God will hear the cries for justice – but will we?

It seems that our divided, weakened, chaotic Government is able to unite, occasionally, over things that really matter. Like matters of life and death. Last week, the Commons voted overwhelmingly to pass a measure which included the imposition of legalised homosexuality and abortion on Northern Ireland, where a strong biblical stance on the latter has hitherto saved 100,000 lives.

This week, despite impassioned speeches from pro-life peers and outcry from tens of thousands of Northern Irish citizens, the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill passed through the House of Lords with ease, including a further amendment from Baroness Barker agreeing even more relaxed abortion rules. The amended version was passed by the Commons on Thursday, 328 to 65.

The bill was intended to allow more time for Stormont to reconvene its devolved government, but has been hijacked to serve both pro-abortion and LGBTQ+ agendas. Taking advantage of Stormont’s political crisis, politicians in Westminster have displayed utter contempt for devolution by taking Northern Ireland’s social matters into their own hands (an amendment to give members of Stormont a say was not passed).

In a display of flagrant political opportunism, our MPs have fast-tracked through Parliament the imposition of one of the world’s most extreme abortion laws on Northern Ireland presumably because, like the BBC and the rest of the metropolitan liberal class – they genuinely believe they are morally right. They have a duty, in the ominous words of the BBC, to make sure that Northern Ireland is ‘brought into line’ with the rest of the UK.¹ They must ‘force the people to be free’.

On the Altar

Two biblical incidents have come to mind in these last few days as I have been pondering this truly terrible state of affairs. One is the infamous time in the history of Judah when the nation had degenerated to such an extent that even the kings began to sacrifice their children in pagan fire – affirming a practice for which Israel had already been judged (2 Kings 17:17) and which the Lord detests.

Both Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their sons to the Canaanite god Molech (see 2 Kings 16, 21), incinerating them just as today’s aborted babies are incinerated, looking to safeguard their own prosperity just as today’s parents choose abortion because children are considered too expensive, too inconvenient.

These kings provoked the Lord’s fierce anger and helped to seal his judgment upon Judah, with the promise that Jerusalem would be wiped out “as one wipes out a bowl – wiping it and turning it upside-down” (2 Kings 21:10-15, 23:26).

Both Ahaz and Manasseh provoked the Lord’s fierce anger and helped to seal his judgment on Judah by sacrificing their sons.

If this was the case for God’s covenant nation, how much more is judgment inevitable for Britain? To the Lord “a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Pet 3:8). Here children have been sacrificed on the same altar of convenience and prosperity for more than 50 years – and now we are exporting this detestable practice around the world – not just to Northern Ireland, but to poorer nations through our international aid and development programmes.²

Cries Drowned Out

When children were sacrificed in the flames to Molech, priests standing around the family would bang and clap, making so much noise that the child’s screams were drowned out.³ Just so today, the moral claims of the unborn are being drowned out by a cacophony of voices affirming to parents that they are doing the right thing – that it is their right to choose.

Meanwhile, the majority of people in the UK (who support a reduction in the upper limit for abortion, not its extension) are also being distracted from the cries of the unborn by a chattering, chaotic media class determined to keep all the focus on Brexit, on money matters, on Trump, on climate change, on sport…on anything else, really. “‘But I have been watching!’ declares the Lord” (Jer 7:11).

Your Brother’s Blood

This brings me to the second passage that has been on my mind this week: the story of Cain and Abel. Abel may not have been murdered in the womb, but he was murdered in secret, where his screams could not be heard, and by a blood relative, Cain. Adam and Eve may not have witnessed the attack, but the Lord saw, and the Lord heard:

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. (Genesis 4:9-11, emphasis added)

The word used for ‘cries out’ in this passage is the same word that is used to describe the Israelites crying out to God for deliverance from Egyptian slavery and from the oppression of the Canaanites. It connotes a screaming out for justice, for help, for intervention. In that vein, it is also the word used to describe the summoning of fighting men to go to war (e.g. Judg 7:23, 10:17) – a rousing call for aid in a time of distress. The implication in the story of Abel is clear – the spilling of innocent blood shrieks out to God’s sense of justice, summoning a fierce response.

As our MPs and peers casually nod through contemptible, murderous legislation, you can be sure that the blood of the innocent will scream out to the Lord – and that it has been doing so, from British soil, since 1967. How long will the Lord delay his response? Surely the chaotic turmoil of our current Parliament is the very least that we deserve – and likely only the beginning of judgment to come.

The blood of the innocent has been screaming out to the Lord from British soil since 1967.

Saving Souls

Elsewhere in this week’s issue of Prophecy Today, our editorial comments on the importance of Britain changing her attitude towards Israel and taking opportunities to confess our historic failure to support the Jewish people. This is indeed of vital importance to our nation’s future. But before God, do we not also deserve to be torn apart for what we are doing to these little ones – and for all the other ways in which sin is being allowed to pervade and corrupt our culture? If we supported Israel wholeheartedly, but did not repent in these matters, would he let us go unpunished?

For Christians, juggling these various claims on our prayers can be overwhelming. But the final point that needs to be made is this: the Gospel must head up our struggle for truth in all of these areas. Without the Gospel, we are fighting a losing battle on every issue – from abortion to freedom of speech, from sexuality to euthanasia.

“You have one business on earth,” said John Wesley to his fellow Methodists, “to save souls”. How much was Britain’s godly culture a wonderful outflow of the evangelical labours of such as Wesley? Conserving its last vestiges may buy us some time, but we cannot recoup what has been lost without true revival touching this land once again. This means not just political activism on our part, but Gospel witness. If the cries of the blood of the innocent do not galvanise us to this end, what will?

References

1 See here.

2 E.g. see here and here.

3 According to the Midrash.

Why abortion matters.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’" (Matthew 19:14) 

Today is a sombre day, marking 50 years since the Abortion Act was passed, since which some 8.7 million children have lost their lives – around one fifth of all UK pregnancies.¹ These silent millions, more than all the Jewish lives taken in the Holocaust, are being mourned and remembered this week.

On a recent trip to Banaias (Caesarea Philippi, where Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah) in northern Israel, a huge cave at the foot of Mt Hermon that was a pagan worship centre at the time of Jesus, I was reminded vividly of how child sacrifice formed a central part of ancient idol worship. Infants would be thrown – alive – into the cave known locally as ‘the gates of hell’, to appease the gods. Indeed, child sacrifice has always played a part in satanic rituals.

Today, the black plastic bag full of babies that is taken out of the back door of NHS hospitals after a day’s abortions and thrown into the incinerator is our modern equivalent of the Temple of Pan at Caesarea Philippi where babies were thrown into the fire.

Infant sacrifice is just as prevalent today as it was in Jesus’ time. The very same demonic spirits are powerfully active today in our ‘modern’, ‘civilised’ society. They may cloak themselves in medical garb, or encouraging words like ‘choice’, ‘rights’ and ‘freedom’, but their insatiable lust for the blood of the young continues unabated, just as it has throughout history.

The cave at Banaias. All rights reserved.

For Christians who recognise that our position on such issues must be built upon the sure foundation of God’s word, not on the shifting sands of human opinion, the last 50 years has not represented ‘progress’, but the tragic re-ascent of satanic hedonism - albeit in a more clinical garb, but no less barbaric in God’s eyes, and giving a strong demonic foothold in our society to spirits of death and destruction.

The Spiritual Significance of Abortion

For 50 years the battle has continued to rage over this divisive topic – and perhaps more fiercely now than ever before. Individuals such as disabled peer Lord Shinkwin² and pro-life activist Aisling Hubert³ continue their fights for legal and cultural change. Today, pro-life group Abort67 (in conjunction with Christian Concern) is launching its ‘Moving Truth’ truck in central London, a mobile display bringing graphic images of abortion back into the public eye.

However, these brave Christians are standing as Davids against a Goliath opposition of abortion giants like BPAS and Marie Stopes, along with the British Medical Association and RCOG, which are together putting their weight behind abortion’s full decriminalisation.

Make no mistake; the decriminalisation of abortion is but the next stage in a much larger agenda, paving the way for the total legalisation of abortion, up to full term, for any reason. While recent statistics show clearly that there is no appetite for this among the general public⁴ – this is not stopping change for the worse being imposed from the top down, from powerful lobbies within the Government, key institutions and the media.

Just this week, the BBC has been criticised for airing a supposedly neutral documentary on abortion that was ‘brazen’ in its pro-abortion stance.⁵ It is one example of many - the majority of mainstream media outlets subscribe to the same liberal position, meaning that pro-life arguments are casually side-lined, talked down and misrepresented on a daily basis.

The truth is also being suppressed on the streets, where pro-life campaigns outside of abortion clinics are being ruled ‘intimidating’ and ‘harassing’ by local councils.⁶ Meanwhile, just over the sea, enormous pressure is being put on Northern Ireland to change its long-standing anti-abortion laws. And our Government insists on exporting abortion overseas to less wealthy countries, using international development aid as a vehicle.⁷

For concerned Christians, therefore, at this 50-year milestone there is much work to be done.

The last 50 years has not represented 'progress', but the tragic re-ascent of satanic hedonism, giving a strong demonic foothold in our society to spirits of death and destruction.

The Terrible Reality

Nobody is disputing that abortion is an extremely difficult and sensitive topic. But for biblical Christians, the God-given right of every child to live is indisputable.

The importance of an unborn child's life to God is shown explicitly in Exodus 21:22-23: "If men struggle and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely...if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life." Outside of confession, and repentance towards God and forgiveness in Jesus, blood guilt lies on all who have carelessly shed the blood of the unborn.

So, it is unsurprising that whilst hard-nosed cries for abortion-on-demand are foisted on an unthinking public, hundreds of thousands of women exist every day under the weight of overwhelming guilt and shame, having aborted a human life because they felt they had ‘no other choice’.

The Guardian boasts that 1 in 3 women will have an abortion at some time in their lives.⁸ The effect this has on women cannot be underestimated. But under the weight of such a burden, people have a choice: they can either harden their hearts towards God, finding ways to rationalise and excuse their actions, or they can come, broken-hearted and mourning, into the arms of a God who will grieve with them, heal them, bring good from their suffering and ultimately wipe away their tears.

The only people who can fully understand the spiritual and moral significance of abortion - and therefore those who God will perhaps hold most responsible for taking action - are Christians.

What You Can Do

The only people who can fully understand the spiritual and moral significance of abortion – and therefore those who God will perhaps hold most responsible for taking action - are Christians. And yet since 1967, the Church has remained largely silent on this issue.

Most believers remain tragically unaware of the importance of taking a stand for life! – morally and spiritually, before God and on behalf of the nation, but also on behalf of voiceless and defenceless unborn infants. The Church needs to be educated, as well as the public!

There are plenty of ways in which we can all do our bit.

1. Read up!

Help bring abortion into the light by making yourself and others aware of what it involves and its implications. As a start, we recommend material from the following:

• Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC): click here.
  
• The Christian Institute: click here and here.
  
• Christian Concern: click here. 
  
• Abort67: click here. N.B. This website contains graphic images which many people will find very difficult to view. However, the intention of Abort67 is not to offend needlessly, but simply to expose the reality of abortion, which is intrinsically offensive – because abortion ‘protests itself’.
  
• ‘Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and Their Mothers’ by Randy Alcorn (2004, repr. 2012, Hendrickson).
  

2. Take action!

Take a stand in the community and outside abortion centres:

• 40 Days for Life: a vigil of prayer, fasting and peaceful activism to spread awareness about the impacts of abortion in local communities.
  
• Helpers UK (Catholic): click here.
  
• March for Life.
  

Get involved in campaigning, education and public awareness:

• Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC): click here (England and Wales) and here (Scotland).
  
• Abort67: click here.
  
• Right to Life: click here.
  
• Alliance of Pro-Life Students: click here.
• Northern Ireland: Precious Life, the Life Institute, Youth Defence 

Leave an online tribute to the lost unborn with Voice for Justice.

3. Support financially and in prayer.

Most of the above groups welcome prayer and financial support. You can also give towards the work of Christian groups providing post-abortion counselling and healing, as well as alternative advice and support for pregnant women:

• Open: CARE's new initative to resource churches to support women through unwanted pregnancies and post-abortion/post-miscarriage concerns. Click here.
• Rachel’s Vineyard (healing retreats): click here.
  
• Revive Community (online and over the phone. Also provides training for those wanting to help friends or loved ones): click here.
  
• The Good Counsel Network (Catholic) (medical, practical and moral support during pregnancy): click here.
  
• Life Charity (support services for pregnant women, also campaigning and education): click here.
• Abortion Recovery Care and Helpline (ARCH): click here.
• The Choices Community: a new community being launched by Dr Mark Houghton, in conjunction with his new book 'Pregnancy and Abortion: Your Choice' (2017, Malcolm Down).

References

1 Abortion: facts and figures. The Guardian, 9 August 2006. 

2 Lord Shinkwin has headed up a campaign for better legal protection for disabled babies, who are much more likely to be aborted, and can currently be aborted up to full term.

3 Aisling’s attempt to prosecute two doctors for illegally offering abortion on the grounds of gender made national headlines. Her case was overturned by the CPS as ‘not in the public interest’, but, she is now pursuing this to the European Court of Human Rights.

4 If anything, there is support for a reduction of the current limit of 24 weeks. See Poll: most Britons want abortion limit reduced to 20 weeks. Catholic Herald, 22 May 2017. 

5 See this report from the Christian Institute.

6 Ealing Council’s vote to take action against pro-life group The Good Counsel Network could set a precedent. See here.

7 E.g. UK to spend over a BILLION pounds of aid money on family planning and overseas abortion. SPUC, 11 July 2017.

8 See note 1.