A Beacon of Imperishable Hope

by Evangelist Frank Tyler

As America engages the 2020 elections, the media paints a portrait of our nation rife with riots, unemployment, and malaise—all the while reminding us that this election is an epic turning point in American history. Symbolically the choice would seem as simple as whether or not to wear a face mask. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Though no one openly addresses it, for you and I as Christians, the epic moral issues surrounding reproductive or abortion rights oppress our collective conscience.[1] Afterall, what loss of life from a pandemic will ever compare with 61 million American babies lost in their mother’s wombs since Rowe verse Wade (1973)? [2] Where is the discussion of this vital moral issue in the election of 2020? Buried in the staging and seldom on the lips of any candidate, abortion rights fold into the larger agenda of women’s rights, and no one seems willing to question the rights of over 50% of the electorate. Where do Christians find hope?

Psalm 4: Who Will Show Us Any Good?

When facing a seemingly overwhelming tide of spiritual wickedness, King David sought the Lord and rested in the quiet eddies of His deliverance:

4:6 There are many who say

“Who will show us any good?”

LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.

4:7 You have put gladness in my heart,

More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.

4:8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;

For You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4:6-8)

Abortion rights are a contradiction. No act of legislation, executive order or court decision can make abortion right. Whenever it occurs, abortion is always a tragedy—never a right. Ultimately, individual rights—so badly misconstrued—lead to spiritual depravity. In the midst of this darkness, you and I must be like King David andoffer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put [our] trust in the LORD (Psalm 4:5). The Lord is our deliverer; He is our beacon of imperishable hope!

Slavery in the 1800s

Sewn into the fabric of our nation, even before freed from the tyranny of England, the institution of slavery stained the very heart and soul of Americans, both North and South. The Word of God condemns slavery: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). The Abolitionist movement especially in the 1800s was filled with brothers and sisters in Christ galvanized against slavery, and yet the institution of slavery continued spreading throughout the nation. When Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and slavery crept farther north, Kansas bled. Where might hope to be found and what did hope look like to Christians as the stain of slavery darkened America’s soul?

In 1854 in a speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Senator William Seward of New York declared:

You may legislate, and abrogate, and abnegate as you will; but there is a superior Power that overrules all your actions, and all your refusals to act; and I fondly hope and trust overrules them to advancement of the greatness and glory of our country [and]to the distant but inevitableresult of the equal and universal liberty of men. (underlining added)

How was Seward moved to this understanding except through the Word of God preached in America’s churches throughout the 1800s. As the actions of Seward attest great men of state need the moral beacon of our Lord and Savior. Though the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed easily in the Senate 37 to 14 and was returned to the Senate by the House of Representatives for final passage, Seward never lost hope or ceased his fight against slavery.

In 1857 Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the majority opinion in Dred Scott verses Sanford: “Blacks ‘are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution’… Blacks were ‘so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect.’ ” The spiritual darkness expressed in Taney’s opinion exposed the deep moral depravity of slavery which would ultimately stoke the fires of the Civil War, our nation’s greatest conflagration. In his second Inaugural Address (1865), President Lincoln reckoned the loss of life incurred in this war God’s judgment against slavery.

When the Civil War concluded, the 13^th Amendment (1865) ending slavery and involuntary servitude and the 14th (1868) defining citizenship and establishing equal protection under law overturned the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dred Scott. After much bloodshed the Lord brought about Seward’s and our nation’s great hope, the “inevitable result of the equal and universal liberty of men,” which to this day finds expression in the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement.

Abortion from 1973 to the Present

In 1973 Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion in Rowe verses Wade:

This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or... in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy ( Roe, 410 U.S. at 153) .

The bitter irony that Justice Blackmun justifies the court’s ruling for the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy based on the 14^th Amendment, an amendment specifically passed to protect the rights of emancipated Black Americans, has never been lost on Christians.

Regarding life in the womb, Blackmun pleads the court’s inability to discern whether the embryo or fetus is alive:

We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, in this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer (Roe, 410 U.S. at 159).

Logically, from the moment of conception on, why perform an abortion if the embryo or fetus is not alive? For you and I, no speculation exists as to when life in the womb begins or who is responsible for that life. According to the Bible, we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God in our mothers’ wombs (Psalms 139:13-14). More importantly, even before the womb was …God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:27).

The plight of aborted babies closely parallels that of Black Americans under slavery; both people groups, denied the simple truth of their God-given humanity, have paid a horrific price. This same inhumanity enveloped the Jewish people during World War II and cost the world six million lives. According to the conservative reporting of Life News:

Based on Worldometer abortion statistics, there were an average 3,484,800 abortions per month in the world so far in 2020. That means that between March and May, the time of the coronavirus shutdowns, approximately 10.5 million unborn babies were aborted.

The liberal Amnesty International reports:

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a US-based reproductive health non-profit, the abortion rate is 37 per 1,000 people in countries that prohibit abortion altogether or allow it only in instances to save a woman’s life, and 34 per 1,000 people in countries that broadly allow for abortion, a difference that is not statistically significant.

Historically, being a Black American, a Jew, or a fetus has frequently meant being less than human. The difference being that the lowly embryo or fetus cannot appeal to civil rights and does not have a nation to flee to in time of danger. As a result, neither the cotton fields of the South, nor the ovens of Auschwitz have known the numbers of dead associated with abortion… and the devastation continues to this day.

A Godly Solution

Regardless of how the 2020 election turns out, Christians have a beacon of imperishable hope in Christ and must continue to advocate that which is morally right. Our brothers and sisters who stood against slavery in the 1800s witness that God answers His children and delivers America from great moral crises. How should we advocate?

The raid of Abolitionist John Brown on Harpers Ferry remains one of the most tragic examples of what not to do.

On the night of October 16, 1859, Brown and his band overran the federal arsenal. Some of his men rounded up a handful of hostages, including a few slaves. Word of the raid spread and by the following day Brown and his men were surrounded. On October 18, a company of U. S. Marines led by Colonel Robert E. Lee (1808-70) and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart (1833-64), overran Brown and his followers. Brown was wounded and captured, while 10 of his men were killed, including two of his sons.

The United States government executed John Brown for treason on December 12, 1859. Tensions between the North and South rose to new heights making secession a household word in the 1860 elections. Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart would become two of the Confederacy’s greatest generals.

In 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped slavery by the underground railroad to Pennsylvania and became one of its most famous conductors leading, by some accounts, 300 slaves to freedom. Known by many as the Black Moses, she relied on God in ways few today may understand.

Tubman said she would listen carefully to the voice of God as she led slaves north, and she would only go where she felt God was leading her. Fellow abolitionist Thomas Garrett said of her, "I never met any person of any color who had more confidence in the voice of God."

With God’s help, Harriet Tubman led the way to freedom for those in bondage and became one of our nation’s most famous abolitionists. During the Civil War she served as a nurse and spy for the North.

At great personal risk to himself and his family Senator William Seward participated in the underground railroad: “In another instance, while Seward was at home in Auburn and Frances (his wife) away, he reported to her that ‘the underground railroad works wonderfully. Two passengers came here last night.’” Both Fredrick Douglas and Harriet Tubman benefited from Senator Seward’s considerable financial support. Together with President Lincoln, the then Secretary of State became a chief proponent of emancipation.

The pointless violence of John Brown at Harpers Ferry contrasts vividly with Tubman and Seward’s work to free slaves. Indeed, the Lord used a diverse team to accomplish His will—from the penniless former slave Tubman to the well-to-do Seward, a Senator from New York and eventual Secretary of State under Lincoln. As brothers and sisters in the Lord what might you and I learn for today’s fight against abortion?

Lessons for Today

Acts of violence perpetrated against abortionists create negative press and inflame public opinion, but peaceful protest has already closed many Planned Parenthood offices while increasing awareness of the moral issues surrounding abortion. Not unlike the underground railroad of the 1800s, the Lord welds a diverse team together of individuals and organizations like Obria Medical Clinics for pregnant women to escape abortion and give birth to their babies.

Obria Medical Clinics are fully-licensed community care clinics providing professional medical consultations, well woman care, pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, STD testing and treatment, pre- abortion screenings, abortion education, abortion pill reversal, prenatal care, health education and referrals.

Obria’s latest outreach to young people, EDGE emphasizes the development of character and lifestyle changes that help overcome the causes underlying out- of-wedlock pregnancy. Avoiding violence and reaching out with the love of Jesus not only saves the lives of babies, but also opens the door for the good news of the gospel by bringing healing and transformation into the lives of Mothers, some of whom have already experienced abortion.

Conclusion

Whether or not to wear a mask to protect lives from Covid-19 pales in significance to the ongoing tragic loss of life in the wombs of mothers throughout America and the world. Regardless of election outcomes in 2020, Christians like you and I have a beacon of imperishable hope in Christ. The True Vine Fellowship supports Obria and organizations like it. There are many who say “Who will show us any good?” LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us (Psalm 4:6). Let us offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put [our] trust in the LORD (Psalm 4:5). Contact Obria Medical Clinics Pacific Northwest at (360) 452-3300 or www.obria.org for an Obria Clinic in your area and join the fight against abortion.

© 2020 by Frank Tyler; you may copy, print and give away freely, but you may not sell.