Spilling INNOCENT BLOOD

The West is spilling innocent blood

Go here to see an angry woman.

Why was she angry? Because US Senator Ben Sasse (R-NB) was seeking a unanimous consent vote for the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

In other words, Sasse was asking for the actual vote for the act to be expedited. He took this action following the infamous WTOP radio interview with Virginia governor Dr. Ralph Northam in which he endorsed, in concept at least, infanticide.

A request for unanimous consent can be blocked by a single vote. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) was determined to cast that vote.

The findings of the Sasse bill are straightforward:

(1) If an abortion results in the live birth of an infant, the infant is a legal person for all purposes under the laws of the United States, and entitled to all the protections of such laws.

(2) Any infant born alive after an abortion or within a hospital, clinic, or other facility has the same claim to the protection of the law that would arise for any newborn, or for any person who comes to a hospital, clinic, or other facility for screening and treatment or otherwise becomes a patient within its care.

An infant who is born alive—including one who survived an abortion attempt—should be recognized as a legal person and have the full protection of US laws, including the right to life. But Sen Murray, and many other politicians, regarded protecting the rights of an out-of-the-womb human baby too much to ask of the nation. They have long denied the rights of the unborn child; now they are denying the rights of a baby born alive. We have written about this here.

The choice: between the God of the Bible or pagan worship

Our nation was founded by people of faith in the living God. They affirmed the biblical understanding that we are made in the image of God, and inculcated this idea into the foundation documents of these United States.

All men are created equal … they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; … among these are life ….

Our founding political document, the Declaration of Independence, affirms that God exists, He is the Creator of the universe, we are made imago Dei and as such we have the inherent right to life!

Senator Ben Sasse seeks to reaffirm this fundamental and historic principle of America’s founding with his “Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.” But Senator Patty Murray and her compatriots promote abortion, not only at conception, or after three months in gestation, but at nine months and now after the birth. Why? And why are they fighting deny the child’s Constitutional rights? What is behind this unconscionable position toward babies, this denial of the right to live? The answer: pagan worship.

Pagan worship leads to the pouring out of innocent blood

Recently, I was reading Psalm 106. A portion of this psalm describes the point in history when God’s people turned their backs on the Creator, the Giver of life, to worship the pagan god of the Moabites, the Baal of Peor.

As I read the psalm, I was struck by the phrase, speaking of God’s people, “they poured out innocent blood.” The psalm made the connection between yoking themselves to the Baal of Peor (v 28) and sacrificing innocent blood (vv 36-38).

They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. (ESV Bibles by Crossway. ESV Global Study Bible [Kindle Locations 120224-120237]. Crossway. Kindle Edition)

The denial of the existence of the living God, the God of creation, leads to idolatry, the worship of pagan gods. Note that we have been created to worship. If we choose not to worship the Creator we do not cease to worship, we simply worship idols of our own making.

What is the root of our sacrificing of innocent blood today? This is the subject of my reflection on Psalm 106.

The Hebrews turned to pagan worship

Nations become like the God or gods they worship. When the Hebrew people entered the promised land, they turned from worshiping the living God, who led them out of slavery in Egypt, to mix with the nations. They “learned to do as they did” (Psalm 106:15). Note the consequences of learning from pagan worshippers (Psalm 106:36-38).

– They served their idols.

– They were ensnared to them; they exchanged their Egyptian slavery for slavery to the Moabite deities.

– They sacrificed their sons and daughters to the idols of Canaan.

– They poured out innocent blood.

– They polluted the land with the blood of their children.

Numbers 25:1-3 describes what happened when the Israelite people entered the promised land.

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor.

Who is this local deity, the Baal of Peor?

Before the Israelites entered the promised land, Moses stood on Mount Peor. This mountain afforded a view down to the Jordan River valley and the pleasant land of promise. But Mount Peor was also the place where the local Baal resided in his temple. Thus he was identified as the Baal of Peor.

Another name for this Baal was Molech (Jeremiah 19:5). The name Baal of Peor means “Lord of the Hole” – the god of body orifices. A Hebrew dictionary states that: “The occurrences of the verb פער (pa’ar) indicate adjunction with strong passion or feeling, usually not very positive (Job 16:10, Isaiah 5:14, Job 29:23), and describe the wide opening of the mouth, hence perhaps alluding to other body cavities.”

Pagan worship still happens today

This is probably an indication that the worship of this Baal included “sacred-sex” with temple prostitutes. Here was unhindered sexual indulgence. The Israelites were “following their noses,” fulfilling their sexual appetites. God’s people were not only physically prostituting themselves with Canaanite women, they were also metaphorically prostituting themselves to the “Lord of the Hole.”

Typically the culture produced by the cult/worship of pagan deities of the ancient world was marked by

– Sensuality

– Self-indulgence

– Sexual immorality

– Adultery

– Human sacrifice (a low view of human life)

– Fatalism

– Corruption (bribery of the gods)

Are any of these familiar in your culture? To the extent that they are, they reflect the pagan roots of your culture.

Implications for today

Our new deity is the god of SEX. To this god we will sacrifice anything:

– our reputation

– our money

– our health

– that which matters most: our marriage and children

In this pagan framework, the universe has no moral dimension. We worship at this altar whenever we please, without moral restraint.

– Before marriage – fornication (a word lost from our vocabulary)

– Outside marriage – adultery

– Men with men – homosexuality

– Women with women – lesbianism

– With children – pedophilia

– With animals – bestiality

– With the dead – necrophilia

– And dozens of other conceived options.

Our culture insists on sex without restraint, without consequences, without responsibility. In addition to the convenience of having sex whenever we want, the pagan culture wants to have sex without responsibility. Sexist culture dictates that a “real” man demonstrates his manhood whenever he wants without responsibility. Modern feminist culture does the same. A woman demonstrates her “manhood ” by the same standard, having sex without being pregnant. Herein is the SACRIFICE OF INNOCENT BLOOD: abortion on demand, gendercide (200,000,000 girls and women the world will never know), and now we are entering the era of infanticide, post-birth abortion.

The modern Baal of Peor is the god of convenience. We bow at the altar of convenience. “It is not convenient for me to have this baby. She will interrupt my schooling, my career, my life, my plans, my world.”

Worshipping the god of convenience

This worship of the god of convenience puts me above others. It sacrifices the other for me. But the God of the universe, the God of creation and life is the God of inconvenience. He puts the interest of others before the interest of self. We see this in the life of Jesus Christ.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:3-8

Abby Johnson, a young woman with two abortions in her past, became the youngest clinic director in Planned Parenthood’s history. In that capacity she witnessed an abortion and realized what the psalmist referred to as the “pouring out of innocent blood.” Her life was changed forever. Abby has become one of nation’s fiercest pro-life advocates. (We urge you to see her true story depicted in the movie “Unplanned.”)