There is one issue during this politically charged season with which I am very passionate about, Abortion. It has seemed lately that this cause has been especially pushed upon our society by advocacy groups and even our government; state, local and federal. The Word of God speaks very plainly about this practice and as the leadership which we elect this November may have influence on this matter we as believers must be “thoroughly equipped” on the subject.
Abortion in the Old Testament is connected to the Ammonite god Molech. This god, with a bull’s head and a big belly, was worshipped also by the Canaanites and the Phoenicians. Parents would take their children, often right from mama’s belly [womb], and feed them into the belly of Molech where there was a fire stoked. God commanded His people as they came to live among them “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech” (Leviticus 18:21). God was setting a clear mark of distinction between those who were His and those who were not and that mark was abortion. In the New Testament, abortion was practiced among the myriad of women serving as prostitutes in the Temples to the Greek and Roman goddesses Venus and Aphrodite interchangeably. Paul taught the Corinthian church to not associate with prostitutes and to “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18). He explained that to be joined to prostitutes is to become one spirit with them; furthermore, our bodies are not our own to destroy and to fornicate with but is, or at least should be, the temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells within us (vs. 19).
The early church fathers also had to contend with the subject of abortion; Tertullian, Basil, Jerome, Hippolytus all wrote in their letters condemning it as heresy and in leading the early councils to declare it abominable. Tertullian wrote in De Anima:
“Thus, you read the word of God, spoken to Jeremias: “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee.” If God forms us in the womb, He also breathes on us as He did in the beginning: “And God formed man and breathed into him the breath of life.” Nor could God have known man in the womb unless he were a whole man. “And before thou camest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee.” Was it, then, a dead body at that stage? Surely it was not, for “God is the God of the living and not the dead.””
At the Council of Ancyra it was written:
“Women who prostitute themselves, and who kill the child thus begotten, or who try to destroy them when in their wombs, are by ancient law excommunicated to the end of their lives. We, however, have softened their punishment and condemned them to the various appointed degrees of penance for ten years.” (Canon 21)
Abortion is not a new fight but one that the church has been fighting since the beginning.
Today, we have wrapped this practice up in pretty little bows by giving it a new name, instead of calling it idolatry and heresy we call it abortion, and we associate it with things we like such as “personal liberty” and “equal rights” instead with what it really is – sin. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7)
Our POTUS has these 4 years supported, promoted, endorsed and advanced abortion to the highest levels. The health care reform act is one example of this leadership attempting to slip this deplorable practice into common law declaring it to be acceptable with everyone in the nation having to agree with it and pay for it. My dear Christian brethren, no matter how you feel otherwise between the two candidates, we must continue the fight against this evil. This election and your vote is a weapon to use.
Related articles
- A Pre-Election Post: Abortion and Right of Conscience (wellspentjourney.wordpress.com)
pastorstrom.com 