Normally I write about the sanctity of life during January, the month celebrated by many as the "Sanctity of Life Month". However, there are other times throughout the year when the issue of abortion and the rights of the most innocent of all stir me to share my heart. Today is one such day.

Heart of God International Ministries strongly believes in the sanctity of all human life regardless of age, gender, race, or perceived "quality of life". As president and co-founder, it goes without saying that the issue is one that stirs my heart passionately … abortion is murder, it robs an innocent child of the right to life, and it sentences the mother to a lifetime of guilt, shame, and haunting "what-if" questions that can never be answered.

I believe that God alone confers life (Genesis 1:1-31); therefore, we are responsible to God to care for our physical life and that of others. If the circumstances require, we must be prepared to risk our life in the service of our neighbor (John 15:13); but the general rule is that we must respect our physical life and employ every worthy means to maintain it. Since God alone confers life, God alone must decide when it is to be ended (Psalm 31:14,15).

Because a human baby at any stage of gestation is sacred and blessed of God, we believe that we have the responsibility to protect the life of the unborn (Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:41). It is our firm conviction that abortion and euthanasia of aged, mentally incompetent, terminally ill and otherwise handicapped, for reasons of personal convenience, social adjustment or economic advantage, are morally wrong.

Why should we value life?

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27 (KJV)

But now, Oh Lord, Thou art our Father, we are the clay, and Thou our potter; And all of us are the work of Thy hand. Isaiah 64:8 (NAS)

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, "I, the Lord, am the maker of all things..." Isaiah 44:24 (NAS)

When we consider these verses—God's Word—we are faced with a quandary. God values life, it is He who forms life and allows it to begin. When He allows conception, it is because He has a purpose in mind for the life He begins. This is true when the child is conceived within the marriage relationship or without. The bottom line is, no life begins without God having a purpose for that life.

If a child is conceived out of wedlock, there is a bigger picture than what the expectant mother sees. While she is caught up in the emotion of learning she's pregnant, she very often forgets that the child has a destiny, a purpose in the mind of God that affects not only her life, but the lives of those who will be influenced by that child as he/she grows. To deny this child the opportunity to fulfill God's purposes for him/her, is to stand in the place of judge, jury, and executioner of an innocent life.

Why should we value life? Because no life begins without God purposing it to be. And, if God purposes a life to begin, He will not violate His own Word and lead anyone to take that life. God is the author of ALL life … He alone has the right to determine when that life should end, a time when His purpose for that life is completely fulfilled.

Phil 1:6 says, "…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (NIV) God WILL carry on the good work He began in the womb of the mother. And, He alone will carry it on to completion. He WILL be glorified through the tiny life growing in the womb regardless of the circumstances surrounding the child's conception.

God created the preborn.

Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? Job 31:15 (NIV)

For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. Psalm 139:13-16 (NKJ)

Even when it appears to have been a "mistake" or a horrible set of events attached to the new life growing with the mother, it is God who created that life. Life, in God's eyes, is marvelous because that little child has the potential to grow and reflect His own glory as transformation begins in the heart of the redeemed. In other words, when God creates the preborn, He creates a living being who is designed to carry the presence of God into the world, to be light in the darkness, and to be evidence of His mercy and grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is concerned with preborn.

Listen to Me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The Lord called Me from the womb; from the body of my mother He named me. Isaiah 49:1 (NAS)

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJ)

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace,... Galatians 1:15 (RSV)

When a mother and/or father are unsure about this new life, the Lord is grieved. He has already established a plan and destiny for the child so much, in fact, that He created a unique set of DNA for the child, a genetic makeup that will grow into a unique individual who will never be duplicated or replicated. If that little life is terminated, that one unique individual will never exist. The child cannot be replaced or substituted. The world misses out on the opportunity to engage in the life of that one unique person woven together in the mother's womb in response to God's specific pattern.

Who is responsible for life and death?

The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 1 Samuel 2:6 (NIV)

Thou shalt not kill. Exodus 20:13 (KJV)

Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. Isaiah 59:7 (KJV)

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.... Deuteronomy 30:19 (KJV)

When a mother determines her child should not live, she (and the father, if he is in agreement) stand in the place that belongs only to God. God alone confers life. God alone ends life. No one has the "God-given right" to take the life of an innocent child. God would never give anyone the "go-ahead" to end an innocent life, conferring upon mortal man the right to make a decision that only He can make, a decision that will ultimately reap consequences – blessings or cursings.

Is man permitted to take life before birth?

If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Exodus 21:22-25 (NIV)

Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of the people of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead...." Amos 1:13 (NKJ)

Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:14 (NKJ)

Never despise one of these little ones; I tell you, they have their guardian angels in heaven, who look continually on the face of my heavenly Father. Matthew 18:10 (NEB)

The scripture is plain. There is no just cause for taking the life of the innocent. There are consequences for the choice to abort – consequences that will follow for a lifetime.

Should a child conceived as a result of rape or incest be aborted?

Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin. Deuteronomy 24:16 (NKJ)

God is the author of life, even when the circumstances surrounding conception are horrific. If a mother cannot live with the reminder of the violence inflicted against her, she should grant the child the opportunity for life in a loving home where the child will have an opportunity to fulfill his or her destiny in the Kingdom of God. The Bible doesn't stipulate that children born in wedlock are any more precious to Him than children born of nightmarish circumstances.

God alone gives life and that life has the potential to be a blessing under any circumstances.

Should a child who might be born deformed or retarded be aborted?

So the Lord said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?" Exodus 4:11 (NKJ)

So tremendous, however, were the revelations that God gave me that, in order to prevent my becoming absurdly conceited, I was given a physical handicap - one of Satan's angels to harass me and effectually stop and defeat. Three times I begged the Lord for it to leave me, but his reply has been, "My grace is enough for you: for where there is weakness, my power is shown the more completely." Therefore, I have cheerfully made up my mind to be proud of my weaknesses, because they mean a deeper experience of the power of Christ. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (PME)

Yet, to shame the wise, God has chosen what the world counts folly, and to shame what is strong, God has chosen what the world counts weakness. 1 Corinthians 1:27 (NIV)

Should a woman have control over the life in her own body?

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NAS)

Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 1 Peter 2:16 (NIV)

Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine.... Ezekiel 18:4 (NAS)

Is abortion the solution to crisis pregnancies?

Can a women forget her nursing child, and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Isaiah 49:15 (NAS)

Faith is the solution to crisis pregnancies. Prayer is the solution to crisis pregnancies. Trusting God is the solution for crisis pregnancies. Abortion is NEVER a solution to a crisis pregnancy.

Does God forgive those who have had abortions?

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NKJ)

God IS indeed faithful to forgive. But, first, there must be an admission of guilt. And, along with that, there must be Godly sorrow for the sin of abortion. Without Godly sorrow, there is no repentance for sins. (See 2 Cor. 7:10)

What about the people who perform abortions?

Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. Deuteronomy 27:25 (KJV)

But your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain, and on shedding innocent blood and on practicing oppression and extortion. Jeremiah 22:17 (NAS)

But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Proverbs 8:36 (KJV)

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13 (NIV)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NKJ)

Those who take innocent lives are as guilty as those who submit to the procedure. There must be repentance with Godly sorrow. Those who refuse to repent will give account for the sin of murder of the innocent lives they took.

So...

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2 (RSV)

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (KJV)

Don't allow the world to sell you the line that you have a right to make such a decision. You don't!

To take the life of an innocent child is the most selfish action a woman can take. It is a cold-hearted decision that ignores the innocent life and exchanges the potential for a full life for selfish motives.

If you're considering an abortion, take a moment and look into the eyes of a little child. Imagine yourself telling that child you would prefer he or she had never taken their first breath. Imagine yourself telling that child your own rights for happiness are more important than his or her rights to grow and learn and love and laugh. Imagine telling the child that his or her life is totally insignificant compared to your life.

Don't take the life of your child … allow the little one growing in your womb the right to love, life, and the pursuit of happiness – unalienable rights conferred upon every man, woman, and child bought and paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior who, Himself, could have been the victim of an abortion had His earthly mother determined her unborn Child conceived outside of marriage was not worth the opportunity of life.

Please, contact me and let me pray with you … let's talk through your decision and put a stop to the lies of the enemy leading you to do something you will regret for the rest of your life.

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(NAS): New American Standard
(NIV): New International Version
(NKJ): New King James
(RSV): Revised Standard Version
(KJV): King James Version
(NEB): New English Bible
(PME): Phillips Modern English