Historical Posts
What Went Wrong?
What went wrong with our nation?
The school tragedies in so many states have shocked and dismayed us. What would possess kids to do such terrible things? What went wrong? I don’t claim to have all the answers, but some things are obvious.
First, children are being fed a steady diet of violence on television and at the movies. Much of what they view is pure filth. The language is atrocious. Nudity and illicit sexual activity are common place. Violence has become more and more graphic. But, do I blame Hollywood for exposing our kids to this kind of garbage? No! What went wrong? I think the fault lies with parents who fail to adequately monitor their children’s activities, and especially what they watch on television.
Second, faith in God has been undermined by the teaching of godless evolution as fact. When kids are raised to believe that they evolved from lower life forms, it’s not surprising to see them act like animals.
Third, life in this country is cheap. How can kids who have been fed a steady diet of the pro-choice tripe, grow up with a profound respect for the sanctity of life? They do not!
Fourth, there is no sense of accountability. Rather than hold people accountable for their actions, we make excuses. What went wrong? People (including kids) are not responsible for bad choices. Instead, we blame the system. They are merely products of their environments. Government has let them down. The educational system has failed them. Poverty is to blame. They have a genetic flaw – it’s all because of faulty DNA. Until people are once again held accountable for their actions, there will be no incentive to make good choices.
Fifth, parents have neglected their parental duties. I suspect all the others are really by-products of parental failure. What went wrong? Where are the parents? For too many years, kids have been raising themselves. Parents are often so selfish and self-involved that they never think of the welfare of their own offspring. Marriages are crumbling. Homes are being destroyed. And, children are the ones who suffer most.
What this nation needs is not stricter gun laws, but more loving and caring parents (especially fathers) who are willing to take an active role in raising their children. Listen to the apostle Paul: “…fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). God’s plan from the beginning involved the union of one man and one woman in the loving bonds of holy wedlock for life. Children were to be reared in the home formed by this union. When God’s plan is circumvented, disaster is inevitable! Only by returning to God’s plan for the family can we truly address what went wrong. Are you following His plan in your life?
Salvation: Hear - Believe - Repent - Confess - Be Baptized - Live Faithfully
Content by Roger Rush
Visit Roger at the 6th and Washington Street Church of Christ in Marietta OH.
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Selfishness
Thanks to Johnny O. Trail from the Sycamore Chapel Church of Christ for the content of this post.
Almost all sin is based in selfishness.
One can trace just about every imaginable sin to selfish behaviors. As a matter of fact, the first sin appealed to the fulfillment of self, selfishness. In offering temptations, Satan wants humankind to focus on himself and be based in selfishness. This is the very thing he did in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:2-5 says, “And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The epitome of Christ and Christianity is self-denial. That being the case, selfishness is the antithesis of true Christian living. Jesus makes this apparent throughout His earthly ministry. Do you see any selfishness in this statement? Matthew 16:24-26 says, “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”
A recent article in the Tennessean regarding the vote on Amendment One underscores the nature of selfishness. A woman from Alabama was interview regarding the upcoming vote on the aforementioned amendment. She was alarmed to learn that Tennessee was trying to close the loopholes in its existing abortion laws. Notice how many times this woman seeking an abortion uses the term “I”:
“I know a lot of people are excited when they hear they’re pregnant, but I felt like I was looking at a brick wall between me and everything I wanted to do by the time I hit my 30s and 40s,” said Mae, who asked that her full name be withheld to protect her privacy. “I was not in a place where I physically, emotionally, mentally and financially could, in all clear conscience, bring a child into the world.”
Can you see the selfishness? Simply stated, she saw this unborn child as a hindrance to her future happiness. The unborn child erected a “brick wall between [her] and everything [she] wanted to do…” Nonetheless, she felt comfortable having premarital sex so she could fulfill the selfish needs of her flesh. She wanted all of the pleasure of a sensual relationship but none of the responsibilities that come along with it. Regardless of what many claim, the vast majority of abortions are done as a means of birth control so people can maintain their own selfish lifestyles.
Arrogance and pride are also sins associated with selfishness. When one assumes that he is successful without God’s assistance, the fall of that person is coming quickly. This was one of the faults of the king of Assyria. Notice what Isaiah says about him. Isaiah 10:12-14 says, “When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.”
Contrary to his self-inflated opinion, the king of Assyria is merely a rod of correction in the hands of God. Notice what is said in Isaiah 10:15 “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!” A few chapters later King Sennacherib would see the defeat of his army at the gates of Jerusalem and his own death at the hands of his sons. Isaiah 37:36-38 says, “Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.”
When one removes God from his future plans, he is doomed to failure for God is the one who sees and controls the future of all people. James 4:13-15 says, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”-yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” We should endeavor to seek God’s will for our lives and include Him in all of our plans.
Selfishness, focusing on self, is a means of self-destruction. Romans 2:8-9 says, “But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek.” This is further echoed by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”
God calls upon His followers to be selfless in regards to their Christian walk, giving up selfishness. Jesus was the epitome of a selfless servant of God seeking only His father’s will in faithful obedience toward Him. He had no selfishness. Philippians 2:5-8 says, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” We should strive to like the Master in our service to mankind, giving up selfishness. May we endeavor to be like Him every day.
Johnny O. Trail preaches at the Sycamore Chapel Church of Christ
2699 Old Clarksville Pike
Ashland City, TN 37015
615-746-8624
Content by Zachary Van Tassel
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Psalm 139:13-17 The Gift of Life – audio
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Text: Psalm 139:13-17 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
Introduction
The body is a masterpiece of exquisite design. Beautifully “engineered,” it is governed by several hundred systems of control each interacting with and affecting the other. The brain has 10 billion nerve cells to record what it sees and hears. Our skin has more than 2 million tiny sweat glands about 3000 per square inch all part of the intricate system which keeps the body at an even temperature. A “pump” in our chest makes the blood travel 168 million miles a day equivalent of 6720 times around the world! The lining of the stomach contains 35 million glands secreting juices which aid the process of digestion.
These are but a few of the involved processes and chemical wonders which operate to sustain this wonderful and fearfully made life. A young student had been impressed with the fact that most new products have some “bugs” that must be ironed out before they can operate efficiently. As he stood gazing at a chart showing the organs, nerves, arteries, and glands in the human body, he suddenly exclaimed, “Just think, the first time God put it together, it worked!”
In honor of the unborn that have needlessly been murdered at the hands of abortionists, I would like to talk about the wonderful gift of life we have been given by God our Creator and the battle that ensues for that very life. Let’s give honor to God the Father who is the creator of all things, including each one of us!
As we look at the gift of life, I want to take the time to look at the whole panorama of our lives from the moment of conception in the womb till the time we return to the earth. I want us to see the battle that goes on between God and the devil for our lives from the moment we are conceived till the time we die. It is a battle for life!
Job 5:6-12 For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. “But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause; Who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number. He gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields. He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot carry out their plans.
Body
I. God’s Involvement In The Creation Of Life.
1. We Are Fearfully And Wonderfully Made By Our Creator.
Psalms 139:13-17 For You have formed my inward parts; Yaiah ou have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!
Isaiah 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself…
As we see from these passages of scripture, even though life comes as a result of a man and a woman coming together in sexual unity, we are fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator, God of the Universe. As a result we should praise and honor Him for the wonderful work He does in creating us. We should be eternally grateful.
2. The Beginning of Life in the Womb.
There has been much discussion and debate as to when life really begins, but David makes it clear that his life as well as ours began in the womb, because God is the God of the living.
Psalms 22:10 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God.
- The 20th Day after conception – In the watery world of the womb, the developing child is a complex, dynamic and rapidly growing individual. By the 20th day the foundations of the brain, spinal cord, and entire nervous system have been established. The heart begins to beat in irregular patterns by 21 days and in smooth rhythmic contractions a week later.
- The end of the first month – through the 8th week – By the end of the first month, the child will have grown ten thousand times his or her original size, and by birth the child’s weight will have increased six billion times. Lines in the hands and fingerprints begin to be etched by the 8th week, and these will remain a distinctive feature of the individual throughout his or her life.
- After eight weeks – After eight weeks, the child bears all the external features and internal organs of a full-term baby. From now until fully grown, generally around 25 years of age, the body will change mainly in terms of size and gradual refinements.
- The third month – In the third month, the child becomes very active. If the womb had windows we would see graceful and fluid motions as the child sleeps and wakes, makes fists, sucks his thumb, fans her toes, and seeks positions of comfort. During the remaining months in the womb, the child continues to develop activities, and even to learn, in preparation for the day of birth.
- The most dangerous stage – You would think that in this state of life the child would be relatively safe, but this is one of the most dangerous battles for life that this person will ever face. It’s ironic that in the child’s most innocent stage of life there is a fierce battle raging for the life of this tiny unborn infant.
Psalms 10:8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the secret places he murders the innocent; His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
Satan has been trying to destroy God’s creative beings since the beginning of time, when he first tried to destroy Adam & Eve, God’s first created beings His lust for blood and revenge has continued throughout the ages to the degree that he has been successful in the slaughtering of millions and millions of unborn babies, who are in the secret place of their mother’s womb fixed in a helpless condition against the forces of evil.
II. Abortion Is A Ploy Of Satan To Thwart God’s Plan.
Satan attacks and destroys God’s creative works with any weapon he can conceive. He has now been successful at using our own laws of the land as an effective weapon of destruction. He has infiltrated our society, feeding on the selfishness and greed of man to legalize his pattern of destruction and killing; convincing us that the killing of unborn children is a woman’s choice.
- Those of us who stand against this tide of violence and killing are considered politically incorrect. We have truly fallen prey to the times that God warned us about when “evil is called good and good is called evil.”
- What does God’s Word say about the killing of unborn children? Does a woman or a man have a right before God to make this critical choice concerning someone God has created?
Deuteronomy 32:39 Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. - Only God has the right to bring the innocent home to Himself. Only God has the right to open or close wombs, but man has taken matters into his own hands. Mothers with their selfish excuses and doctors with their sharp instruments are playing God!
Exodus 23:7 Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.
Exodus 21:22-23 “If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no lasting harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. “But if any lasting harm follows, then you shall give life for life…” - If abortion happens unintentionally through unnecessary roughness it is wrong – how much more so when it happens willfully.
My shining feet will never run on early morning lawn;
my feet were crushed before they had a chance to greet the dawn.
My fingers now will never stretch to touch the winning tape;
my race was done before I learned the smallest steps to take.
My growing height will never be recorded on the wall;
my growth was stopped when I was still unseen, and very small.
My lips and tongue will never taste the good fruits of the earth;
for I myself was judged to be a fruit of little worth.
My eyes will never scan the sky for my high flying kite;
for when still blind, destroyed were they in the black womb of night.
I’ll never stand upon a hill Spring’s winds in my hair;
aborted winds of thought closed in on Motherhood’s despair.
I’ll never walk the shores of life or know the tides of time;
for I was coming but unloved, and that my only crime.
Nameless am I, a grain of sand, one of the countless dead;
but the deed that made me ashen grey floats on seas of red.
(Fay Clayton, Christian Crusade Weekly, Jan. 18, 1976)
- What should be the battle plan against the slaughter of unborn children?
Proverbs 24:11-12 Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? he who keeps your soul, does He not know it? and will He not render to each man according to his deeds? - We can take a stand for truth and speak with conviction what our convictions are to friends, letters to editors etc.
- We can pray fervently in this area, wrestling against the rulers of darkness and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly realms.
- We can offer all the help and support we can to insure mothers to carry their child to full term.
- We can work with pro-life candidates, helping them to get elected into office. It’s a shame to live in a country that has legislated murder.
- We must continue to spread the life changing gospel – that’s when lives are really changed.
- Melody Green writes, “Abortion is not an issue that you can remain “neutral” on. You are either for it or against it. What would you do if you were walking down the street, and looking up, you saw a woman about to throw her three-month-old baby out the window? Would you turn and walk away saying, `Well, I wouldn’t do that, but I won’t interfere. It’s her decision – that baby’s probably messing up her life anyway.'”
III. The Battle For Life After Birth.
The battle for man’s soul begins in the womb and continues from birth; throughout his life. As soon as a person is born the sparks begin to fly.
But Satan will be there every step of the way to lead try and lead us in his destructive paths.
1. Satan Tried To Destroy Jesus After His Birth.
Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.
Satan shows his total disregard for life when he influenced Herod to have all the male children in Bethlehem and its districts, who were born around the time of Jesus to be put to death. He tried to destroy the giver of eternal life, the only one who has the power to save our souls from eternal corruption. Jesus came to give us life abundant, but Satan came to kill, destroy and steal.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
2. As parents, God sets you as guardians over your children.
You are to watch out and protect them, just as Joseph and Mary did for Jesus. They escaped from the hand of the enemy into Egypt.
Content by Donald W. Treadway
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Sin – audio
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Perhaps this is not great devotional material, but I can’t help but say a few words about the tragic situation in Pennsylvania with Dr. Gosnell, the abortion doctor who was convicted this week of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies.
Perhaps God brought this grisly story to light so that he could change the way that abortion is talked about in our country. Maybe he intends to wake some of us up so that we can see that lives—not cells, not fetuses, not mere choices—are at stake in this conversation. I’ve already read stories of people who have changed their minds about abortion, so we can praise God for that.
Maybe God wanted us to remember again that we live in a broken world, on a cursed earth, amidst fallen people, so that he might stir up in us again a longing to be where he created us to be. Maybe some of us who live tidy lives need to see the face of evil and look wistfully toward a world without violence and death.
Maybe he wanted us to think about abortion in a way that we haven’t before, or at least in a way that many of us haven’t. Instead of just wringing our hands and preaching against it, maybe we should remember again that everyone needs Jesus. That includes abortionists, the people who work in their clinics, and, of course, the expectant mothers who—maybe because they’re confused or they made a mistake or they just don’t understand what they’re doing—choose to have an abortion. Maybe God wanted us to ask, “What are we doing to help confused and broken people? What are we doing to change the cultural climate to help the people around us see that all life is precious?”
I’ve got a lot of questions. I’d like to know how somebody could do what Dr. Gosnell and some of his assistants did. I’d like to know how a country in which the majority of people call themselves Christians could think it’s acceptable to abort hundreds of thousands of its babies every year.
I suppose we don’t have those answers, and maybe we never will, but whenever we see sin in some kind of graphic form like this, it ought to remind us that sin isn’t just the big, headline-making, jaw-dropping things. It’s pervasive, and it hurts us all. Those of us gawking at Dr. Gosnell from a distance also struggle with sin, though maybe it’s of a more private, not-as-serious (so we say) variety.
Here are a few relevant verses to meditate on and pray over today:
- “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
- “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away …And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1,4).
Content by Donald W. Treadway
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Jeremiah 01:05 The Sanctity of Life – audio
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(Abortion Sermons presented in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013)
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Text: Jeremiah 1:5
Introduction
A. For forty years we have lived with the silent, and sometimes not so silent, holocaust in our midst as the lives of 55 million innocent and unborn children have been killed, plucked from their journey to enter this world.
1. Who were they? Who would they have become?
2. The unmarried graduate student who gave birth to hi-tech guru and co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, may well have aborted this child had her pregnancy occurred in 1973 rather than 1955.
3. This past week former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, recovering victim of a crazed gunman, visited, along with her husband Mark Kelly, Newtown, Connecticut, site of the latest horrible shooting incident.
4. In their public remarks, they expressed concern that our society has become “desensitized to acts of violence.”
a. Appropriate words, I think, that certainly should be considered in the broadest possible sense in our effort to grasp our willingness to tolerate, even nurture, the open and flourishing presence of evil in our society.
b. It takes a deadening of the soul to permit this, a state of being “desensitized.”
c. We know it because when those senses are awakened, our indifference and willingness to tolerate evil is pushed back.
d. When William Wilberforce fought to abolish the slave trade in England, he moved a boatload of the elite into proximity of a slave ship to smell the stench. Their senses were awakened and a major step forward was achieved to end the horror.
e. Reformed slave trader John Newton composed “
5. If there is good news, it is that, slowly, America seems to be coming to its senses regarding destruction of unborn children.
a. A Time Magazine cover story announced “40 years ago abortion-rights activists won an epic victory with Roe v Wade: They’ve been losing ever since.”
b. But in noting that ultrasound has reduced the willingness of Americans to tolerate abortion, author of the story Kate Pickert misses the key point when she writes, “Thanks to prenatal ultrasound, Americans now understand what a fetus look like and that babies born as early as 24 weeks can now survive.”
6. Ultrasound is sensitizing a desensitized American public that has been willing to tolerate this horror over these forty years.
a. Wars are not won overnight. Victory is achieved battle by battle.
b. Wilberforce did not stop slavery, but he stopped the slave trade.
c. Lincoln’s first aspiration was not total abolition of slavery in America, but making it illegal in new entrants to the Union.
7. A battle before us now, as the American soul awakens to the evil of abortion, is to end the waste of US taxpayer funds, which now provide almost half the budget of the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.
B. The very basic fundamentals of human life begins with Genesis
1. We are a part of God’s eternal plan – Ephesians 2:10
2. Notice what God told Jeremiah – Jeremiah 1:5
Body
I. OUR PRESENT DAY HOLOCAUST
A. On September 11, 2001 over 3500 lives were extinguished do the bombing of the world trade towers in New York. In that crowd of people there were potential doctors, scientists, preachers, future leaders whose lives were taken due to evil terrorists.
B. What did not make the headlines on September 12, 2001, the very next day, was the 4000 lives that were extinguished by what is called pro-choice. It happen again on September 13, 14, 15 etc. Each day since 1973 approximately 4000 unborn babies are aborted each day, 28,000 each week, 112,000 each month, 1,460,000 each year.
1. One September 11, 2001 Terrorist killed over 3500 people, and the outcry for justice was heard around the world.
2. But, 4000 unborn babies are being taken every day, and I see no weeping, no anger, and no outcry for justice.
3. The penalty for killing an unborn eagle in this country is a fine of up to $5000 and up to five years in prison. But, the killing of an unborn baby is not considered a crime at all, as long as the mother approves.
4. One in four women have had an abortion and one in ten women in a church have an abortion.
5. AMERICAN WAR CASUALTIES
– REVOLUTIONARY WAR 25,324
– CIVIL WAR 498,332
– WORLD WAR II 407,316
– KOREAN WAR 54,246
– VIETNAM WAR 56,655
– GULF WAR 293
– WAR ON THE UNBORN 31,000,000 since abortion was legalize in 1973.
Over 6 times the number of casualties in all the wars combined.
C. Psalm 139:13-16 – For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
1. Within 21 days the baby’s backbone, spinal cord, and nervous system are forming and a small heart is present and beating.
2. At one month arms and legs are present. There is a head with rudimentary eyes, ears, mouth, and brain. The digestive system has begun. The baby is still only one-fourth of an inch long, but he is ten thousand times larger than when he began.
3. At 2 months the baby is fully formed. He reacts to stimuli such as tickling. He will try to grasp a tiny instrument with his tiny hand. He “swims” or moves about in the amniotic fluid. He has fingerprints.
4. By the end of the 3rd month, as one observer notes, “he can kick his legs, turn his feet, curl and fan his toes, makes a fist, move his thumb, bend his wrist, turn his head, squint, frown, open his mouth,” swallow, and breathe.
a. The lack of value for life today is the result of godlessness. Many of our universities and schools have taught our young people that human beings are nothing more than highly organized, animated slime.
b. Our children are taught that they are cosmic accidents, nothing more than time + chance + matter. Our society has rejected the belief that HUMANS HAVE INTRINSIC DIGNITY BECAUSE THEY ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
1. The Psalmist tells us – Psalm 127:3 – Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord.
2. Did you know that you are God’s crowning creation?
3. Did you know that you’re the greatest thing that God every created
4. You Were Created in God’s Image.
5. Do you know why you’re so valuable to God? Because you look just like Him!
6. Genesis 1:27 – So God created man in His own image.
7. Don’t you ever convince yourself that your worthless. Don’t you ever buy into the lie that no one loves you.
8. You:
– are not an accident.
– were not mass-produced.
– are not an assembly-line product.
9. You were:
– deliberately planned.
– specifically gifted.
– lovingly positioned on this earth by the Master Craftsman.
10. Psalm 100:3 – Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
II. ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
A. Story – “It Matters to This One”
A young man was walking along the seashore. Far ahead of him, he saw a another man walking towards him. He paused every few steps, stooped down, throwing something into the sea.
The young man hurried forward, his feet awkward in the sand, as he tried to catch up with the man. As he came closer, he saw that it was an old man, and the reason that he would stop every step or two was to pick up a starfish and fling it into the ocean. It was only then that the young man noticed the thousands of starfish that littered the beach for miles, stranded there by the tide.
The young man rather was rather curious. What the old man was doing seemed so pointless, and he couldn’t wait to catch up with him to tell him so. The young man came near the older man.
“Why are you doing this?” he gasped. “You can’t save all of these starfish! It’s useless! What does it matter?”
The old man paused for a moment, looking down at the crusty starfish he’d just picked up. He turned it over slowly, then answered. “It matters to this one,”
III. TWO POSSIBLE OPTIONS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD FOR AN UNWANTED PREGNANCY:
A. Raise and Love the Child.
B. Adoption.
C. Neither one is a good option, but they are the only answers to a bad situation.
D. ABORTION IS MURDER (A sin to correct a sin!!!)
Conclusion
1. The good news is that you can have forgiveness.
2. The good news is you can have help from brothers and sisters in Christ
3. God loves you. Do you love God?
4. Jesus says if you love me keep my commandments – John 14:15
Content by Donald W. Treadway
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It Is Not Progress
Society has lost ground
The past one hundred years has seen more change than any century in recorded history. The advances in technology have been phenomenal. We’ve entered the computer age. And, it is impossible to predict what lies ahead. I guess some would say that we have made tremendous progress in recent years, but have we? I’m not so sure! Technology has advanced, but has society kept pace? No! In fact, we have lost ground.
The barbarity and inhumanity of the past is as much with us as ever
Two millenniums ago, the Roman statesman, Seneca, wrote: “We slaughter a fierce ox; we strangle a mad dog; we plunge the knife into sickly cattle lest they taint the herd; children who are born weakly and deformed we drown.”
William Barclay, in his Letters to Galatians and Ephesians, page 209, records the following letter dated 1 B. C. from a man called Hilarion to his wife Alis. It reads: “Hilarion to Alis his wife heartiest greetings, and to my dear Berous and Apollonarion. Know that we are still even now in Alexandria. Do not worry if when all others return I remain in Alexandria. I beg and beseech of you to take care of the little child, and, as soon as we receive wages, I will send them to you. If–good luck to you!–you have a child, if it is a boy, let it live; if it is a girl, throw it out. You told Aphrodisias to tell you: ‘Do not forget me.’ How can I forget you? I beg you therefore not to worry.”
Are you repulsed by a society without regard for its own offspring? Do you thank God that children are no longer brought into such a wicked and cruel world? If so, I should point out that in our nation one and a half million defenseless babies are murdered in their mother’s wombs each year. And, the response of many, especially those in positions to stop this wholesale slaughter, is to look the other way. Yes, they say they find it personally offensive, but it’s a woman’s body and a woman has the right to do as she pleases with her own body. Maybe you think that is progressive thinking, but I find it just as barbaric as anything the Romans did.
You shall not murder
It is a sad commentary on society when the weakest and most vulnerable are casually cast aside. In the womb or out of the womb, murder is still murder, and the Bible says: “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:12 NIV).
–Roger
JULY 8, 2012
Content by Roger Rush
Visit Roger at the 6th and Washington Street Church of Christ in Marietta OH.
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Abortion and the Bible
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(Abortion Sermons presented in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013)
Every year in the United States of America, more than one million children are butchered by abortion doctors.
Since 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion-on-demand, some forty-three million babies have been slaughtered in America (see “Consequences,” 2003).
Every year, an estimated forty-six million abortions occur worldwide. In three decades, an entire generation of children has been forever eliminated. In fact, more than 20% of all babies conceived in this country are killed before they ever see the light of day – and the slaughter continues….
Some encouraging signs have surfaced recently.
In March 2003, the United States Senate, by a 64-33 vote, approved a ban on the particularly barbaric abortion procedure known as “partial-birth” abortion.
In their efforts to sort out the moral and ethical issues involved in human cloning, the President’s Council on Bioethics concluded, among other things, that “the case for treating the early-stage embryo as simply the moral equivalent of all other human cells…is simply mistaken”.
But even these laudable attempts to turn back the tide of moral degradation that has swept over the nation are too little, too late.
A significant number of Americans consider abortion to be an acceptable option.
What would one expect? They’ve been browbeaten with the “politically correct” agenda of the social liberals for decades.
The highest court in the land has weighed in on the matter, making abortion legitimate by means of the power of “the law.”
The medical profession has followed suit, lending its prestige and sanction to the practice of abortion – in direct violation of the Hippocratic Oath.
But have the majority of Americans heard the biblical viewpoint? Do they even care how God feels about abortion? Are they interested in investigating His view of the matter? After all, the Bible does, in fact, speak decisively about abortion.
American civilization has undergone a sweeping cultural revolution for over forty years.
The American moral framework is being restructured, and this country’s religious roots and spiritual perspective are being altered.
The founding fathers and the American population of the first 150 years of our national existence would not have tolerated many of the beliefs and practices that have become commonplace in society.
This list of practices would include gambling (i.e., the lottery, horse-racing, casinos, etc.), divorce, alcohol and public drunkenness, homosexuality, unwed pregnancy, and pornography in movies and magazines.
These behaviors simply would not have been tolerated by the bulk of American society from the beginning up to World War II.
But the moral and religious foundations of our nation are experiencing catastrophic erosion. The widespread practice of abortion is simply one sign among many of this cultural shift in our country.
But there is still a God in Heaven – the omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the Universe.
He has communicated to the human race in the Bible, and He has stated that He one day will call all human beings who have ever lived to account, and He will judge them on the basis of their behavior on Earth.
Therefore, every single person is responsible for carefully studying God’s Word, determining how He wants us to behave, and then complying with those directions.
It is that simple, and it is that certain.
We can know God’s will on the matter.
While the Bible does not speak directly to the practice of abortion, it does provide enough relevant material to enable us to know God’s will on the matter.
In Zechariah 12:1, God is said to be not only the Creator of the heavens and the Earth, but also the One Who “forms the spirit of man within him.”
So God is the giver of life.
That alone makes human life sacred.
God is responsible for implanting the human spirit within the human body.
We humans have no right to end human life – unless God authorizes us to do so.
But taking a human life, biblically, is based on that human’s behavior. Taking the life of an unborn infant certainly is not based upon the moral conduct of that infant.
So if God places the human spirit in a human being while that person is in the mother’s womb, to end that life is a deliberate attempt to thwart God’s action of “forming the spirit of man in him.”
But when does the human spirit enter the human body and thereby bring into existence a human being?
When does God implant the soul into the body – at birth or prior to birth?
The Bible provides abundant evidence to answer that question. For example, the Bible states: “As you do not know what is the way of the spirit, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes all things” (Ecclesiastes 11:5).
In this passage, Solomon equated fetal development with the activity of God. Job described the same process in Job 10:11-12. There he attributed his pre-birth growth to God.
David was even more specific.
“For You have formed my inward parts; You have covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Psalm 139:13-16).
David insisted that his development as a human being – his personhood – was achieved by God, prior to his birth, while he was yet in his mother’s womb.
Some have suggested that Ecclesiastes, Job, and Psalms are all books of poetry and, therefore, not to be taken literally. However, poetic language has meaning. Solomon, Job, and David were clearly attributing their pre-birth personhood to the creative activity of God.
Of course, many additional passages that make the same point are not couched in poetic imagery. Jeremiah declared: “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; and I ordained you a prophet to the nations’ “ (Jeremiah 1:4-5).
Compare this statement with Paul’s equivalent claim, in which he said that God set him apart to do his apostolic ministry even while he was in his mother’s womb (Galatians 1:15).
Isaiah made the same declaration: “Listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples from afar! The Lord has called me from the womb; from the matrix of my mother He has made mention of my name” (Isaiah 49:1).
These passages do not teach predestination.
Jeremiah and Paul could have exercised their free will and rejected God’s will for their lives – in which case God would have found someone else to do the job.
But these passages do teach that God treats people as human beings even before they are born. These passages show that a pre-born infant is a person – a human being. There is no significant difference between a human baby one minute before birth and that same human baby one minute after birth. And that status as a human being applies to a person throughout his or her pre-natal development from the moment of conception.
Consider further the recorded visit that Mary, the mother of Jesus, made to Elizabeth, the mother of John the baptizer. Both women were pregnant at the time.
“Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Luke 1:39-44).
Notice that Elizabeth’s pre-born baby is being represented as a living human being.
In fact, the term “baby” used in Luke 1:41 and Luke 1:44 to refer to the pre-born John is the exact same term that is used in chapter two to refer to Jesus after His birth as He laid in the manger (Luke 2:12, 16).
So in God’s sight, whether a person is in his or her pre-birth developmental state, or in a post-birth developmental state, that person is still a baby!
In Luke 1:36, John the Baptist is referred to as “a son” from the very moment of conception.
All three phases of human life are listed in reverse order in Hosea 9:11 – birth, pregnancy, and conception.
If abortion is not wrong, Mary would have been within her moral and spiritual rights to abort the baby Jesus – the divine Son of God!
Someone may say, “But that’s different, since God had a special plan for that child.” But the Bible teaches that God has special plans for every human being.
Every single human life is precious to God – so much so that a single soul is more significant than everything else that is physical in the world (Matthew 16:26).
God sacrificed His own Son for every single human being on an individual basis.
Each human life is equally valuable to God.
The unrealized and incomprehensible potential for achieving great things by millions of human beings has been forever expunged by abortion.
The remarkably resourceful potential of even one of those tiny human minds, now extinguished, may well have included a cure for cancer, or some other horrible, debilitating, and deadly disease.
Another insightful passage from the Old Testament is found in Exodus 21:22-25. This passage describes what action is to be taken in a case of accidental injury to a pregnant woman:
“If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no lasting harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any lasting harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (NKJV).
This passage has been mistranslated in some versions. For example, some versions use the word “miscarriage” instead of translating the Hebrew phrase literally – “so that her children come out.”
The text is envisioning a situation in which two brawling men accidentally injure a pregnant bystander. The injury causes the woman to go into early labor, resulting in a premature birth of her child.
If neither the woman nor the child is harmed, then the Law of Moses levied a fine against the one who caused the premature birth.
But if injury or even death resulted from the brawl, then the law imposed a parallel punishment: if the premature baby died, the one who caused the premature birth was to be executed – life for life.
This passage clearly considers the pre-born infant to be a human being, and to cause a pre-born infant’s death was homicide under the Old Testament – homicide punishable by death.
Notice that this regulation under the Law of Moses had to do with injury inflicted accidentally.
Abortion is a deliberate, purposeful termination of a child’s life.
If God dealt severely with the accidental death of a pre-born infant, how do you suppose He feels about the deliberate murder of the unborn by an abortion doctor?
The Bible states explicitly how He feels: “[D]o not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked” (Exodus 23:7). As a matter of fact, one of the things that God hates is “hands that shed innocent blood” (Proverbs 6:17).
This matter of abortion is a serious matter with God.
We absolutely must base our views on God’s will – not the will of men. The very heart and soul of this great nation is being ripped out by unethical behaviors like abortion. We must return to the Bible as our standard of behavior—before it is too late.
When one contemplates the passages examined above, and compares them with what is happening in society, one surely is amazed and appalled.
For example, women have been indicted and convicted of the murder of their own children when those children have been just a few months old.
The news media nationwide, and society in general, have been up in arms and outraged at the unconscionable behavior of mothers who have so harmed their young children so as to result in death.
Most Americans have been incensed that a mother could have so little regard for the lives of her own children.
Yet the same society and the same news media that are outraged at such behavior would have been perfectly content for the same mother to have murdered the same children if she had simply chosen to do so a few minutes or a few months before those children were actually born!
Such is the insanity of a civilization that has become estranged from God.
A terrible and tragic inconsistency and incongruity exists in this country.
Merely taking possession of an egg containing the pre-born American bald eagle, let alone if one were to destroy that little pre-birth environment and thus destroy the baby eagle that is developing within, results in a stiff fine and even prison time.
Yet one can take a human child in its pre-born environment and not only murder that child, but also receive government blessing to do so!
Eagle eggs, i.e., pre-born eagles, are of greater value to American civilization than pre-born humans!
What has happened to our society? This cannot be harmonized in a consistent, rational fashion. The ethics and moral sensibilities that lie behind this circumstance are absolutely bizarre.
The ethical disharmony and moral confusion that reign in our society have escalated the activity of criminals who commit a variety of heinous crimes: killing large numbers of people, raping women, and doing all sorts of terrible things.
Yet, a sizeable portion of society is against capital punishment. Many people feel that these wicked adults, who have engaged in heinous, destructive conduct, should not be executed – a viewpoint that flies directly in the face of what the Bible teaches (Romans 13:1-6; 1 Peter 2:13-14).
God wants evildoers in society to be punished – even to the point of capital punishment. Yet, we will not execute guilty, hardened criminals, while we will execute innocent human babies! How can one possibly accept this terrible disparity and the horrible scourge of abortion?
The ultimate solution to every moral issue is genuine New Testament Christianity and the objective standard of the Bible.
If all people would organize their lives around the precepts and principles presented in the Bible, civilization would be in good shape.
No other suitable alternative exists.
There is simply no other way to live life cohesively, with focus, with perspective, with direction, and with the proper sense of the purpose of life.
Content by Donald W. Treadway
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A Date That Will Live in Infamy – Psalm 139:13-16
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(Abortion Sermons presented in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013)
Text: Psalm 139:13-16
Introduction
1. “December 7, 1941. A date which will live in infamy.” The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
2. 9/11/2001 is a date which will live in infamy.
3. January 22, 1973. A date which will live in infamy.
a. Why this date?
b. What is significant about it?
Body
I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION.
A. Roe v. Wade.
1. In 1970, attorneys Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington filed suit in a U.S. District Court in Texas on behalf of Norma L. McCorvey (“Jane Roe”).
a) McCorvey claimed her pregnancy was the result of rape.
b) The defendant in the case was Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, representing the State of Texas.
c) The purpose of this suit was to challenge Texas’ anti-abortion laws.
2. After three years, the case was heard by the Supreme Court.
3. On January 22, 1973, the Court issued its decision.
a) On the virtue of a 7-2 vote, the court voted to strike down Texas’ anti-abortion laws.
b) The Opinion of the Roe Court was written by Justice Harry Blackmun.
c) The basis for their decision was that to prohibit a woman from terminating her pregnancy was to violate her “right to privacy” under the 14th Amendment.
d) In the Opinion, he stated that a fetus does not qualify as a “person” under the 14th Amendment.
(1) The relevant part of the 14th Amendment states, “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
(2) In the opinion he stated that the Court’s decision decided that the original intent of the Constitution did not include the unborn.
e) The court ruled that the State cannot restrict a woman’s right to an abortion in her first trimester.
f) The State was permitted by the decision to restrict abortions in the second and third trimesters.
B. Since that day…
1. Nearly 22% of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) have ended in abortion.
2. Over 45,000,000 babies have been aborted.
a) That amounts to 3315 abortions per day.
b) 2,388 men and women died at Pearl Harbor.
c) 2,998 men and women died on 9/11.
3. That is more than the number of people who have died in every war this country has ever fought.
a) Revolutionary War: 25,000.
b) Civil War: 498,000.
c) WWI: 116,000
d) WWII: 545,000
e) Korean: 54,000
f) Vietnam: 56,000.
II. IS A FETUS A PERSON?
A. Abortion proponents refuse to call a baby in the womb a “baby.”
1. Instead, they use the term “fetus.”
2. Fetus = An unborn vertebrate. So scientifically, the term is applicable.
3. But have you ever heard someone say, “What are you going to name the fetus?” OR “I just felt the fetus kick.”
4. The real reason that the term “fetus” is used is in order to take away the baby’s humanity.
5. It is easier for people to kill a fetus than it is to kill a baby.
B. By looking at the development of baby in the womb we can see that it is a distinct human being from the very point of conception.
1. From the moment of conception, 46 chromosomes with 30,000 genes combine to determine all of the baby’s physical characteristics: sex, facial features; body type; color of hair; eyes and skin. All the genetic material for the baby is present at this point. Now, all that is needed is time and nutrients for the baby to grow.
2. The heart starts to beat at 18 days. The baby has its own blood supply independent of its mother. The blood of the baby passes along the umbilical cord, runs through the placenta and approaches the maternal blood vessels found in the womb. Across the dividing wall, the two blood supplies exchange their gaseous loads; the baby passes to its mother it’s carbon dioxide waste and she passes to her baby oxygen and nutrients.
3. Brain waves have been recorded as early as 40 days. The baby has become sensitive and responds to touch.
4. The baby starts making spontaneous movements at about seven weeks.
5. By the eighth week, all of the baby’s organs are now present.
C. We know that God considers an unborn baby to be a person.
1. Psalms 139:13-16. For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
a) My frame was not hidden from you.
b) Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
2. The Holy Spirit used the same word to describe the child in the womb and out of the womb.
a) Luke 1:41. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
b) Luke 2:12. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
c) In both cases, the term <a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=1025″>brephos</a> is used. It has two meanings: an unborn child, and a new-born child.
d) There is no distinction with God.
3. God hates the hands that shed innocent blood. Proverbs 6:16-17. These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,
D. It is interesting to note that Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe) has become a Pro-Life advocate.
1. She wrote in her book, Won by Love, “I was sitting in O.R.’s offices when I noticed a fetal development poster. The progression was so obvious, the eyes were so sweet. It hurt my heart, just looking at them. I ran outside and finally, it dawned on me. “Norma,” I said to myself, “They’re right.” I had worked with pregnant women for years. I had been through three pregnancies and deliveries myself. I should have known. Yet something in that poster made me lose my breath. I kept seeing the picture of that tiny, 10-week-old embryo, and I said to myself, that’s a baby! It’s as if blinders just fell off my eyes and I suddenly understood the truth–that’s a baby! I felt “crushed” under the truth of this realization. I had to face up to the awful reality. Abortion wasn’t about ‘products of conception.’ It wasn’t about ‘missed periods.’ It was about children being killed in their mother’s wombs. All those years I was wrong. Signing that affidavit, I was wrong. Working in an abortion clinic, I was wrong. No more of this first trimester, second trimester, third trimester stuff. Abortion–at any point–was wrong. It was so clear. Painfully clear.”
2. In 2005, she petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 decision, arguing that the case should be heard again in light of evidence that the procedure may harm women, but this petition was denied.
III. WHAT CAN CHRISTIANS DO?
A. Pray.
1. Pray for government officials. 1 Timothy 2:1-3. Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
a) Proverbs 14:34. Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.
b) Proverbs 29:2. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
2. Pray for women with difficult pregnancies.
a) Most aborting moms are panicked, uninformed, and desperate.
b) Some are pressured by boyfriends or even parents.
3. Pray for abortionists. Matthew 5:44. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
B. Vote.
1. We are blessed to live in a country where we ARE the government. It is a government Of the People, By the People, For the People.
2. As Christians we are told to be the salt of the earth. Matthew 5:13. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
3. We are the light of the world. Matthew 5:14-16. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
4. Our Christianity follows us even into the voting booth. HWJV
5. We should not put party loyalties or any other value before the preservation of the lives of unborn babies.
6. In the 1990’s congress passed (on two different occasions) a ban on partial birth abortion which was promptly vetoed by the sitting president.
a) Congress then tried to override his veto.
b) They failed by THREE votes.
7. In 2003, the current administration approved a ban on partial birth abortions.
a) It was immediately challenged and three different U.S. District Courts declared the law unconstitutional.
b) However, in April of 2007, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision upheld the ban stating that it does not violate the constitution.
c) While, as Christians, we would like to see all abortion banned, we realize that this is at least a step in the right direction.
8. We can make a difference in the voting booth.
9. We need to know where our candidates stand on this issue.
C. Teach.
1. Teach and practice Biblical sexual morality. Hebrews 13:4. Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.
a) All sexual relations outside of marriage are wrong
b) Prevent unwanted pregnancies through abstinence!
2. Teach the biblical view of human life.
a) Genesis 1:27. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
b) Matthew 7:12. Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
3. Teach the facts about abortion.
a) You may be surprised at how little people know about abortion.
b) We can be sure that Pro-Choice people are teaching their position.
4. Teach the plan of salvation.
a) Unless we do this, we are just treating the symptoms.
b) The cause must be removed and then the symptoms will be gone for good.
Content by Donald W. Treadway
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Abortion – Proverbs 06:17
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(Abortion Sermons presented in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013)
Text: Proverbs 6:17
Introduction
1. Illustration
A Florida man was fined $108,800.00 for poaching 1088 turtle eggs froma Florida State Park. The public defender argued that a turtle isn’t a turtle until it hatches. The prosecutor affirmed that though they had not hatched, they were still turtles. The judge agreed with the prosecutor.
Too bad babies don’t hatch! Swipe 1000 turtle eggs and get fined $1,000 for each egg. Kill 1000 babies and be rewarded with tax money and be lauded as a champion of reproductive freedom!
2. Abortion is one of the most controversial moral dilemmas of our day.
3. Abortion affect millions of Americans. Social scientists today estimate that abortion is the most frequently performed surgery on adults in America.
4. In fact, one out of three babies conceived in the United States is deliberately aborted, and since 1973, 40 million babies have been aborted in the U.S.
5. However, the question that should concern us most about this issue is whether or not this action is moral. Does God approve or disapprove of abortion?
Body
I. A Brief History Of Abortion
A. Contrary to what many may believe, the debate over abortion is not a recent phenomenon.
B. Many cultures (Assyrian, Babylonian, Sumerian, Hittite) considered abortion a serious crime.
C. A portion of the Hippocratic Oath stated, “I will not give a woman a pessary to produce an abortion.”
D. However, Plato and Aristotle thought that deformed children should be exposed and left to die.
E. Closer to the time of Christ, Josephus wrote against abortion saying, “The Law commanded to raise all children and prohibited women from aborting or destroying seed; a woman who does so shall be judged a murderess of children”
F. The Didache said, “Do not murder a child by abortion or kill a newborn infant.”
G. Athenagoras, a second century Christian, wrote to the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, saying, “We say that women who induce abortions are murderers, and will have to give an account of it to God…The fetus in the womb is a living being and therefore the object of God’s care.”
H. Augustine, a 4th century “Church Father” criticized husbands and wives for “preferring that their offspring die before it lives, or if it was already alive in the womb, to kill it before it was born.”
I. In the U.S., laws against abortion were in effect until 1967, when a few states began to liberalize their laws. By the end of 1970, 18 states had passed laws that allowed abortion in “exceptional circumstances.” However, on January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court handed down its Roe-v-Wade decision, which permitted abortion on demand.
II. Abortion Methods
A. Below is a listing of the methods used by doctors to perform abortions. I won’t spend time discussing these methods, but wanted to present them to you so that you can read and better understand what is involved in an abortion.
B. Dilation and Curettage or “D&C.”
C. Suction Aspiration – used in 80% of abortions.
D. Saline Injection or salt poisoning.
E. Prostagandin.
F. Hysterotomy.
G. Dilation and Extraction or “Partial Birth Abortion.”
III. What Does The Word Of God Say About Abortion?
A. The Bible, in principle addresses all our needs and answers all our moral questions.
B. (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
C. First of all, life is valuable.
1. (Genesis 1:26-31).
2. (Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:21-22).
D. Second, life begins at conception.
1. Doctors testify to this fact:
a. Ashley Montague, Professor at Harvard & Rutgers (who is not at all sympathetic to the pro-life cause) – “The basic fact is simple: life begins not at birth, but conception.”
b. Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who has performed over 60,000 abortions -“Modern technologies have convinced us that beyond question, the unborn child is simply another human being, another member of the human community, indistinguishable in every way from any of us.”
2. The Scriptures testify to this fact:
a. (Jeremiah 1:5).
b. (Psalm 139:13-16).
c. (Luke 1:41,44).
d. (Job 3:11).
e. (Exodus 21:22-23).
f. (Proverbs 6:17).
IV. Pro-Abortion Rhetoric
A. “Every woman has a right to control her own body.”
1. “Every woman” – half the babies aborted are female.
2. “Has a right” – society does not recognize absolute right over one’s body (e.g. public nudity, drunkenness, etc.).
3. “To control” – control could have prevented the pregnancy.
4. “Her own body” – pregnancy involves two bodies.
B. “Abortion is every woman’s legal right.”
1. Legal rights and moral/biblical rights are not always the same (Acts 5:29).
C. “The fetus is mere tissue and not a person.”
D. “Abortion is the best solution to a crisis pregnancy.”
1. What if Mary, the mother of Jesus, had embraced such a view?
2. Abortions involving rape and incest comprise only 1% of all abortions performed, and while I do not wish to minimize the trauma of such situations, harming an innocent person is not the proper response.
V. What Can We Do About The Moral Problem Of Abortion?
A. Show compassion.
1. It’s not a sin to have a baby outside of marriage, it is a sin to have sex outside of marriage.
2. We must condemn sin but lovingly help and support those who have committed sin and help them to bear up under the consequences.
B. We need to speak out what God’s word says.
1. We can’t expect people to live godly lives who do not know what godliness entails.
C. Social involvement and support of pro-life organizations.
D. Vote.
E. Pray (James 5:16).
Conclusion:
1. People may and probably will continue to argue about this issue.
2. Nevertheless, God has shown us that life is precious and he is highly offended when we harm his little ones (Proverbs 6:17; Matthew 18:3-5; 19:14).
3. Friends, make yourself a voice for the voiceless, and defend the innocent and helpless. You know your Lord would.
What Was I Supposed To Be?
As Jesus walked upon the earth, on the shores of Galilee, He’d say to his disciples, “Let the little children come to me.”
I wonder if up in heaven, do you suppose you’ll see, Little children asking, “What was I supposed to be?” “What was I supposed to be?”
“What were my eyes supposed to see?” “Why did I taste of death, Before I even drew a breath, Or lay my head on my mother’s breast to sleep?”
“Oh, Jesus, what was I supposed to be?” “Was I to be a prophet used in the ministry?”
“A doctor who would find a cure, for some terrible disease?”
“Even if I had been born imperfect why couldn’t my parents see ‘d have been made perfect, when you came back for me?”
“Oh Jesus, what was I supposed to be?” “Jesus, What was I supposed to be?”
Content by Donald W. Treadway
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Proverbs 24:11-12 Abortion – audio
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(Abortion Sermons presented in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013)
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(Presented in 2012. Also see the 2005 sermon, 2006 sermon and 2008 sermon)
Text: Proverbs 24:11-12 (reading by Andy Anderson)
Introduction
This is a day that will truly live in infamy to steal a phrase from Franklin Roosevelt. He was speaking about Pearl Harbor where 2,402 men were killed on December 7,1941.
Thirty-nine years ago today, on January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. Aproximatly 50 million babies have been killed since 1973. There are 11.3 million people living in Ohio.
As Christians, we need to remember that what is legal is not necessarily moral in God’s sight. Morality is not determined by popular or judicial opinion, but by what the Bible says. So I want us to look at what the Bible says about abortion.
Some argue that since the New Testament does not directly address the matter, we should not be dogmatic about it. They say that it is a “difficult moral issue,” where we need to allow room to differ and not impose our personal views on others. Many preachers refrain from speaking on the subject because it is controversial and potentially divisive.
I believe that the Bible gives us God’s absolute moral standards that apply to every culture and every age. Furthermore, the Bible warns that God will judge every person based on His righteous standards (Acts 17:31; Revelation 20:11-15). We cannot plead ignorance as an excuse for disobedience or apathy (Proverbs 24:11-12). God holds us accountable to the standards of His Word, whether we know those standards or not. We dare not be uninformed!
Also, our consciences need to be informed by Scripture, not by popular opinion or slogans. There are professing Christians who have been influenced by the popular pro-abortion rhetoric. For example, the slogan, “Pro-family, Pro-child, Pro-choice” makes perfect sense to some, or it wouldn’t be plastered on bumper stickers. But stop and think, “What is the choice that they are advocating?” The answer is, the choice to kill your baby! So that bumper sticker is about as logical as saying, “I’m pro-women, pro-rape”! It is utter nonsense!
Another bumper sticker reads, “Against abortion? Don’t have one.” That assumes that abortion is a personal preference, not a moral issue. Imagine a bumper sticker, “Against rape? Don’t commit one”! That’s fine if rape is just a preference, but if it is a heinous crime, that’s ludicrous! Another slogan says, “Keep your laws off my body!” In other words, “We can’t legislate morality.” But we do have laws against rape, incest, child abuse, theft, and murder. Those are moral issues, all of which stem directly from the Bible! One of the main purposes for law is to protect the innocent and the weak. Laws about abortion relate directly to these matters.
Before we look at what the Bible says about abortion, let me briefly comment on what abortion is and on what the Supreme Court decision was all about. Abortion is the extraction or expulsion of the immature human fetus from the mother’s womb with the intent to end the life of that fetus prior to natural birth. Fetus is a perfectly good medical term, as long as you remember that it refers to a developing human baby. But you will never hear abortion advocates speak of it as a baby or child. Sometimes they even call it the “product of conception,” or a piece of tissue! Have you noticed how often the news refers to anti-abortion activists (not pro-life activists), and refers to those advocating baby-killing as pro-choice or defenders of abortion rights? How did we ever come to think that we have an inherent right to kill our children?
Of course many abortion advocates argue that it is not a human baby that they are killing, but science is against them. Before conception, there is not a new human life. But at the moment of conception, there is a new life, possessing 46 chromosomes, distinct from both the mother and the father. Genetically, the baby is not the mother’s body! By 21 days, the first heartbeats have begun. At 45 days, brain waves can be detected. By the ninth and tenth weeks, the thyroid and adrenal glands are functioning. By 12 or 13 weeks, he has fingernails, sucks his thumb, recoils from pain, and has his own unique fingerprints. The only things that developing life needs to become what we are, are time and nurture.
What was Roe v. Wade all about? By a vote of 7-2, the U.S. Supreme Court held that until a child in the womb is viable (capable of sustaining life outside the womb) or “capable of meaningful life” (the court reckoned this to be six or usually seven months), the mother’s desire for an abortion should take precedence over the baby’s right to life. For the last two or three months, the court said that the state may protect the unborn, but that it must allow an abortion if the life or health of the mother is threatened. The court defined her “life or health” to mean her physical, emotional, or psychological health, her age, her marital status, or the infant’s prospects of a distressful life and/or future. In other words, a woman can kill her child in the womb legally for any reason right up to the moment of birth!
According to former Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop, the most common reason for abortion is convenience. Only three to five percent of all abortions performed are for reasons of rape, incest, the possibility of a deformed child, or severe threat to the life of the mother. In the U.S., one out of every six women who have an abortion describes herself as an evangelical Christian (Newsweek [5/1/89], p. 31). Now let’s consider what the Bible says about abortion:
Since God is the creator and sustainer of human life, we should value and protect the lives of all innocent humans.
By saying “innocent humans,” I am allowing for the authority of the state to exercise capital punishment and to wage war for national defense. Being pro-life does not require us to be against capital punishment or to be pacifists. For the sake of time, I cannot deal with those topics in this message. I want to present five lines of biblical evidence for valuing and protecting unborn children.
Body
1. Human life is unique in that God created us in His image.
In Genesis 1:26, God distinguished humans from the rest of the animal creation. Only of man did God say, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” He appointed man to rule over the other creatures on earth. By the way, apparently before the Flood, man was vegetarian, but after the Flood, God ordained the eating of meat (Genesis 9:3-4). The animal rights movement erroneously puts animal life on the same plane as human life. That concept stems from Hinduism, not from the Bible.
The Bible clearly affirms that human life is not the product of impersonal chance plus time. Man did not evolve from lower forms of life. God directly created man in His image, which means that we have the capability of rational thought, personality, and moral responsibility. Someone may argue that this is simply a matter of faith. I would say that it is a matter of reasonable faith. The view that something as complex as human life is the product of pure chance is a matter of unreasonable faith, because there is simply no evidence or other example of such complexity arising from random chance.
Also, even the most ardent evolutionist behaviorally affirms that human life is distinct from animal life. Imagine Mr. Evolutionist driving along when he encounters a squirrel in the road, still writhing from being hit by a car. He slams on his brakes, jumps out of his car, and frantically dials 911 on his cell phone. “I’d like to report an injured squirrel! If the paramedics get here quickly, they may be able to save him!” But, alas, they are too late! The man sits by the squirrel corpse, sobbing, until the mortuary car arrives. He will never forget this tragic scene.
Ludicrous? Yes, but change the squirrel to a human baby and that scene would be truly horrific. Why? Because we all recognize that people are distinct from animals. The reason, according to the Bible, is that people are created in God’s image; animals are not.
2. The Bible forbids us from shedding innocent blood.
The Bible clearly commands, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). As already mentioned, the Bible does not forbid all killing, such as in capital punishment by the government, national defense, or personal defense. But murder is forbidden. The Bible uses the phrase “innocent blood” about 20 times, and always condemns shedding innocent blood. God chastised the Jews for shedding innocent blood when they sacrificed their children to the idols of Canaan (Psalm 106:38). Surely the blood of the unborn is as innocent as any blood that flows in the world
3. Pre-natal human life is fully human and thus precious to God.
Consider a few of the many biblical passages:
A. God superintends life in the womb (Psalm 139:13-16).
David is affirming in poetic language that God superintended his formation in the womb (also, Job 10:8-12). The Bible repeatedly affirms that God’s providence governs everything from the weather (Psalm 148:8; Job 37:6-13), to animals’ food and behavior (Psalm 104:27-29; Job 38:39-41; Jonah 1:17; 2:10. Surely if God governs these relatively minor things, then He also governs the formation of people in the womb. The Lord tells Moses, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” (Exodus 4:11). So even birth defects, which science attributes to freak occurrences in nature, are under God’s direct superintendence for His sovereign purposes!
There are so-called bio-ethicists that are consistent in applying their evolutionary bias to human life, but their conclusions are horrifying! For example, James Watson, one of the discoverers of the double helix structure of DNA, suggested in 1973, “If a child were not declared alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed the choice only a few are given under the present system. The doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so choose and save a lot of misery and suffering. I believe this view is the only rational, compassionate attitude to have” (cited by Francis Schaeffer & C. Everett Koop, Whatever Happened to the Human Race [Revell], p. 73).
In 1978, Watson’s partner, Francis Crick, said, “… no newborn infant should be declared human until it has passed certain tests regarding its genetic endowment and that if it fails these tests it forfeits its right to live” (ibid.). Peter Singer, who incongruously is professor of bio-ethics at Princeton, argues that if a child is born with hemophilia, to allow the parents to kill him so that they could replace him with a normally healthy child may be morally right (cited by Piper, ibid., p. 217, note 3)!
B. The Bible ordains the penalty of life for life when the life of an unborn child is taken (Exodus 21:22-25).
“… so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury….” As the following verses (Exodus 21:23-25) make clear, if there is an injury, then the offender must be penalized, life for life, eye for eye, etc. These are the same penalties as in offenses against adults (Leviticus 24:20). The Hebrew verb translated “to depart” or “come out” (Exodus 21:22) refers to a live birth in 11 separate Old Testament passages. It never refers to a miscarriage, although in one text (Numbers 12:12), it refers to a stillborn. There is another Hebrew verb that is used for miscarriage. So the meaning of Exodus 21:22-25, based upon verb usage, as well as the Old Testament high regard for pre-natal life, is that the baby in the womb has as much value as an already-born person.
C. The Bible affirms the distinctiveness of individuals in the womb, thus showing that they are fully human.
We won’t take the time to look up each reference, but consider the following examples:
*Jacob and Esau were distinct individuals in the womb (Genesis 25:23; Romans 9:11-12).
*Samson’s mother was not to drink wine, because her son was to be a Nazirite, who would abstain from alcohol (Judges 13:3-5).
*Jeremiah and Paul both acknowledged that God formed them in the womb and knew them by name (Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15). Isaiah 49:1, 5 affirms the same thing about Messiah.
*John the Baptist recognized Jesus while both were still in the womb (Luke 1:35-36, 39-44)! This is an amazing text! Elizabeth was in her sixth month of pregnancy when Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Mary went to visit Elizabeth before John was born. Thus Elizabeth would have been in her last trimester, while Mary was in her first trimester. Yet John recognized Jesus in those early months of Mary’s pregnancy! I think that this is the strongest passage that a baby in the womb in the first trimester is a person created in God’s image. We are not free to take the life of such a child just because it is not convenient to have a baby!
We have seen that human life is unique in that God created us in His image. The Bible forbids us from shedding innocent blood. Pre-natal human life is fully human and thus precious to God.
4. To view babies as inconvenient to the point of killing them is to violate Jesus’ view of children.
As I mentioned, about 95 percent of all abortions are done for convenience. A girl gets pregnant through out-of-wedlock sex. Neither she nor her boyfriend are ready for the responsibility of being parents. It would be an economic hardship, or it may require interrupting her education. An abortion is a convenient way to dispose of the whole problem.
In Luke 18:15-17, people were bringing their babies to Jesus so that He could touch them. The disciples rebuked the parents. Jesus had better things to do than to bless babies! It was a great inconvenience! But Jesus rebuked the disciples and welcomed the children. The Greek word for infant in Luke 18:15 is the same word Luke uses for the infant in Elizabeth’s womb (Luke 1:41-44). God shows His great love for us by calling us His children (1 John 3:1). Surely, we should have the same attitude as Jesus towards our children from the time of conception onwards!
But what about an “unwanted” child, whose birth would be an extreme hardship? What about a baby conceived by rape or incest? What about a deformed baby, who will suffer all his life and never be normal? Wouldn’t it be the lesser evil to abort these babies and spare them and the parents a life of hardship and pain?
5. To kill babies in the womb in an attempt to avoid suffering is to try to dodge God’s purposes for suffering.
The Bible is clear that in this fallen world, God ordains suffering for His wise and good purposes (Romans 8:28). Sometimes we suffer as the consequences for our own sin (Hebrews 12:3-11), which can include the hardships associated with having a baby out of wedlock. (Sometimes it may be wise for an unwed mother to give up her baby for adoption, but even that is a painful consequence of sin.) Sometimes we suffer on account of other people’s sins (Genesis 50:20). This would include the hardship of having a baby conceived through rape or incest. Sometimes we don’t know the reason that God permits suffering, except that He wants to display His grace and power through our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).
To abort because having a child would cause emotional or economic duress is always wrong. To argue that it is better to kill a deformed child in the womb than to allow him to live is an affront to the thousands of people born with severe handicaps, but who live meaningful and productive lives. It is an affront to the many families that love and care for such children. On rare occasions, there may be the difficult dilemma of performing an abortion to spare the mother’s life. But even then, the goal should be to preserve the lives of both the mother and the child, if possible.
Conclusion
Much more could be said if we had time. There are other biblical arguments against abortion. There is mounting evidence that many women who choose abortion suffer severe long-term emotional and physical problems.
I want to conclude by suggesting some action points. Some of these are things that every Christian can and should do. Others are things that only some will be called to do. But at some level, all of us need to come to the defense of unborn children.
(1) We can pray about the situation.
It is ultimately a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10-12). Pray for pro-life judges to receive Senate confirmation, especially to the Supreme Court. Pray for the horrors of abortion to become obvious to our self-centered culture. Pray for Christians to get involved in the pro-life cause.
(2) We can vote for pro-life candidates.
Don’t vote for pro-abortion candidates. You ask, “Are you a one-issue voter?” I grant that being pro-life does not qualify a person as a good political leader. But being pro-abortion does disqualify anyone from public office. For example, if a candidate said, “I believe that all women should be available to be rape at any time,” that one issue should disqualify the candidate from office. Why doesn’t favoring killing babies disqualify a candidate? The person who favors abortion is an immoral person!
(3) We can write our legislators and the newspaper to support the pro-life cause. Hold them accountable!
(4) We can support the pro-life cause with our money and time.
Godly women are needed to counsel young women with problem pregnancies, so that they choose life for their babies. Godly families that are able should consider taking in such young women and helping them carry their babies to term. There are many ways to get involved.
In closing, I want to speak to any who may already have had an abortion or who may have urged someone else to have an abortion. I pray you now you realize that you committed a serious sin in God’s sight. The great news of God’s Word is that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). The apostle Paul, who persecuted the church and was responsible for the deaths of many innocent people, wrote that, and then claimed, “among whom I am foremost of all.” Paul found God’s forgiveness and mercy at the cross. No matter how great your guilt, if you will turn from your sin and obey Jesus Christ, God will pardon all of your sins.
Content by Donald W. Treadway
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