My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being My priest.
Hosea 4:6 NASB
When I was 21 years old a friend shared a secret with me. She was pregnant, alone, and she was scared. She confided in me because she trusted me, but I betrayed that trust because of my own fear. In the end, I did what I had convinced myself a good friend would do: I allowed her to make the decision, vowing that I would stick by her whatever she chose. In the end, she chose to end the life of her unborn child through abortion.
Several years later as I carried my first child, God spoke a difficult truth to my heart:
I was an accomplice to that abortion.
Because I stood by without using the position of influence I had to help her make an informed decision the blood of that child was on my hands. Likewise, responsibility for the devastation visited upon her life as a result of that abortion was also mine.
I didn't know much about abortion back then, but I knew that it ended the life of an unborn child. That should have been enough. But because of my cowardice, because of my fear that I might offend her, I kept my thoughts and opinions to myself. I didn't want her to abort. I didn't mean for her to abort. But because of the lack of knowledge of the pain abortion causes those that are touched by it and because of my fear I did nothing. I was an unwilling, unintentional, unknowledgeable accomplice, but I was an accomplice nonetheless.
After several years of ministering to pro-life, post-abortive Christian women God spoke another difficult truth to my heart:
Just as I was an accomplice to my friend's abortion, so too is the church
(the body of Christ) in America an accomplice to abortion.
The parallel is both frightening and painful.
We (the church) are God's hands and feet in this world. Our great commission is to go into all the world and make disciples baptizing them in the name of Jesus. We are called to pray for the sick and see them healed. We are called to bear one another's burdens; to confess our sins to one another; to love one another and to forgive each other as Christ has forgiven us. And we are called to be the purveyors of His compassion to those who are suffering.
But we are afraid.
We are afraid of the word abortion. We hate what it stands for and we hate how it makes us feel. Some in our ranks have not been afraid. They have picketed and protested even to the point of being thrown in jail. And in so doing they have helped create a chasm so deep and wide that very few of those dealing with a crisis pregnancy reach out to us for help - even the pro-life Christians filling our pews on Sunday morning.
Those protesting pro-lifers (along with the effective media campaigns of the pro-abortion advocates) have successfully pitted the mother against the very child they are asking her to save. An effort that has indeed saved a few unborn babies along the way, but at the cost of alienating an entire culture - the very culture they're trying to reach.
The rest of us have just been afraid. Afraid and angry and judgmental. Not at all what Christ called us to be.
In doing so, we have been an unintentional accomplice to the millions of lives lost and to the multiplied millions of lives devastated by abortion.
This country was founded on Christian principles. As such, the millions of pregnant young women (some only children themselves) over the last 30-plus years should have found safe refuge with us. They should have been able to entrust their burdens to us. They should have been able to turn to us in their time of trouble. But we did not prove ourselves to be trustworthy friends. Unlike my friend, they wouldn't dare share their struggles with us. They feared we would condemn them for their sin. And in too many cases they would have been right. We would have shamed them for having had premarital sex. We would have judged them. We would have whispered about them behind their backs. We would have severed all ties with them. We would have felt superior to them safe in the knowledge that we never would've gotten ourselves into such a mess.
How many of the "they" have been right here in our midst all along? Statistics say one in four women has at least one abortion by the age of 45 - both non-Christian and Christian alike.
Because of our lack of knowledge of the devastating emotional effects and serious physical risks of abortion to the lives of those survivors we have unwittingly betrayed them. And because of our fear we betray them still.
How many congregations across this country are willing to take measures to learn about abortion and its affects? How many congregations and parishes are willing to take up the banner of the women and reach out to help them find healing in Jesus Christ? Women who have been inundated with deception upon deception for over three decades. Women who have been told that abortion is their lawful choice. It's their body. It's their right. It will solve all their problems. And it's only a blob of tissue anyway. Who has told them of the relentless pain it will cause them? Who has warned them of the potential physical risks that come with abortion? Where has the voice of the church, the voice of truth been? Where is it now?
We, the church, have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to those who have been hurt by abortion and by those who have been deceived by our society about abortion. ...Lack of knowledge indeed... Meanwhile the masses of people continue to perish under the weight of a burden they were never meant to carry, much less carry alone. The blood of those babies is on our hands. The responsibility for the devastation visited upon the lives of those mothers and fathers (and so many others as well) likewise lies with us. We didn't want them to abort. We didn't mean for them to abort. But because of our lack of knowledge, because of our fear we have continued to stand by and do nothing. We, God's hands and feet in this dark and hurting world, have been and continue to be an unintentional, unknowledgeable accomplice, but an accomplice nonetheless.
"...and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you
free."
~ Jesus (John 8:32)
If your church is already openly ministering to the post-abortive, please let us know! We want to hear from you.