This Kind Does Not Go Out by the Courts or Political System
Over 60 million American lives have been lost to abortion since 1973.1 The Supreme Court and the American political system do not possess the power to drive this genocide out from our nation.
“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:21
This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. This sin, this evil, this murder, this genocide, this shedding of innocent blood that is polluting the land and calling for God’s judgment on the nation—it will not be driven from our midst by any other means except by prayer and fasting.
Genocide On Our Watch
In 2014, there were an estimated 926,200 abortions. One preborn child dies at Planned Parenthood every 97 seconds. Planned Parenthood ends the lives of over 320,000 American children every year.
How does the number of abortion deaths compare to the holocaust?
- Six million Jews died tragically, mercilessly in the Holocaust.*
- Over 60 million babies have died in the American Holocaust.
Would you define the occurrence of over 60 million abortions as genocide?
Genocide is “The deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, racial, religious, political, cultural, ethnic, or other group defined by the exterminators as undesirable.”
This Webster’s definition readily applies to abortion. The “national group” is American “unwanted” unborn children who are being terminated in an elaborate network of killing centers.
The Church
In Why Pro-life? Randy Alcorn writes:
43 percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27 percent identify themselves as Catholic. So two-thirds of America’s abortions are obtained by those with a Christian affiliation. Eighteen percent of all U.S. abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians. That’s nearly a quarter-million abortions each year in Bible-believing churches.
The abortion issue isn’t about the church needing to speak to the world. It’s about the church needing to speak to itself first, and then to the world. [2]
The church needs to speak to itself first, and then to the world.
The Bible teaches that we are made in the image of God and therefore, every human life is sacred (Genesis 1:26). According to Psalm 139, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knit us together in our mother’s womb. Our lives are precious and important to Him. Human beings, no matter how small, weak, or dependent—or what stage of life they’re in—possess inherent dignity and intrinsic worth.
The Shedding of Innocent Blood
God values humanity so much that He protects it with His judgment. A day of judgment is set if man does not obey Him.
“And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man” (Gen. 9:5-6, NIV).
The shedding of innocent blood pollutes the land.
“Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it” (Num. 35:33, NIV)
Nothing can wash away our sin and defilement of the land except the blood of Jesus. We need to repent and cry out for mercy. (Tweet this)
“So he said he would destroy them — had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them” (Psalm 106:23, NIV).
When the blood is shed by a national law, then there is national guilt on us all.
“If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke and lead her down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer’s neck. The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the Lord and to decide all cases of dispute and assault” (Deuteronomy 21:1-5, NIV).
We are repeating Manasseh’s sin:
“Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 21:16, ESV).
“For he [Manasseh] had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon”(2 Kings 24:4, NKJV).
Except by Prayer and Fasting
I wrote in For the Little Ones about the corporate fast Ezra proclaimed. He sought God’s help for the safety and wellbeing of their “little ones.”
“Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones…” (Ezra 8:21).
Ezra properly led the Jews to seek help from God—not from the king, not from government, not from political systems, but from God.
In A Hunger for God, John Piper writes:
Fasting comes in alongside prayer with all its hunger for God and says,
“We are not able in ourselves to win this battle.
We are not able to change hearts or minds.
We are not able to change worldviews and transform culture and save [926,200] children.
We are not able to reform the judiciary or embolden the legislature or mobilize the slumbering population.
We are not able to heal the endless wounds of godless ideologies and their bloody deeds.
But, O God, you are able!
And we turn from reliance on ourselves to you.
And we cry out to you and plead that for the sake of your name, and for the sake of your glory, and for the advancement of your saving purpose in the world, and for the demonstration of your wisdom and your power and your authority over all things, and for the sway of your Truth and the relief of the poor and the helpless, act, O God. This much we hunger for the revelation of your power.” [3]
As we fast, it’s important to to see how God answered Ezra and the Jews’ fasting and prayer for their little ones:
“So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.”
Ezra 8:23
Prayer
Lord forgive us for the sin of abortion that we as a nation have committed. We acknowledge our sin of the shedding of innocent blood.
Forgive us for not following Your Word. Forgive us for not valuing the lives you so fearfully and wonderfully created.
Father, we have blamed the taking of innocent life on convenience or science, but Your Word calls it murder. Israel did not escape Your judgment for killing innocent children and neither will we. For you are the same yesterday, today and forever. We ask Your forgiveness for killing the lives of untold millions. May we turn from our wicked ways and become a people who hide Your Word in our hearts, that we might not sin against You.
We are not able in ourselves to win this battle. We are not able to change hearts or minds. We are not able to change worldviews and transform culture and millions of children. But You are able! You are able to reform the judiciary and embolden the legislature and mobilize the slumbering population. You area able to heal the endless wounds of godless ideologies and their bloody deeds.
O God, You are able! We turn from reliance on ourselves to You. We cry out to You and plead that for the sake of Your name, and for the sake of Your glory, and for the advancement of Your saving purpose in the world, and for the demonstration of Your wisdom and Your power and Your authority over all things, and for the sway of Your Truth and the relief of the poor and the helpless, act, O God. We hunger for the revelation of Your power. Come. Manifest Your glory.
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More Tweetables
- The sin and genocide of #abortion will not be driven out by the courts or political system. #prolife
- The occurrence of over 60 million abortions is genocide.
- God values humanity so much that He protects it with His judgment. #abortion #prolife
- “From each man … I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.” ~ Genesis 9:5 #prolife
- “Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land.” ~ Numbers 35:33 #abortion #prolife
- Only Jesus’ blood can wash away our sin and defilement of the land. We need to repent and cry out for mercy.
- Lord forgive us for the sin of abortion that we as a nation have committed for so many years. #prolife
- Fasting comes alongside prayer and says, “We are not able in ourselves to win this battle.” #prolife
- We’re not able to transform culture and save millions of children from #abortion, but God you are able! #prolife
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Questions:
- Do you believe if we fast and pray for the safety of our little ones, God will answer our prayer as He did for Ezra and the Jews?
- If so, are you earnestly praying with faith and expectancy?
- Have you put your confidence and expectancy in the courts and political systems … or in God alone?
_________
- There have been 61,628,584 abortions since Roe v. Wade. This statistic is based on numbers reported by the Guttmacher institute from 1973 – 2017. See https://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/2020/01/abortion-statistics-united-states-data-and-trends-4/. Accessed January 16, 2020.
- Alcorn, Randy (2005-01-01). Why Pro-Life? (Kindle Locations 197-204). Eternal Perspective Ministries. Kindle Edition.
- John Piper, A Hunger for God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1997), 171
* Holocaust Statistics: United States Holocaust Memorial
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FROM THE ARCHIVES
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