Protecting Innocent Life is the First Issue

By James Robison, Founder and Publisher, The Stream, April 24, 2018

Note: From abortion mills to Hawaii’s new assisted suicide law to Britain’s ghoulish effort to put precious 23-month-old Alfie Evans to death, the battle for life has never been so stark. Never has the call for Christians to act been so clear.

Yet so many Christians won’t engage. Worse, some actually fight for and defend the cult of death. Stream publisher James Robison writes about this in a piece he’s adapted from his book The Stream.

I am astounded by the number of people who claim to be Christians yet directly or indirectly support abortion on demand. Even those who put their faith in science reject the simple truth revealed in a sonogram: life begins before birth.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart,” the prophet Jeremiah attributed to God (Jeremiah 1:5 NIV). People may dismiss his words as ancient poetry. But it takes a more aggressive betrayal of the intellect to willfully ignore modern science.

Life Defined by Mere Hours

As a society, we call the termination of a one-hour-old infant “murder.” Yet if the pregnancy is terminated one hour prior to delivery? That’s just a “woman’s right.” Does anyone really believe the fetus is magically transformed during that two-hour period?

Sure, there is a drastic change in the mother’s body as she delivers the life she has nurtured for nine months or so and ushers the newborn child into the world. But the newborn infant is remarkably the same whether inside the womb or outside.

Responsibility, compassion, and freedom can’t even exist when we ignore the first issue. The very right to life.

Yet society consents to taking that innocent life. And many professing believers enable it by supporting politicians who advocate abortion, and by allowing their tax dollars to go to organizations that encourage and/or perform abortions.

Then comes the perplexing hypocrisy. Many of these same people of faith pay lip service to hot-button issues like “human rights” or “women’s health” or “caring for the poor.” They use words like responsibility or compassion or even freedom. But none of these things can exist when we ignore the first issue. The very right to life.

The First Human Right

Our Founding Fathers ordered life correctly in the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The first right, given by our Creator and evident to those with eyes to see, is “Life.” After that, we are able to discuss “Liberty.” Once those two things are settled, we can examine “the pursuit of Happiness.” Without the foundation of life, no argument on behalf of the next two issues can be safely constructed.

When pro-choice proponents want to discuss health insurance, claiming to be compassionate toward those who are involuntarily (and even voluntarily) uninsured, their words are largely meaningless. Why? Because they will not ensure the health of a life in the womb.

While activists of color attempt to spotlight human rights violations, most cover up the fetal genocide going on in the African-American community. When feminists cry for equal pay in the workplace, some forget the unborn girl crying for equality in the first place. When immigration activists demand the unfettered crossing of borders, many conveniently shut down the most innocent person’s passage of life.

Those who wish to discuss, promote, campaign on, fund-raise with, or champion the cause of liberty or the pursuit of happiness cannot legitimately do so until they champion the cause of life. One cannot take the second or third step without taking the first.

A nation cannot continue killing its children and expect to escape the consequences. We need not tremble at the judgment of God as much as the fruit of our own savagery. God wants to save us from the effects of our hideous sin. But those who do not change their ways refuse His rescue.

Supporting Life

I will not support or vote for any politician who advocates abortion. His or her party affiliation does not matter one bit. His or her abilities on second and third issues do not count if he or she has missed the first one.

Any Christian who supports such politicians, even with a single vote, must ask whether this could ever be acceptable in the eyes of God. The series of undercover videos in 2015 that exposed Planned Parenthood should make everyone stop and think.

It is unimaginable that a once-great nation is not only tolerating but defending and even supporting abortion with our tax dollars.

There is no denying that a non-governmental organization that receives taxpayer funding is actively promoting, participating in, and possibly profiting from the abortion industry. Had Planned Parenthood been active at the time of my birth, I probably would not have been born. Four generations of the Robison family — with three children, eleven grandchildren, and now four great-grandchildren — never would have been. Perhaps my tiny body parts would have been sold to the highest bidder.

It is unimaginable what a once-great nation is not only tolerating but defending and even supporting with our tax dollars. All without the consent of over half of the population. Thank God for the courageous, God-loving, life-loving remnant who value precious, innocent life so much that they are willing to stand up against this hellish assault.

Elections are not just about abortion. There are many other important issues. Many good and smart people have different views on the various challenges we face individually and as a nation. But we cannot take the second step with any politician until he or she has taken the first step by vowing to protect innocent human life.

And that goes for believers, too.

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This is an edited excerpt from James Robison’s book The Stream. Used by permission.

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