A New York State of Despair

New York—and I am afraid the rest of us—will reap what we have sown in the area of abortion. I fear the consequences will not just be related to a lack of tax revenue. Part of the brilliance, ingenuity, creativity, and purpose of two generations now will never be realized.

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A few weeks ago, the New York State Legislature passed a controversial abortion bill allowing the practice up until the moment of birth. In New York, if a mother is in labor, she can decide to abort at that moment. The child is denied all rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as well as any due process under that law. The life of any full-term baby can be extinguished on the whim of his or her mother. Of course, abortion in some form has tragically been the law of the land in every state since the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973. Varying restrictions have been put in place depending on the state and court decisions of the time. It remains our great national disgrace. Our corporate sin is allowing it to continue.

Clearly, even the most rabid pro-choice proponent has to recognize the scientific fact that abortion is the termination of a life with its own DNA and body separate from the host mother. In other words, abortion is murder, not the removal of foreign tissue or a blob of matter or the latest marketing lie to make the practice more palatable to the public. A unique person dies in the process. In New York, that person could even be viable outside of the womb.

The most horrifying part about the New York law was the manner in which it passed. Thunderous applause accompanied the passage of the bill as the vote was tallied in the chamber. What were the senators of the great state of New York cheering for? Death? Do they hate children so? How is the loss of the great potential of the next generation ever cause to celebrate?

It may have been rank hypocrisy, but every pro-abortion politician used to at least utter the meaningless phrase “safe, legal, and rare” with shame and a downward cast look of “move on to the next question.” People had enough of a moral compass to know that they should be embarrassed to support the practice, and they did everything they could to distance themselves from it. Not in New York. Not anymore. They are proud of what should be humiliating. They boldly support abortion with speeches, fundraisers, and marketing. And they cheer. They rally. They gloat that they have thrown off all bounds of morality, and every shard of decency is gone. Shame. Disgrace. Tragedy.

Alas, this is not something new. The proponents of the practice express abortion in terms of medical language. They try to hide the worst parts of the procedure behind the walls of clinics and semi-sacredness in our culture of the doctor and patient relationship. But what we are seeing in New York is the natural progression of all sins. Sins hidden in one generation come to light and are celebrated in the next.

When abortion became legal in 1973 for the nation, doctors and the public knew it was murder, but on the heels of the sexual revolution and free love, Americans needed a way to take care of the unintended consequences of all those relationships. But it was hidden; nobody talked about having the procedure. Around the late 1990s, the procedure came more into the light as an accepted part of women’s liberation and unshackling females from domestic burdens using the language of ‘choice.’ Common slogans became ‘every child should be wanted and loved’ or ‘I am pro-choice.’ But in reality, abortion was still murder.

It became ‘in vogue’ politically to support abortion as a ‘necessary evil.’ Now in the year 2019, abortion is no longer hidden or merely in the open but celebrated. Pro-abortion groups now run advertisements where famous women talk about how great their abortion was for their life. It remains murder. Only the public perception of it has changed. And public perception is meaningless next to the Word of Almighty God.

Ancient Israel was no different. They would start to worship the Baals, ancient fertility gods of the Canaanites (their version of the sexual revolution). In short order, the Israelites would move to the worship of Molech, a false deity which required child sacrifice. Newborn infants would be placed in the hands of the idol or in shelving on the statue’s chest to burn as a sacrifice to the pagan god as people danced about the altar in celebration. The Lord spoke directly about the practice, “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:21, ESV). And again, “They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination” (Jeremiah 32:35, ESV).

Notice the practice of child sacrifice ‘profanes’ the name of the Lord for His followers. God reminds them of Who is speaking to them, ‘I am the Lord.’ God even goes so far as to call child sacrifice an abomination. I have met Christians who have equivocated on abortion because of the arguments about rape, incest, or the life of the mother. I personally don’t want to be in support of anything for any reason that profanes the name of God or that He calls an abomination. God gives a solemn warning for all who will not obey His clear commands: “If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination” (Proverbs 28:9, ESV). Let me translate that for you. Unrepentant support for abortion as a Christian is an abomination, and any prayers you offer are equally bad in God’s sight.

Worshipping Baal is just another name for the sexual revolution. The god Molech we call by the twin names of ‘Choice’ and ‘Convenience.’ Both indicate a love of self over God’s laws and an attempt to undo the consequences of actions. The foolish arguments I have heard people make are that the Israelites sacrificed newborns and that aborted babies are unborn. Do you somehow think that the particular side of the birth canal matters to God when you are talking of His precious creations? This is the same God who spoke of Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Samuel, Jeremiah, Jesus, and many others in the womb prior to their birth as people. Our Lord had a clear plan and purpose for each, just like He has for all 60 million that have been executed in our country in the womb.

A few days after New York passed their abominable law, I saw another article about the state. They are about to experience a budget shortfall—a fairly significant one. Roe vs. Wade was in 1973, but New York already had legalized abortion as a state. So the oldest victims would now be mid-to-late forties and younger. They seem to be short a few taxpayers. Remember, children are potential, the future, the next generation.

Instead of harvesting a generation of tax paying citizens, the state of New York has led the rest of America to snuff out their seeds. “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7, ESV). New York—and I am afraid the rest of us—will reap what we have sown in the area of abortion. I fear the consequences will not just be related to a lack of tax revenue. Part of the brilliance, ingenuity, creativity, and purpose of two generations now will never be realized.

 

 

Featured by Michael Discenza
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About the Author

Shannon Gibson was an average believer in Jesus living an average life . . . until he received the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Since then, nothing has been the same.