The Murder of the Innocents
“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of
the womb is his reward” (Psalm 127:3).
Simply explained, your children do not belong to you. Your children belong to God. As a parent, you are just a steward of everything
God gives you including your children.
God’s Word does not
have a lot to say about murdering babies in the womb of their mothers. However, God’s Word does have a lot to say
about murder – simply stated THOU SHALT NOT!
Satan’s deception questions at what moment a baby in the womb because a
human being with human rights. It is a
foolish question, because the human species is monogenic. In other words, the instant a woman’s egg is
fertilized with a man’s sperm, a human life is procreated and begins to grow in
the womb to adulthood. The fact that God’s
creation continues in procreation and regeneration (being “born again”) is
clearly established in Psalm 139:
“11 If I say {David;
representing human logic}, Surely
the darkness shall cover me {there
circumstances where my soul is hidden from God’s intimate knowledge}; even the night shall be light about me
{God’s intimate knowledge of our lives is
never limited by physical circumstances}. 12 Yea, the darkness
hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the
light are both alike to thee. 13 For thou hast
possessed my reins: thou hast covered me {to
erect; the point is that God’s laws of procreation are governing the formation
of the baby} in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made {distinct
in individually even in the womb}: marvellous are thy works {the forming of the baby in the womb through
procreation is God’s design and transaction}; and that my soul
knoweth right well {a fact that is without
doubt}. 15 My substance {power;
hence body and life} was not hid from thee {even during its formation and development in the womb}, when I was
made in secret {out of sight in the womb},
and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth {feminine noun;
metaphorically referring to the woman’s womb being the fertile ground for human
reproduction in procreation}. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance {something folded up and yet not fully developed}, yet being
unperfect {not yet fully formed}; and
in thy book all my members were written {monogenesis means from the inception of conception, what is being form
is and will become a human body, soul, and spirit}, which in
continuance {from beginning to end} were
fashioned {the form took shape}, when
as yet there was none of them {before
my birthdays began God knew me and had a plan for my life}” (Psalm 139:11-16).
The mother’s
womb is intended to be God’s place of protective custody during the formation
and development of a baby until that baby is born into this world. The mother of that baby in the womb is
intended to be God’s primary protector. God’s
Law protected the child in the mother’s womb; “22 If men strive, and
hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no
mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband
will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23
And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life” (Exodus
21:22-23). The point of verse
twenty-three is if any harm comes to the baby in the womb, recompense shall be
reciprocal to the injury.
We must understand, when dealing with
the subject of the murdering of infants, whether in the womb or after birth, that
we must see the underlying problem in the corruption of human sexuality and God’s
ordained plan for procreation through the marriage of one man with one woman. A central consequence of illicit sex, or fornication, is unwanted pregnancies
creating a bondage of care for the children produced for sixteen years or more. To fail to deal with the underlying problem of
fornication is like treating the headaches from a brain tumor with aspirin.
Although sixty-nine percent of children
in America still live in a two-parent home, from 1960 to 2016 that percentage
decreased from eighty-eight percent in 1960 to sixty-nine percentage in
2016. Twenty-six percent of the 73.7
million children in the USA under the age of eighteen lived with a single
parent in 2016. However, this does not
include the estimated 54 million babies murdered in their wombs by their
doctors and mothers since Roe v. Wade.
With these statistics in mind, we can begin to evaluate just how free illicit love (free fornication; recreational/safe sex) has been upon our world.
The incredible inculcation of sexual
immorality (fornication) so permeated the cultures of the world through idolatry
and paganism that it was almost impossible to escape its influences. Moses was confronted with the sexual
immorality inculcated into the Canaanite and Baalism culture in Numbers chapter
twenty-five. A major part of Baal
worship was the worship of women/sex through fornication with them.
“1 And
Israel abode in Shittim, and the people {of
Israel} began to commit whoredom {idolatry
or fornication} with the daughters of Moab. 2 And they called {invited or enticed} the people {of Israel} unto the sacrifices of their
gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3 And
Israel joined himself {through
fornication with Moabite women} unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4 And
the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up
before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be
turned away from Israel. 5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel,
Slay ye every one his men {each of the judges had men for which they were responsible and with which
they were identified} that were
joined unto Baal-peor” (Numbers 25:1-5).
Although Baalism was a fertility cult of
sexual immorality and fornication, what we learn from Numbers 25:1-5 is that the
primary aspect of the worship practices was the fornication practices. These
fornication practices “joined” the worshippers/fornicators
to “Baal-peor.” God brought a plague
upon the “children of Israel” and “those that died in the plague were twenty
and four thousand” (Numbers 25:8-9). God
views fornication (any type of illicit sexual activity) as practical idolatry. God obviously takes such unfaithfulness very
seriously.
World
War I (1914 to 1918) and World War II (1939 to 1945) created enormous changes
in the cultural dynamics of human sexuality as women began to enter the work force out of necessity for
survival. Women became more
independent and aggressive where they then transitioned from being the targets
of seduction by immoral men to where they became the seducers. This became evident in the way women began to
dress becoming the aggressors in relationships.
By the mid-1960’s the Playboy
culture began to transition into the Playgirl
culture.
This
created a serious cultural problem in a high percentage of unwed and unwanted pregnancies. It also created an enormous problem for the
Social Welfare system of the American society now supporting single, unwed
mothers for eighteen to twenty years with numerous out-of-wedlock children,
especially predominant in the African American culture. Out of this cultural dilemma of unwanted and unsupported
births of thousands of children developed the Social Welfare program in every
major city known as the Housing Projects,
which later came to be known as preplanned
slums. These cultures became self-propagating
creating an endless cycle. The Liberal
solution to this cultural dilemma was the legalization of abortion, which was
the central motivation for legalized abortions.
The early 1900’s through the 1940’s also
created the genocide generation developing
out of three cultural influences; Marxism
(Communism, the Bolshevik Revolution or Stalinism in Soviet Union), Fascism
(Hitler’s Nazism and Jewish genocide, and Franco’s Catholic genocide in Spain, and
etc.), and Darwinism (Eugenics from Darwin’s
Theory of Evolution; also entitled “the
Preservation of the Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”).
Out of Darwinism developed Eugenics; “the science of improving a
human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable
heritable characteristics.”[1] Margaret Sanger, credited with being the
founder of the organization known as Planned
Parenthood, was a leading promoter of Eugenics and population control of unwanted species through segregation and
abortion.
“We should hire
three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds,
and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to
the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go
out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. And the minister
is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their
more rebellious members.” [2]
One of God’s main concerns after
humanity’s fall into sin was maintaining the purity of procreation – producing a
godly seed. After the fall into sin, producing a godly seed required considerably more
effort than mere reproduction. Producing
a godly seed required teaching God’s will
to children and then children individually submitting their wills to obey God’s
will.
A major aspect of this had to do with the purity of human sexuality. Uniquely, human sexuality was the primary
focal point of satanic corruption in the worship practices of idolatry and men
taking multiple wives as well as concubines to produce many children. It is easy to see throughout Old Testament
Scripture that professing believers were not exempt from these
corruptions.
We
must understand that just because God allows certain circumstances does not
mean He condones those circumstances. These
were sanctificational issues, not salvation issues. In almost every instance, God has had to work
within the mess that men and women made through the bad choices of their
lives. In all the history of the
patriarchs of faith, we have but a few examples where this was not necessary,
including you and me. We are a sexually
compromised people!
When it came to the transition from
the Mosaic Covenant to the New Covenant, Jewish believers were trying to impose
upon Gentile believers all the Mosaic
Covenant requirements given to preserve the Jewish people in a state of
sanctification. The Apostles, in a conference
at Jerusalem, simplified the matter with some basic instructions to Gentile
believers. The four keep away restrictions listed in Acts 15:29 were all worship practices connected with idol worship.
“27 We
have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same
things by mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us,
to lay upon you no greater burden than these
necessary things; 29 That ye abstain {to hold one’s self away} from
meats offered to idols, and {to hold
one’s self away} from blood, and
{to hold one’s self away} from things strangled, and {to hold one’s self away} from fornication: from which if ye keep
yourselves {strictly, carefully observe},
ye shall do well. Fare ye well” (Acts 15:27-29).
Jeremiah’s prophecies span forty-one years
from just before Israel’s extreme chastisement in the Babylonian
captivity. The historical context of
Jeremiah’s prophecies is the ongoing influences of the Canaanite culture of
pagan Baalism and licentious idolatry that continued dominating Israel from the
time of the Judges. Another major part
of the worship of Baal was sacrificing infant children to the idol/statue, where
those infants were thrown alive into a raging fire built before the idol.
“3 And say, Hear ye
the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth {being convicted of the wickedness of the practices}, his ears shall tingle {burn in shame}. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and
have estranged this place {forever alienated this place from God’s
presence and blessing}, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom
neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of
innocents {children sacrificed to Baal}; 5 They
have built also the high places of Baal, to
burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I
commanded not, nor spake it, neither
came it into my mind: 6 Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom {which came to be known as Gehenna by the
time of Christ becoming another word for Hell}, but The valley of slaughter”
(Jeremiah 19:3-6).
The Jamieson,
Fausset, and Brown commentary states regarding the statement “no more to be
called Tophet”: “from Hebrew, toph, ‘drum’; for in sacrificing children
to Molech drums were beaten to drown their cries. Thus the name indicated the joy of the
people at the fancied propitiation of the god by this sacrifice; in antithesis
to its joyless name subsequently.”[3] Obviously, it is easy to see the comparisons
of the modern day abortion industry that seeks to silence the screams of the
slaughter of babies by murdering them within their mother’s wombs. The “god” that is being propitiated by the
modern abortion industry is the “god” of human selfishness and instant
gratification of carnal human sexuality.
This pure selfishness seeks to eliminate the consequences of their
irresponsible sexuality by simply murdering the innocent children conceived in
their sin. God hears the screams of
every innocent child and records every individual murder.
“The valley of slaughter” would be
prophetically fulfilled in the very last days of the seven-year Tribulation completing
God’s judgment of the nations and the final captivity of the city of Jerusalem just
prior to the second coming of Christ at Armageddon prophesied in Jeremiah 7:32-33
and fulfilled in Revelation 19:17-18. Clearly,
this is all connected to the failure of the people of the world to maintain God’s
view of the sanctity of human life.
“32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it
shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the
valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. 33
And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and
for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away (no one to scare the birds away}” (Jeremiah
7:32-33).
God hears the screams of
every innocent child and records every individual murder.
“11 And I saw heaven
opened, and behold a white horse; and he {Jesus}
that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness {justice}
he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of
fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that
no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a
vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God {the Christ
rejecting humanity will be judged by the Word of God that they rejected}. 14
And the armies {faithful angels and the redeemed glorified believers from all ages},
which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should
smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath
of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his
thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 17 And I saw
an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the
fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come
and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18 That
ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of
mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the
flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered
together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles
before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the
beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a
lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the remnant {of still living
unbelievers} were slain with the
sword of him {Jesus, the incarnate
Word of Justice; vs. 13 and 15} that
sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the
fowls were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:11-21).
God’s sovereignty means justice will prevail
and all disobedience will be judged. Humanity's
sins are either judged on the Cross of Calvary, and the sinner receives the
gifts of God’s propitiation and justification, or every person will pay for
their own rebellions against God’s will in a physical death and the “second
death.”
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States,
accessed 2/9/2019.
[2] Margaret Sanger commenting on the “Negro
Project,” Dec. 10, 1939, http://prolife365.com/margaret-sanger-quotes/,
accessed 2/9/2019.
[3] Robert Jamieson, A.R.
Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary
Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871, SwordSearcher\Modules\JFB.ss5cmty, Module file time: 7/31/2011 7:15:28
PM UTC.
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Numerous studies and series are available free of charge for local churches at: http://www.disciplemakerministries.org/
Dr. Lance Ketchum serves the Lord as a Church Planter, Evangelist/Revivalist.
He has served the Lord for over 40 years.
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