Abortion - Who Is Most Responsible?

Abortion - Who Is Most Responsible

By Flip Benham

Who is most responsible for the killing of our unborn children? Who will give an account for the shedding of innocent blood in our nation? Over 40 million children, dead! One third of America's generation 28 years old and younger, forever gone! What single entity is most responsible for this senseless, brutal slaughter?

It is not Planned Parenthood, the National Organization of Women, the National Abortion Rights Action League, nor the National Abortion Federation. It is not our legislators, Presidents, nor is it even our Supreme Court. It is not the abortionists, nor abortion industry employees. It isn't the mother and father who seek this horrible solution.

Now each one of these bears its own responsibility for participating in the gross sin of child killing, but they are not the root cause of the slaughter. No, the one most responsible for the abortion holocaust is the one that is sure it is doing everything in its power to stop the slaughter - the Church of Jesus Christ!

It is absolutely imperative to proclaim this truth from the rooftops, whether or not God's people listen (Ezek 3:16-20, 33:1-6; Acts 18:6, 20:26-27). Paul proclaimed his innocence of the blood of all men for he had not hesitated to proclaim the whole will of God. Judgment begins in the house of God (1 Pt 4:17). God is calling His church through signs, judgments, and prophetic witness to repent over the shedding of innocent blood.

It is only as we, who are called by His Name, humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, that He will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land. Yes, we Christians are the only ones who can call upon Him to forgive our sin and heal our land. Yet the one requisite we have not met, that we turn from our wicked ways, is preventing us from being heard by Almighty God. We do not believe that we are the wicked ones. We do not believe that we are the ones guilty of the shedding of innocent blood. We do not believe that we are the ones in sin. We do not believe we are the ones who need to repent.

Because of this we are fighting the right battles, but not with God's help. Not that He hasn't blessed us in many of our undertakings - He has! But the Emancipation Proclamation for the Innocents has not been signed by the one most responsible for their deaths. We, God's Church, must accept the responsibility for the slaughter of over 40 million children if we desire God's help. We must cry out for God to forgive our sin. Then we must stand steadfastly upon His Word and proclaim liberty to the captives without compromise, without apology, and without exception. The gates of hell cannot prevail against God's prevailing church!

It didn't take sin long to manifest itself as the murderer it is - one chapter in biblical time. From the deception of Eve and the sin of Adam in Genesis chapter 3 to Cain's murder of his brother Abel in Genesis chapter 4, the lie always leads to death. Cain thought he could get away with murdering his brother, but innocent blood has a voice. God confronted Cain with his sin and his attempt to cover-up: "… Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground." Gen 4:10. God is aware of every drop of innocent blood that spills to the ground, and demands an accounting. "And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man." Gen 9:5. Oh yes, innocent blood has a voice - it will speak and be avenged!

Life comes from God, so it is only natural that the blood (without which there could be no life) be regarded with great reverence. "For the life of a creature is in the blood…." Lev 17:11, 14; Dt 12:23. Life belongs to God who gave it, and He alone has the right to take it away. Hence, man is forbidden to shed innocent blood (2 Ki 24:4; Dt 19:10; Jer 22:3). If it is done, the one "guilty of bloodshed" must forfeit his own life in exchange (Gen 9:6; Ex 21:12-14; Lev 24:17-21; Nu 35:30). In the Bible life is considered so sacred that if one with malice of forethought takes the life of another, he must necessarily forfeit his own. Why is the shedding of innocent blood such a heinous crime? Because it cries out for justice, and without justice there can be no mercy (Micah 6:8).

Let's get one thing straight right now. Until there is a national repentance over the shedding of innocent blood in this land, the mercy from God will be withheld. He has issued judgment after judgment to confront us with our sin, yet we have not returned to Him (Amos 4:6-11). Again, judgment begins in the house of God. Until we Christians realize that the hand of God's redemptive mercy is being withheld from us as a nation because of our own failure to confess, as the Church of Jesus Christ, our culpability in the slaughter of over 40 million children, there is little hope for national survival. Their blood is crying out to God for justice. The voice of Amos thundered, "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!" Amos 5:24.

Innocent blood cries out to God from Genesis to Revelation for vengeance (Gen 4:10; Isa 26:21; Rev 6:9-11). God will not allow the spilled blood of innocent life to go unrequited (Deut 32:43; Ezek 35:6 - "…Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you."; Ezek 36:18; Lk 11:50-51). There will be justice. In case you haven't noticed, since we have allowed the killing of innocent children, crimes of indescribable violence have filled our work places, schools, and streets. God is not mocked. Bloodshed is pursuing us, and there is no federal program or number of policemen that can stop it. It is a judgment from God. It is a spiritual principle that is as sure as the law of gravity. "… bloodshed follows bloodshed." Hos 4:2. God has more disaster than our federal government has relief.

Jesus underscored this principle when He proclaimed that the blood of the prophets, which was shed generations before, would be required of his own generation (Mt 23:30, 35). Those to whom He was speaking did not even live in the time of Abel or Zechariah, yet Jesus said that they were the ones guilty of murdering Zechariah between the temple and the altar. This hardly seems fair but it is just. "Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully." Pr 28:5.

Yes, innocent blood cries out for revenge. There must be an accounting. Electing a new President won't cut it. Working on new legislation won't cut it. Stopping all abortions won't cut it. The blood has been spilled and we can't unspill it. It is crying to the Lord one word - vengeance! What shall we do? Reminiscent of Acts 2:37, isn't it? "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" Peter began his answer with the word "repent." Peter had made it clear that they were guilty of the shedding of innocent blood when they crucified the Savior. The only remedy of Law was for them to forfeit their own lives. This is what the Law required. Mind you, many of those Peter preached to during that first sermon were not even witness to the things that took place at Jesus' crucifixion and death. They didn't actually do the killing yet they were held guilty of the shedding of innocent blood nevertheless.

In Acts 5:28, the Sanhedrin confronted Peter and the apostles before their court and admonished them to stop preaching a certain message: "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name … yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood." The apostles were preaching that the Sanhedrin was guilty of the shedding of innocent blood. The Law had only one word for those who shed innocent blood - death! Death alone would atone for the shedding of innocent blood and this meant the death of those who shed the blood. Justice would again be restored to the land. Oh, what to do!

Perhaps we can understand better now why the people who heard Peter's first sermon were cut to the heart. They realized that they were guilty before God of shedding innocent blood and that there was no hope for them apart from death. This is the reason Judas hung himself (Mt 27:3-4). This is one of the reasons the Sanhedrin could not countenance this kind of preaching. Everyone was declared guilty of shedding the innocent blood of Christ. What good work can one do to make up for this? Our only hope is to repent of our sin and believe on the one God sent to redeem us from the curse of the law (Acts 2:38-39). There is no other way!

The blood of more than 40 million children is crying out to Almighty God for judgment. If we Christians in America think God will overlook the shedding of one drop of this innocent blood, we are on a collision course with Him. He never has in history, and He never will in the future. So, what hope do we have?

God, who is perfectly just and loves His creation, gives us a better word. Yes, judgment has come, but mercy triumphs over judgment (Jas 2:13). When we were lost and without hope in the world, God sent His Son who perfectly fulfilled the just requirements of the Law and allowed His innocent blood to be shed as an atonement for our own sin that we might become the righteousness of God. Yes, the blood of Christ speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, for Jesus is now the mediator of a new covenant (Heb 12:24). Abel's blood cries from the ground, judgment and revenge. Jesus' blood cries from the ground, mercy and forgiveness.

The hope for our nation lies in the repentance from our national sin - the killing of our pre-born children. We must claim the innocent blood of Christ to atone for our utter failure to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. This, of course, requires an acknowledgement of guilt on our part. We must confess that God is right and that we are wrong. Again, most of us who call ourselves Christians don't believe we are responsible for the abortion holocaust in our land. We don't believe that this innocent blood is on our hands. As a matter of fact, now that George W. Bush is President, our consciences are somewhat assuaged believing that we have done our part to throw the scoundrels (the real killers) out. Nothing could be further from the truth!

The shedding of innocent blood results in serious judgments from God Himself to cause His people to deal with the sin - to repent. Look at Lev 20:1-5. Here, a community that closes its eyes to the shedding of innocent blood becomes as guilty as the man actually offering his child to Molech. Who of us can say that we do not know where and when they are killing children in our city? The shedding of innocent blood was of such a magnitude in the Old Testament that if a person were found slain in a field and it was not known who killed him, a measurement had to be taken to find the town nearest the body. This was done so that the elders of that particular city would take a heifer and break its neck and then wash their hands over the heifer and say, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done…." Dt 21:1-9. This sacrifice, even though they did not know who shed the innocent blood, was required to purge the city from the guilt of shedding innocent blood.

We Christians in America are guilty of the shedding of innocent blood and we know it not! No preacher loves us enough to confront us with this truth. In Numbers 35:33-34 we see that bloodshed pollutes and defiles the land, "…atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it." America is defiled by the innocent blood of preborn children, and there is nothing we can do to remedy the problem. Until we confess this truth and acknowledge our guilt, justice will never be done, and without justice there can be no mercy. The blood of Christ speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Abel's blood cries for vengeance, Christ's blood cries for pardon. Jesus has taken our place and was executed for this heinous sin, but His blood does us no good if we don't apply it. In order to do this, we must first admit that we are the ones responsible for the shedding of innocent blood and repent. The pulpits of our land must thunder the message of repentance once again!

Isa 1:11-17 gives us a very graphic description of what God thinks of those who are offering correct sacrifices but are ignoring the weightier matters of worship, like the shedding of innocent blood. We can win people to Christ, sing praise songs, preach great sermons, pray authentic prayers, have great and growing churches, elect the right men to office, but God will not overlook the blood that cries out to Him. In Isaiah's description of typical worship in his day, God will not even hear prayer until the innocent blood is atoned for: "When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood…." Isa 1:15-16.

As a matter of fact, God hates "…hands that shed innocent blood…" Pr 6:16-19. What happens when a nation sheds innocent blood? Ps 106:37-42 tells us that one of the many judgments that will manifest itself is that foes will rule over you and enemies will oppress you. Can anyone doubt today that God has turned His Church in America over to sworn enemies who are ruling over it - the abortion industry, the radical homosexual agenda, the feminist ideology, ad nauseam? We aren't even allowed to speak His name in public schools or public forums. His Law has been stripped off the walls of our schools, courts, and public squares. The blatant attacks against John Ashcroft by the enemies of God in the Senate Judiciary Committee are a sign and a judgment upon a church and a nation that has abandoned God's Word and principles. Judgments such as these are meant to bring us to repentance. Why do we need to repent? Because the innocent blood of more than 40 million children is crying from the ground to Him for vengeance. But the blood of Christ is speaking an even better word, so that justice will be done and God may have mercy on us, forgive our sin, and heal our land.

Why is it imperative for us to confess the sin of shedding innocent blood? So that justice will be done, for without justice there can be no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment to be sure, but mercy cannot be extended apart from judgment. We must acknowledge our sin, claim the blood of Christ, and receive his mercy and grace. "The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more…" Rom 5:20. When we confess our sin, God's grace increases all the more. What we need is God's mercy and grace to bring healing to our land.

In 2 Ki 21:6, King Manasseh sacrificed his own son in the fire. In 2 Ki 21:16, this same king shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. But it is not until 2 Ki 24:1-4 that we see the ultimate punishment for this sin. The reason for this punishment? "…For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive." 2 Ki 24:4.

There were signs, judgments, and prophetic witnesses sent to the nation under four different kings after Manasseh to turn the nation back to God, but they went unheeded. Oh, the people continued their religious worship of God, but many other gods were now tolerated. They had the false sense that God's delay in His final judgment meant God's approval of their behavior. Nothing could have been further from the truth! God's delay in final judgment was meant to bring them to repentance (Rom 2:4). The ultimate judgment was visited upon the fourth generation from Manasseh: "Surely these things happened to Judah … because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had shed so much innocent blood that the Lord was not willing to forgive." 2 Ki 24:3-4.

Four generations passed and then the final judgment of the nation. Is this the heritage and legacy we want to leave the generations that follow us? God is calling us to repent of the sin of shedding innocent blood today, not tomorrow. How much more blood have we shed in America compared to that of king Manasseh?

Repentance is a marvelous gift from God that does remarkable things - it even saves nations from His wrath and final judgment! The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian Church that hurt them deeply, to bring them to repentance (the wounds of a friend bring healing). His second letter explains his dilemma and ultimate joy.

"Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it - I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while - yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this Godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter." 2 Cor 7:8-11.

We Christians are the only ones who can call upon God and move His heart. But it is only upon our active repentance (turning from our wicked ways) that He will hear from heaven. We are the ones called by God to repent and lead our nation to a national repentance for shedding the innocent blood of His children. The blood of Christ speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. The pulpits of our land must thunder again, as they did in the days of the Civil War. Judgment begins in the house of God. As we are purified again through the refiner's fire, and justice is restored, God Himself will pour out His mercy through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It speaks a better word!