By my wife, Kendra Thomas
Why Rescue? Here’s 20 Reasons
1) Abortion is Murder
It’s time we acted like it.
2) Rescue Demonstrates Repentance
Religious systems may preach penance, political systems may argue compromise, and movements may promote human strategy— but God requires repentance. Repentance for sin, both individual and national, is not gradual. It is immediate. Jesus told us to cut off known sin or perish (Matthew 18:8). Rescue is a way to demonstrate immediate repentance for the sin of abortion.
3) Rescue is Immediate
It is immediate repentance, immediate rescue of a preborn neighbor, and immediate “agitation” with the culture of child sacrifice.
4) God Commands Rescue
The Word of God tells us to rescue those unjustly sentenced to death (Prov 24:11). Rescue is commanded. But Proverbs 24:11 is more than a command. It is couched in a warning against inaction. Verse ten reads, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” The Psalmist than warns, “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? (Prov 24:11-12). The hard word here is the warning regarding inaction. In other words, the onus is on Christians to rescue. God will reward us according to our works (Prov 24:12).
5) Civil Magistrates Have Neglected Their Duty to Protect Life
The role of civil government is to protect life and stop the shedding of innocent blood (Genesis 9:6). Civil magistrates are God’s ministers to punish evil doers and protect the innocent (Romans 13:1-4). Sadly, civil magistrates have not rescued the preborn “out of the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:4).
6) Rescue is Biblical Obedience, Not Civil Disobedience
When the laws of God conflict with the laws of men, “We must obey God rather then.” God established civil government to protect life and stop the shedding of innocent blood (Genesis 9:6). Civil magistrates are God’s ministers to punish evil doers and protect the innocent (Romans 13:1-4). They are delegated authorities, invested with power and answerable to God (Psalm 82). Biblical obedience therefore is not the same as civil disobedience. When Christians rescue they are keeping the law, not breaking the law. As John Knox wrote, “True it is that God hath commanded kings to be obeyed, but like true it is, that in things which they commit against His glory or when cruelly without cause they rage against their brethren, the members of Christ’s body He hath commanded no obedience. Rather, He hath approved, yea, and greatly rewarded such as have opposed themselves to their ungodly commandments and blind rage.”
7) God Will Judge Civil Magistrates for Neglect of Duty
As Pastor Matt Trewhella, author of The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate, explains, because civil magistrates “derive their authority from God…their authority is not autonomous or unconditional.” This means every civil magistrate will be judged by the Supreme Judge of the earth. Psalm 82:4 speaks to this truth: God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.
According to Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, gods refer “to men delegated with office from God.” The Psalm “opens with the solemn statement that God had taken His official place as president of the bench of judges…He is among the judges as presiding judge.” As presiding judge, God rules that civil magistrates defend the fatherless. He orders that they rescue the needy “out of the hand of the wicked.” However, the Psalm says the civil magistrates “know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course” (Psalm 82:5). Barnes Notes on the Bible explains the civil magistrates “not merely judged unjustly…they did not desire to understand their duty.” Their lack of understanding was willful. Although God made His mind known to them, the civil magistrates neglected their duty. They would not rescue. It is the same today.
8) The Church is the Last Line of Defense for the Preborn
Barnes Notes on the Bible explains, “There are times on earth when wickedness is so prevalent, and when there is such a want of faithfulness in civil rulers, that we have no other resource but to call upon God to interpose.”
9) Civil Magistrates Must Respond Appropriately to Murder
Civil Magistrates have perpetuated the fiction of Roe vs. Wade and entrenched us in a culture of death. Preborn babies are not “agendas,” “next sessions,” “vacancies on the court,” “exceptions,” “things to regulate,” “planks in party platforms,” or poker chips to wager elections on. Preborn babies are real human beings dying torturous deaths while civil magistrates argue legalese, arm wrestle rules and procedures, conduct hearings that reinforce the lie of Roe, and wait for the next political season. They must be rescued.
10) The Church is Called to Disciple the Nations
Jesus commanded us to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-20). Christianity teaches “thou shalt not murder” and “greater love hath no man then this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). By peacefully and nonviolently interposing between a murderer and his intended victim, the preborn baby, the Church is teaching the nation the commandments of God.
11) Civil Magistrates Lack an Understanding of the Biblical and Historical Doctrine of Interposition and the Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate
These teachings must be rediscovered and acted upon by civil magistrates and Churchmen alike. When we live out our faith, we inculcate these biblical and historical truths and become an example to others.
12) Churchmen Can’t Expect Civil Magistrates to Do What they are Unwilling to Do
We are called to rescue, to interpose between the victim and the oppressor. We cannot, in good conscience, call lesser magistrates to interpose for the preborn when we are unwilling.
13) Churchmen Cannot Expect Female Civil Magistrates to put themselves at risk by interposing, while men of God sit safely in Church.
14) Hiding Behind the Skirts of Civil Magistrates is Sin
Civil magistrates are not the plumb line for Christian obedience. When civil magistrates abdicate their duty, Christians must maintain biblical obedience. And while there are many passages in Scripture that instruct the civil magistrate as to his duty, there are many more that instruct the churchman. When God commands obedience, we don’t look behind us to see if the civil government is following. We must obey God rather than men.
15) Roe vs. Wade is Legal Fiction
Because courts cannot make law, Roe vs. Wade is legal fiction. Sixty million babies and forty-three years later, civil magistrates still perpetuate this fiction.
16) The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances is No Law at All Since FACE seeks to protect and institutionalize the murder of preborn babies (in violation of God’s law and the U.S. Constitution) and is itself built on the fiction of Roe vs. Wade, it should be challenged.
17) Rescue Restores the Integrity of the Church
As Rev. Rusty Thomas, National Director of Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America, stated, “If the Church says abortion is murder, but doesn’t live like people are actually dying, her witness rings hollow.” How can we expect the unsaved world to repent of abortion if our witness is inconsistent? If we believe babies are being murdered, we must act like it.
18) Rescue Reveals the Love of Christ
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
19) Rescue is Pure Religion
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
20) Our Savior Rescued Us
Jesus “gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4).
