Standing Against Evil

Just the other day I received a letter from Melissa Ohden. Melissa is the survivor of a botched abortion. Her biological mother was a 19 year old college student who had a saline infusion abortion. It turns out her mother was further along than she thought and Melissa survived her abortion. At the time the hospital discarded her as “medical waste” but a nurse heard her cries and took her to the emergency room where she received medical treatment. Melissa is the founder and leader of “The Abortion Survivors Network.” This “little girl” who was supposed to die in abortion has grown up to bring life and restoration to others.

I could not help to think of Melissa’s story when I heard that a group that calls itself, “Ohioans for reproductive freedom” is trying to get an initiative on the ballot to make access to the destruction of the unborn as a part of the Ohio Constitution. Ohio is one of the states that now has laws in place to give some protection to the unborn. Ohio passed the “heartbeat bill” which would prevent abortion after the heartbeat of the unborn child is detected (usually around six weeks into pregnancy). The ACLU is of course fighting that law in court. And now the ACLU is trumpeting this new attempt to make access to abortion as a part of our state Constitution.

Many of those who promote a godless society will try to intimidate us over the next several months to compromise our values. When we stand up for innocent human life we will be called “haters,” “misogynistic,” “extremist” and, of course, “against women’s rights.” All of those are lies, but those who hate God and all He teaches will not let the facts get in the way of slurring people who are willing to stand for the truth. The truth is those who promote the destruction of innocent children know that they are promoting the killing of innocent children, they just do not care! As God tells us in the Book of Revelation, “Let the wicked still act wickedly, and the filthy still be filthy. The righteous must still do right, and the holy still be holy. Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds.” So the wicked are going to be wicked, we just do not want to let ourselves be intimidated as Pontius Pilate was. Pilate had an innocent man before him, he knew he was innocent, but he was afraid to do what he knew to be right. So in cowardice he washed his hands of the fate of Jesus. But his washing of his hands did not make him innocent. We pray in the Apostles Creed how Jesus, “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” Many today falsely believe they are being sophisticated, or wise, or clever when they say, “I’m personally opposed to abortion but I cannot force my morality on others.” That is not sophisticated or wise or clever—that is cowardice. It is also a rejection of faith and a refusal to obey the commandment of love! Just as Pontius Pilate was a coward, those who reject the Wisdom of God will be trying to intimidate us. In our nation 3,000 innocent preborn children die every day because of those “who can’t force my morality on others.” Jesus taught, “Whatever you do to the least of My brothers or sisters, you do to me.” If we try to wash our hands of the deaths of these innocent lives we would be no different than Pontius Pilate, we would be washing our hands of Jesus’ death.

If this proposed Constitutional amendment gets on the ballot, everyone who votes for it will share in the guilt of every abortion that law makes possible. We need to spread the word. God’s Word says, “Let the wicked still act wickedly, and the filthy still be filthy…”-we do not want ourselves or anyone we know or love to be in that category. God’s Word also says, “The righteous must still do right, and the holy still be holy,”—let’s strive to be in that group! We want to not only stand up for life ourselves, we want to encourage everyone we know to do the same! It would be a failure to love if we said nothing as people vote to wash their hands of the deaths of these innocent children. A vote for abortion is a rejection of God’s command to love. A vote for abortion can lead to eternal damnation. We certainly do not want to be silent as people we know and/ or love put their salvation at risk.

The war of good against evil has always been a part of the world. The issue of abortion is one of the key battles in that war! The battle is here, we have no choice but to participate in it. People can choose to stand up for life or they can choose to be indifferent to that innocent life—either choice has consequences. Eternal consequences. Let’s stand for life and encourage all those we know and love to do the same! God bless you.