Saving Innocent Lives, One Woman at a Time

This is national "Right to Life" month and this coming Sunday I (pastor Gene Helsel) will preach the last sermon in a short series on abortion and the sanctity of life. This past week I had the privilege of gathering together with some of my fellow Wenatchee area pastors and listen to the testimonies of some local ladies who had abortions several years ago, and, via a class called, Surrendering the Secret, were able to tap into the amazing grace of God. Listening to theses dear sisters was one of the most profoundly stirring and edifying experiences of my adult Christian life. We pastors sat riveted to our seats as we listened to testimonies that recounted a handful of tear-soaked journeys from regret to rejoicing. And as we did, we were wondrously awash in the mercy of our Heavenly Father as again, and again, these brave women demonstrated with their stories Paul's astounding declaration that "where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more." I sincerely wish that I could publish every one of their heartfelt offerings, but I think what follows will suffice to give you a taste of the gravity and glory of that humble gathering.

Here, in its entirety, is the first talk that we heard. The talks that followed were generally a little more biographical than this one. But this first talk set both set the tone and provided a theological framework for everything that followed. Please join me in praying that God will increasingly use these and similar testimonies in the great struggle against abortion-on-demand to "save innocent lives, one woman at at time."

As I went through this class for post-abortive women, what became increasingly clear to me were the far-reaching, and common themes with each woman who has made this choice. 

The class is called Surrendering the Secret—and I had never realized this terrible part of my history was actually a secret.  It had been something so heinous, it was unspeakable.  As an individual, I was able to seize the grace of forgiveness offered thru Christ – but further than that was unable to really look at this ‘issue’ as a ‘landscape.’ – with so many others out there like me, who had walked a very similar path.  It was like we were all ghosts, survivors of something we had done to ourselves, and to our children, but invisible to one another—phantoms, sitting by each other, but never speaking of this terrible, most influential event in each of our lives.

 

As I began to see things clearer, it became evident, that abortion is a very elaborate (and successful) scheme of Satan.

 

Many of you have read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis—written in 1941 –it’s a series of letters from Uncle Screwtape to his nephew, Wormword. 

 

Screwtape is a demon, and is training his nephew in tempting humans over to ‘their side’.  Uncle Screwtape instructs Wormword on how to snag humans to sin, using our common weaknesses to win the victory.

 

Not wanting to be presumptuous, another letter took formation in my mind—and this is it…

 

“Another letter” from Uncle Screwtape, dated sometime during the 60’s…

“My dear Wormwood—

 

I’ve had this ‘vision’, if you will, that we have been thinking ‘too small’ in our approach of taking down individuals, one at a time.  We need to be ‘thinking big!’ 

 

We have an entire country, that is SO ready for a major ‘fall’, if you will.  (I love using the Enemy’s verbiage!)

  

There has been a ‘lulling’ of the most offensively powerful ‘Christian’ nation in the world.   Conceived and built to be a ‘sanctuary’ for Christians to live out there faith in freedom—now, in prosperity, I sense it’s a great time to pounce, and take advantage of this ‘religious complacency’ she’s fallen in to.

 

They have a ‘background’ of religion—a ‘form’ if you will, but have gotten very lazy.  Our best offense is sometimes done very quietly—people seem to thrive in their ‘belief’ when they face active opposition.  At this point, their ‘Christian faith is somewhat of a ‘backdrop’.  They’re ripe for ‘coming over to our side.

 

This is my plan:

1.     1^st—they have gotten away from knowing the Bible—so just like with Eve, I think your best question (to start!) should be ‘did God really say?’

2.     We’ll start with immorality—(what a tiresome concept:  Morality!)  -- Let’s get the question out there—‘why not sex outside of marriage?  Who says?  Why not??—no one will be able to answer;  all the young will think this is a great idea!  And just ‘go for it’

3.     Next:  pregnancy follows sexual activity.  Now, here’s the heart of my plan: We are going to target the weakest in this society to pull the whole culture down;  Who might be the weakest?  Babies.  We will kill the babies.  Millions of them.

4.     Now, if we use an enemy outside the country to come in, aggressively, with this target there would be war—the people would never stand for it—and they do have a most powerful army.

5.     So how do we accomplish this?  We’ll have the most unlikely people carry this out—the babies’ own mothers—the second weakest, most vulnerable members of society.

6.     Oh, Wormwood—you say ‘how could this ever be?’—but you underestimate the craftiness, and creativity, of our father, Satan, and the foolish weaknesses of human beings.

7.     We will do this through fear and panic—two emotions that demand immediate ‘solutions’; pride and self-protection—with a large dose of muddled information, mixed in there to confuse the mind, as she makes this ‘decision’. She’ll be able to convince herself that she can just ‘take care of this’—and go on with her life.  ‘Nothing’s changed;  nobody will know;  nobody, that is, but her…’

8.     So—(it gets better, Wormwood—sometimes I amaze even myself!)—there is not just one death, the baby—there are two;  we kill the baby’s body, and a part of the mother dies, too—this baby dies while still a part of her.  And it is by her own hand—so a part of her soul dies, too.

The perpetrator will become a victim as well.

9.     The final question you might have, is ‘this might work for a short time—but surely the mothers will speak out!’— But, oh no, Wormwood—they will never speak of it—there is too much shame and pain—and they will think they don’t have the right to speak:  they took advantage of this ‘right to choose’—why would they try to dismantle this law, and take that ‘right’ away from another woman.

10.  No…every woman will have the right to choose, then the piper to pay.  All alone, in secret..

11.  Now, your last objection—‘but the Church—surely she will be the ‘advance guard’ and speak with a powerful and united voice?’

No…(this is beautiful)—the church will be but a whisper:  the Pastors won’t know what to say—they won’t understand it—‘how could people ever do this?’ And, since many of them aren’t women, they won’t think they have the right to really talk about it.  Finally, they won’t really believe there are that many out there sitting in the pews (because all those women are silent!)

  

Ah, it’s a great plan—but, Wormwood, you look so skeptical—Trust me, work with me.  We have a great nation to take down; corrupting her from the inside, ‘til she collapses under the weight of her own depravity.”

This is our story:  We are the wreckage of this terrible picture; and our aborted children, the carnage.  And what about the men you ask?  Emasculated—when taken out of the whole ‘decision-making’ process, but ultimately responsible with their God-given role as men.

 

The issue seems to have caught the church in a net:  Immobilized in the web of secrecy and pain—unable to move forward against this terrible thing.

 

“But God…”  But the victory is God’s:  He resurrects our broken souls;

 He redeems our dead and sinful ways. 

 And our children have NOT died in vain.

 This war is being waged in the heavenlies.  (Eph. 6:12)

 And the victory is with our God.

 But we must speak, and the church must speak, so this carnage will end.