Chaldeans to punish His people?) God shows the prophet that the Chaldean’s victims could take up a taunt song against them (Hab. 2:6).  There are five woes against the wicked that demonstrate that God is aware of their evil and that He will judge them for it.  Consider those woes:

1. Woes against illegal gain (Hab. 2:6-8).
2. Woes against trusting in illegal gain for security (Hab. 2:9-11).
3. Woes against violence (Hab.2:12-14).
4. Woes against seduction and rape (Hab. 2:15-17).
5. Woes against idolatry (Hab. 2:18-20).

Take note that verse 20 says,  "But Jehovah is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."  In His time, God will trample all evil nations and save His people (Hab. 3:12-13).  Therefore, let this be our confidence and not fear all evildoers since they cannot escape God's judgment and justice.  They will not!!!

5.  No evil person or wicked nation can thwart God's plans.  Rather God will use them to fulfill His plans is His time.

Habakkuk states,

"Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction."  (Hab. 1:12).  

Also,

"For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay."  (Hab. 2:3).

Let us keep in mind that God has directed all history to bring His purpose to fruition in judging all nations and evil.  We must trust Him in our troubling current events, even if these events have adverse consequences on our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

6.   Even though God can use evil people and nations in His plans, He is completely apart from evil, and He is not responsible for it.

As Habakkuk 2:14 expresses it well, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea."  He shows in his prayer (Hab. 3:14-15) how God was going to "woundest the head out of the house of the wicked man, Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck."  Dig deeply into this thought!

The point of the matter is that although we must wrestle with the problem of evil, it is vital for us to go deeper in our understanding of God's Word, His ways and thoughts as revealed in the Scriptures.

7.  We must pray in faith whenever we cannot understand evil.  We will find joy in God.

Although Habakkuk could not comprehend why God was going to use the Chaldeans against His people, he submitted to God's will by faith (Hab. 2:4,20).  His faith is expressed in joyful prayer in Hab. 3:1-19.  There are three lessons we can learn from all this.

• Faith is vital to have communion with God.

"Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live by his faith."  (Hab. 2:4).  

The Chaldeans were proud.  Their pride led them to their downfall.  But the faithful or righteous will always live by their faith.  This statement is quoted three times in the NT (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38).  Paul uses this statement to show that God justifies sinners through faith in His Son. The Hebrew word "emunah" is otherwise translated "faithfulness."  To be justified is to be made righteous by God.  No one is righteous before God since all have sinned and are in need of the blood of Christ. It is when we obey to the gospel of Christ (repenting, confessing and be baptized) that God forgives us and reconciles us back to Him.  To commune with God, we must live according to the teaching of His Son (1 John 1:7) remaining faithful even when evil things happen to us.  If we trust God completely and submit to His Son's Lordship and rule, He will reward us and bring punishment upon the wicked, if not in this life in eternity.

• Faith and prayer are essential and helpful, but our strong emotions remain.

Habakkuk heeded God's words and submitted to the same Word by faith. He never prayed saying, "I see, LORD.  You are going to use these wicked terrorists to destroy our nation.  So be it!"  Instead, his prayer was "according to Shigionioth" (literally to fall back or stagger) (Hab. 3:1) even though he prayed in an emotionally poetic form.  Habakkuk affirms that when "I heard, and my body trembled, My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place; Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the people that invadeth us."  (Hab. 3:16).  Therefore he prays, "O Jehovah, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid: O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy."  (Hab. 3:2).

It is easy to see that the prophet was in terror, but nevertheless, he put his trust in the Almighty.  He honestly poured out all his strong emotions along with his fears before the throne of God.  He humbly and submissively trusted in His God.  Nowhere do we see the prophet railing in anger against His God.  He acknowledged that God is faithful and just, even when He is pouring out His wrath on the sinning people.  At the same time, he pled for God to revive his work and remember mercy in His wrath (Hab. 3:2).  He still trembled with fear about what was going to happen, even though he was trusting in God.  What is the application for us today?  That even when we go through calamities and severe trials, we can confidently approach God's throne with our struggles and intense emotions and still be submissive trusting all of His excellent ways.

• We must find joy in the LORD in spite of current circumstances or events.  It is this joy that reflects the truth of our faith. 

Habakkuk had resolved to say, "Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.   Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places."  (Hab. 3:18-19).  This reminds me of Paul's triumphant words in the closing words of Romans 8:24-39.  Paul affirms that absolutely nothing would separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (including evil, or death itself).  Such comforting words of hope!!

Habakkuk has just rehearsed for us how God has acted in history.  This book helps us understand God's hand in history.  God shows us that "all history was hastening to a conclusion that was certain as it was satisfying."  God was working behind the scenes as He has always been.  He was raising up a nation (the Chaldeans or Babylons) to punish (judge) Judah for her sins.   Take note that our God is not unaware of our circumstances nor of what is happening around us.  He is fully conscious of them and is always working to bring everything to a conclusion that fulfills His divine purpose.  And although we do not know what He has in store for us in the future, we know for sure that He will bring everything to a satisfying end where He and His faithful ones will triumph.

Habakkuk recites all the events that happened before the exodus of God's people.

• The plagues (Hab. 3:5).
• The crossing of the wilderness (Hab. 3:6).
• The crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River (Hab. 3:8-10) and 
• Joshua's long day when the moon and the sun stood still (Hab. 3:11).  

The prophet looked back to these events of the exodus and the conquest, remembering how God took part in past victories and exploits.  Habakkuk could not help but to see God's providential hand in all of history.  

Therefore, he resolved to trust confidently in His God to act again in his day like He had done in the past with Israel.  It is a great lesson for us today in the church, our nation, and our lives.  We too can have confidence in God's sovereignty and goodness.  Remember that God's ways and thoughts and timing are not the same as ours.  Did you know that the theme of the book of Revelation is the same: victory for those who trust in God and leave it to Him to avenge them?

Our present is uncertain and scary, but we must also trust in our God Almighty.  Looking back at the past, we have the assurance that He will show His sovereignty and righteousness and bring all nations under His feet.  We know this because we read it in His beloved book.  I am fully confident that those who follow Him, walking in righteousness will be vindicated, and the unrighteous will be judged. Don't lose hope!  Wait on the God of our salvation!  We must remember that when doubts cloud our minds and hearts because of hardship, tragedies, pain, suffering and so on, we must go back to the truth of how God has worked in history.  His greatest work was in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  When we stand in the God of our salvation, we can firmly stand since He is our Rock and hiding place.

Let us unite our voices of joy with Paul as he sang in prison and enemies everywhere (Christians and non-Christians) he still could say,

"Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.   In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.   And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus."  (Phil. 4:4-7)  

Let these words sink deeply into your hearts!!

CONCLUSION

Habakkuk's journey was not just one man's journey.  Many before him had walked that path as they still do today.  It is a journey that we must walk at some point in our lives.  Like Habakkuk, we can be confident that our God will keep His promises as well as His warnings.  Our God can shake nations and destroy kingdoms.  He is sovereign and almighty.  Our God has shown us this pattern throughout history.  He is all wise, and He knows what He is doing, and we must understand this.

The book of Habakkuk highlights God's omnipotence, sovereignty and righteousness for us.  All nations are under His control.  We are at His disposal.  We must be still in faith and know that He is at work.  We can rest assured that He will judge the wicked along with their lawlessness. And even if we cannot see it now, He is still on the throne of this universe and will eventually do so.   He will defend His holiness and righteousness His way and in His own time.  

We must face all the evil in the world, adversities, calamities, pain, suffering, etc. with a deep faith and hope in Him.   Both are vital to our walk and communion with Him.  A man of faith does not live by human reasoning.  Let us be wise and not get trapped into living this way in the name of Christianity.  Many think that our job (the church) is to put political pressure on the leaders of this nation and those of the world to enforce righteousness.  This is not our Christian job; it is God's job.

Don't get me wrong here!  I am not suggesting that we should not help those in need.  God expects us to do it.  But when one depends on human forces to bring justice and peace it is wrong.  The Word of God does not teach us that.  Look at how different are the heroes of the faith that we read about in the book of Hebrews.  They changed the world because they endured as seeing one who is invisible. Their hope was not in man but God.  They waited patiently on God to work or act, and He always did the work right.  As God worked, things began to change.  History is a witness of how He worked, how He amazingly worked through men and women, how He stopped the mouths of lions, subdued kingdoms, overthrew thrones, won empires and finally changed the course of history by faith.

Habakkuk 3:2 and 3:16-29, are one of the most beautiful and poetic passages in Scriptures for me.

"O Jehovah, I have heard the report of thee, and am afraid: O Jehovah, revive thy work in the midst of the years; In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy."

I encourage you to read them to see how God acts and how God worked in the past.  I believe with all my heart Habakkuk 3:2 is what changed and convinced the prophet's heart.  He could rest because the events that had occurred in the past were governed by God's providential hand.  History as acts of God cannot be questioned, shaken or taken away.  The truth is that God has already moved in human history, and our faith must rest on this assurance.  We walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We have a supreme and almighty God, who has acted righteously in time and space.  He has recorded His will in the history of all human events.

We must always focus on Habakkuk 3:16-19,

"I heard, and my body trembled, My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble in my place; Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the people that invadeth us.  For though the fig-tree shall not flourish, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls:  Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation.  Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places."

Oh, how I love this passage!  It calms my soul with trust in God enabling us to go to the heights of God:

• Where He takes us to higher places with Him.
• Where we are set apart from the world's suffering, adversities, tragedies, and sorrow.
• Where we can rest with confidence and trust in our almighty God and finally, 
• Where we can develop into what He wants us to be.

Like Habakkuk we must find our strength in our God, His Word and prayer to understand God's ways.  That does not guarantee us that our problems are going to go away.  Jesus declared that the problems would remain.  Let us walk like Habakkuk and all those who walked before him and after him with faith, prayer, and joy in the Almighty God of all.

"These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  (John 3:16).  

This world of evil, distress, difficulties, suffering and pain is not our world since we are just passing through.  We, Christians must keep our eyes fixed on our final destination (Romans 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17). This world is just our training and preparation for eternity.  

May we always trust in God with all of our heart, soul and strength since He has shown us through His revealed Word that He is the God of history.  May He help us to lift our eyes to Him alone, rejoicing in the midst of our trials, problems, calamities, pain, and suffering.  May we always remember that He is the God of our salvation and strength, the God, who "maketh my feet like hinds' feet, And will make me to walk upon my high places."

Luci