Let Her Live President Wesley Wilson spoke to his home church, Easley Bible Methodist Church, in Easley, SC, on Sanctity of Life Sunday, January 21, 2007. The text of the address follows, although it is not an exact transcript.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists attacked the United States, killing almost 3,000 people. If it was an average day, over 3,500 unborn babies were killed in America by abortion the same day. Tomorrow is the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the best known of the Supreme Court decisions forcing legalized abortion on all 50 states. Since that day, over 45 million unborn babies have been legally slaughtered in our country. Every year 1.3 million more babies are killed before birth. I personally cannot comprehend that number, but it shocked me to learn that 1 out of every 5 children are killed. We are blessed to live in a state with relatively few abortions compared to other states. But in 2004, the one abortion clinic remaining in Greenville reported 2359 abortions—39 school buses full.
That's the bad news, but there is good news. While we are all disappointed with the setbacks to the pro-life agenda with the results of the last election, we do have many positive developments at the state level. Texas, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Utah are all considering trigger laws that would ban most abortions as soon as Roe vs. Wade is overturned. Last year's abortion ban in South Dakota failed, but it was the first attempt I know of in decades, leading to much speculation by our opponents on what to do when Roe v. Wade is overturned—not if—when. South Carolina is considering a law to require women to see ultrasounds of their babies before aborting. Indiana and other states are also considering more pro-life legislation.
And some of the most important news is that we are winning the opinion battle. A 2003 poll showed that over 2/3 of Americans believe abortion should be illegal in the second trimester. And even support for embryonic stem cell research is declining.
But the best news is that we are on God's side, for He is the author of life, and He has created every human in His image from the newly conceived embryo to the oldest adult. So our victory is certain. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision."
God hates the killing of the innocent and calls it an abomination in Proverbs 6. He promises judgment on Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16, beginning His message to the prophet: "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations." In God's list of the city's abominations, He declares, "Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?" (20-21) If God judged Jerusalem, how can America escape judgment if we do not repent and cleanse the land of abortion?
I can imagine someone right now saying, "That's right. We need to win to Christ the young women who are aborting their babies, and the young men who are fathering them, and the parents who pressure their daughters to abort, and the abortionists who brutally murder these infants. Then we will get at the heart of the problem. So we don't need to intervene in any direct way."
Is witnessing all that God requires of us? What saith the Scriptures? "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?" Justice says, "Thou shalt do no murder." Mercy has compassion on the afflicted: "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? And he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his works?"
Let me be clear. Preaching and witnessing are part of the solution, but not all. Let us never neglect the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and truth. Let's follow the example of Christ. Yes, he met spiritual needs, but he also met physical needs. The apostles testified that "He went about doing good." Is that how people will describe you or me when we are gone? "He went about doing good." "She went about doing good." I hope so.
In Matthew 25, we see that Jesus takes personally the actions done to even the most helpless and insignificant among us. Can you imagine the horror of someone who neglects opportunities to save the innocent and stands condemned before the Lord, hearing the words, "I was in the womb, and you did not save my life"? Or the reward of hearing Jesus say, "I was in the womb, and you saved my life"? Jesus said that both the righteous and the sinners will say, "When did we see thee thus," and He will answer, "Inasmuch as you did it [or did it not] to the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me."
But what motivates the other side? What do they get out of killing babies? Certainly the abortionists themselves get rich doing it, but the support of abortion goes far deeper than monetary gain.
2 Tim. 3 tells of perilous times when men shall be lovers of their own selves, without natural affection, incontinent, or without self-control, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Simply put, the pro-abortion movement is driven by desperation for unhindered immorality. Legal abortion is the insurance policy for the sexual revolution.
But don't take that from me. Take it from Andrea Dworkin, a radical feminist writer engaged in the homosexual abomination. (Let's not call it an alternative lifestyle. Let's call it what God calls it—abomination.) I have to edit the profanity in these quotes from her book, Right Wing Women.
"The decriminalization of abortion… would make women absolutely accessible, absolutely 'free.' The sexual revolution...required that abortion be available to women on demand. If it were not, [immorality] would not be available to men on demand. Getting [immorality] was at stake."
"In the garden of earthly delights known as the sixties counterculture, pregnancy did intrude, almost always rudely;...one of the real obstacles to female [immorality] on male demand....It was the brake that pregnancy put on [immorality] that made abortion a high-priority political issue."
The whole push for embryonic stem cell research is a desperate attempt to gain the moral high ground and justify abortion. Other sources of stem cells are much more promising in research, but those who want to guarantee that their insurance policy for immorality continues, insist on finding an altruistic reason to destroy lives and claim moral superiority.
We know God requires us to defend the innocent and defeat abortion. Indeed, Proverbs 28:4 declares, "They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them." We know we are fighting His battle, or rather, He is conquering through us. While the victory is certain, how will we win it?
We cannot neglect prayer, the most powerful weapon of the believer. Let us make the end of abortion a matter of consistent prayer, and let's pray specifically, shall we? Can you commit to pray regularly that God would close the Greenville Women's Clinic on Grove Rd. in Greenville? I believe we can close that clinic largely through prayer.
Let's start with prayer, but don't stop with it. We must use our influence to teach others God's perspective on life. Start with your children and grandchildren. Teach it in your Sunday School class. Stand up for it among your friends, your neighbors, your work associates. Express biblical views to your community through calling in to talk radio shows or writing letters to the editor.
Let's teach the truths: First, that all human life is precious, because we are formed in the image of God; second, that sexuality must be reserved for marriage alone, as God intended. "Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."
As we lay out a biblical view of life to our communities, we will win their hearts and minds to value life. But let's not stop in our communities. Let's take a biblical view of life to our nation and to the world. We need to call, write, and email our elected officials in Congress, the White House, and the state legislature when important bills are before them.
And if you have the opportunity, run for public office. Take a biblical view into government as William Wilberforce did. Stand unashamedly for God's truth, and fight to end abortion, as Wilberforce fought to end slavery in England.
I'm thankful that as a Bible Methodist I can look to our denominational forefathers who stood firmly opposed to slavery. We do not have to apologize as some other groups have for compromising with the great societal evil of that day. And I don't want my children and grandchildren to apologize for my failure to speak out on behalf of innocent life.
Maybe the Lord will burden someone here to start another pro-life group, as he burdened my heart over a year ago. He led us to start a nonprofit called Let Her Live to target abortion clinics with compelling, positive, pro-life advertising that will draw women considering abortion to our website to find pro-life help. I'm not here to talk about our group, but I would encourage you to pick up one of our brochures on the back table or talk with one of our directors-—Brother or Sister Jones, Daniel, Felicia, or me-—for more information.
We have many organizations doing the Lord's work on this issue. Perhaps you could volunteer some time at a crisis pregnancy center, such as the Hope Women's Center in Easley, or the Piedmont Women's Center in Greenville, or the Anderson Crisis Pregnancy Center. Or you could begin financially supporting a pro-life group. To find a place to volunteer, you can look up Abortion Alternatives in the yellow pages or visit our website at www.LetHerLive.org.
Let me encourage everyone, but especially the young people, to start doing good where you can. Don't wait to understand God's will for every detail of your life. There is nothing more spiritual about being a preacher or missionary than being a farmer or banker or nurse. The preacher can't reach many of the people that the layman can. Just find a way to serve God where you are, and He can direct you to more effective service. As John Milton said, "Boast not of what thou would'st have done, but do."
Even something as small as a bumper sticker on your car can make a difference. My parents always had pro-life signs on their vehicles, and one place we had neighbors with a 15-year old girl who got pregnant. Her parents urged her to abort, but she refused. As far as I know she is still lost, but we would like to think that our influence may have made the difference for her baby's life.
I am convinced that as we humble ourselves before the Lord and pray, as we spread the message of God's truth to all that we can influence, and as we act in defense of the innocent as God directs us, that someday sooner than most of us think, we will see the kingdom of our God and of His Christ overthrow legal abortion in our land.
Copyright 2007, Let Her Live. (http://www.letherlive.org) Please cite Let Her Live if you use any portion of this text.