Don’t Be Deceived By Selfishness – Follow God & His Word
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.’ (Colossians 2:8); ‘Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.’ (Ephesians 5:6)
When the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, in the decision of Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, many pro-life Christians and non-Christians celebrated the decision. That celebration quickly muted as the realization set in; abortion did not end but, in the view of the US Constitution, rightfully returned for states to determine its handling under Amendment 10.
Most states now restrict or limit abortion, such as Florida providing a window within the first six weeks of pregnancy allowing abortions. A handful of states like Florida are highly restrictive, some have abortion as outright illegal. Most states have lesser restrictions (legal through the 2nd trimester) and a handful have no restrictions (with a couple flirting with the concept of ‘post-birth abortion’, or the killing of a newborn immediately after birth).
Our church earlier this week screened the documentary, ‘the 1916 Project’, providing the history behind the ‘Eugenics’ movement (best summarized as ‘kill the weak and undesirable people’). Eugenics led to the founding of ‘birth control’ through abortion by Margaret Sanger, and the adoption of her work and Eugenics by Nazi Germany, leading up to the Holocaust during the 2nd World War (1939-1945). An estimated murder of ten million people, including six million Jews, occurred as a result of this. Also in the 20th Century was the slaughter of over 100 million ‘undesirables’ under the banner of communism in the many nations that embraced its totalitarianism, such as Russia, China, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, and Cuba, among others.
Abortion is quite simply a selfish action by a woman, sometimes a man coercing a woman into sacrificing an unborn child for the sake of convenience. The excuses may range from the financial means to the maturity level of the parent or parents. In some cases abortion comes up if the cause of the pregnancy is from a violent act such as rape or incest. Occasionally, considering abortion comes if the unborn child is believed to have abnormalities, so that the child will be born with mental or physical handicaps.
Often, the reason is simply the parent or parents of the unborn child do not want the burden of the responsibility of parenthood. All of these excuses fall into the bucket of ‘convenience’; it is more convenient for the child to die than to have the responsibility to have the child, care for it, and raise it to maturity.
God warns those who choose abortion through the words He gave those who participated in the worship of the false god, Molech, a Satanic cult requiring the sacrifice of children in Old Testament Israel. In Leviticus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 18:9-12, God tells the Israelites He finds the practices of child sacrifice detestable, in disobedience of the first two Commandments God provided Moses for the Israelites to follow (‘There are no other gods but Me’, and ‘Don’t make idols to worship’, Exodus 20:2-6 and Deuteronomy 5:6-10). Modern abortion is the practice of child sacrifice to the false god of ‘self’. It derives from a false philosophy of the secular worldview in opposition to the Biblical Worldview provides by God. The secular worldview is Satanic and evil, and God warns us not to follow evil, but Him and His Holiness through becoming Righteous in our actions.
Of all the warnings in the Bible (one could consider the Bible to be one big warning, or a Book filled with warnings), these two verses encapsulate what all warnings in the Bible point to; don’t listen to the secular world being led by Satan, but listen to what God says. Listen to the Gospel of Jesus and obey Him. We can go all the way back to Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden, when they were both taken captive by the words of the Serpent (Satan) who deceived them from eating the ‘fruit from the Tree of Knowledge’, which is exactly spelled out in Colossians 2:8.
They heard the philosophy of ‘eat and be like God’, from a worldly spiritual force, rather than depending on Jesus (the manifestation of God, who walked with them in the Garden) and His guidance on what was best. As stated in Ephesians 5:6, the empty words of Satan deceived Adam & Eve, and God’s wrath came down upon them for their disobedience, kicking them out of the paradise of the Garden.
For us, God gave us a ‘check engine’ light, called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives us that early warning that we may be drifting away from God and toward secular actions that are not good for us or others. Deceptive philosophies may be ‘get an abortion’, or ‘don’t go to church, go golfing instead’, or ‘Christians need to be more tolerant and just accept that some clergy are gay and/or female’.
The point about female clergy is one that many who want to be fair and equitable in the eyes of the world can give into, but God says no; men are to lead the congregations. The only exception is if no men step up or a location is devoid of men who believe, or if a subset of a church has a women’s ministry or life group where it is better for a woman to lead other women. But God’s Word is paramount, and when we compromise one thing (women clergy), we end up compromising on much more until the word of the world is preached in our churches, and not the Word of God.
Like an automobile, if you keep up the maintenance through reading the Bible, interacting with other believers, and prayer you’ll continue to run smooth in obedience. When the Holy Spirit issues a warning, you’ll be better in tune to not only hear it but properly respond to it, which is to fall back onto Jesus and obey Him, and not go for what the world tries to deceive you with.
