Euthanasia is a long, smooth-sounding word, and it conceals its danger as long, smooth words do, but the danger is there, nevertheless.
- Pearl S. Buck
The full results of sin are rarely immediate apparent. On the one hand this is God's mercy, His patience and kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. On the other, delaying the consequences and punishments for our actions tends to insulate us against appropriate fear of God and His justice.
Without immediate and commensurate penalties for even outrageous behavior, the lines of God's directives become blurred. To the point of calling into question the Creator's existence. Not to mention such eternal realities of Heaven as Hell. Tragically, euthanasia may pose just such a scenario against a generation responsible for aborting over a billion babies, thus turning the womb into the most dangerous place in the world.
They say, "what comes around, goes around." The Bible agrees. The New Testament cautions, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." The Old Testament's warning is even worse, "They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind." While such verses are not politically correct today, they remain foundational to the content of Scripture.
Another Biblical principal that has never been in vogue is that, for the most part, God's people are constantly off page. Age after age we find them out of step with His will and out of bounds regarding His commands. A point Stephen, the first martyr in the Book of Acts, drove home for a whole chapter prior to his murder in the name of God:
- “And you continue, so bullheaded! Calluses on your hearts, flaps on your ears! Deliberately ignoring the Holy Spirit, you’re just like your ancestors. Was there ever a prophet who didn’t get the same treatment? Your ancestors killed anyone who dared talk about the coming of the Just One. And you’ve kept up the family tradition—traitors and murderers, all of you. You had God’s Law handed to you by angels—gift-wrapped!—and you squandered it!” At that point they went wild, a rioting mob of catcalls and whistles and invective. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, hardly noticed—he only had eyes for God, whom he saw in all his glory with Jesus standing at his side. He said, “Oh! I see heaven wide open and the Son of Man standing at God’s side!” Yelling and hissing, the mob drowned him out. Now in full stampede, they dragged him out of town and pelted him with rocks. The ringleaders took off their coats and asked a young man named Saul to watch them. As the rocks rained down, Stephen prayed, “Master Jesus, take my life.” Then he knelt down, praying loud enough for everyone to hear, “Master, don’t blame them for this sin”—his last words. Then he died." Acts 7:51-60 MSG
- "You're hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You build granite tombs for your prophets and marble monuments for your saints. And you say that if you had lived in the days of your ancestors, no blood would have been on your hands. You protest too much! You're cut from the same cloth as those murderers, and daily add to the death count. "Snakes! Reptilian sneaks! Do you think you can worm your way out of this? Never have to pay the piper? It's on account of people like you that I send prophets and wise guides and scholars generation after generation—and generation after generation you treat them like dirt, greeting them with lynch mobs, hounding them with abuse. "You can't squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. All this, I'm telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation. Matthew 23:29-36 MSG
As people persist in sin, as we so often do, judgment becomes more certain. Making matters worse, the sources God uses can be unexpected and unwelcome. The end of the Old Testament documents the close of the "time of the Jews." Two millennia after the Exodus, the repeated and grievous sin of the church in that day had merited terrible judgment. Repeatedly threatening His people with Exile, God sent prophet after prophet to bring them to their senses. Unfortunately, in those days, as in ours, there were many falsely prophesying prosperity and favor rather than punishment and destruction. Prophets like Habakkuk and contemporaries knew better, yet even they were aghast to discover God would use a people far more violent and wicked than His own to discipline and all but destroy Israel. In protest Habakkuk climbed his tower and lodged his heavenly complaint. Wrestling with God, he waited to see what the Lord would say.
Seeding Destruction
Simply put, only a generation as privileged and entitled as our own could possibly think they could slaughter a billion babies in the womb, not to mention daily commit a litany of unprecedented sins, and get away with it. Even the church "has another think coming" if we hope to escape judgment even when less than 1% of Christians today are authentically pro-life. Making us even more culpable is the fact that through simple protest, the American church has had the resource and opportunity to end abortion in a single day, every day, for forty years. Yet not only have we failed to do so, but just a look at our lifestyles, not to mention our atrocious voting record, clearly shows our apathy. An apathy, that has likely sown the seeds of our own destruction in a myriad of ways as Scripture warns:
- "Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve." Proverbs 24:11-12
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak for me.
Anathema to Scripture, might euthanasia be only the first installments of the just judgment and repayment to a generation guilty of shedding such quality and quality of innocent blood? While to say so may be as repugnant as it was for Habakkuk to hear God was raising up the Babylonians there's little or no question about the justice of it.
This may be particularly true for any nation or church refusing to repent and do all in its power to end the slaughter of it's most innocent and helpless members. Now it would seem the elderly are in the cross-hairs of the very culture of death they helped create. May God grant us the gift of unprecedented repentance, if it's not already too late.
God have mercy, Christ have mercy...
An Acrostic of Change
Today there are many opportunities for individuals, churches and organizations to have an impact on people within their communities.
For some great simple pro-life ideas just click the link below: Change
For an overview of being authentically pro-life click the link below. For an in depth report on serious church and denominational objectives and strategies to enable the church to have a comprehensive pro-life, pro-family and pro-mission strategy click the link below:
Authentically Pro-Life
Objectives
More information
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