Sonrise Magazine

By Pastor John Hammer Sonrise Christian Center

10 Things the Church Must Know for Prayer and Response to the Overturning of Roe v. Wade

1. We celebrate all decisions that honor the reality of the Imago Dei – the image of God – that men and women are image bearers of God (Genesis 1-2). We celebrate and honor therefore that all life is sacred and precious.
2. The Bible refers to children in the womb or the fetus as being knit together by God (Psalm 139), being known by God (Jeremiah 1) and being filled with the Holy Spirit when John the Baptist, a child in His Mother’s womb gets near Jesus, as a baby in His mother Mary’s womb (Luke 1).
3. God hates hands that  shed  innocent blood (Proverbs 6:17). We see this from the story of Cain and Abel and throughout the law and the prophets. Abortion is a sin, it is murder. There is no more innocent blood than the life of the unborn.
4. The good news of the gospel is that the shedding of the innocent blood of Jesus (Isaiah 53), the lamb of God, is more than sufficient to wash away the guilt and shame of those that have had abortions, performed abortions and participated in abortion by repentance and faith in the finished work of Christ. For all who have participated in abortions, we are not angry at you, we will be gentle with you and we invite you to join us at the feet of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins.
5. Abortion is not primarily a political issue, but a moral issue. Christians should not be afraid to speak the truth in love and take up the cause of the defenseless regardless of the politics of the day (Proverbs 31:8).
6. Christians must grow in our understanding of how we think Biblically and have a renewed mind (Romans 12:1-2). Many Christians and even Christian leaders have adopted a mindset that we cannot enforce morality through laws. However, all laws are based on moral decisions. No laws can change human hearts to behave morally, but laws can protect the innocent and keep a standard of morality in society.  As, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”
7. How Christians vote is important and has consequences.  We need righteous leaders, as righteousness exalts a nation (Proverbs 14:34) So voting with Biblical values is important and key.
8. The problem is that political solutions are temporary and partial and follow the course of the culture. Voting Biblically is challenging because a platform or candidate may be righteous in some areas and unrighteous in others (Proverbs 11:1). Someone’s vote does not determine their salvation nor does salvation come through a political party, however every Christian, political leader, political party and platform should be called to repentance and alignment with God’s truth.
9. Despite the many criticisms lobbed at Christians, Christians have led the way in caring for single moms, the poor, the orphan and in foster care and in adoption. We must continue to lead the way and become even more generous. We have a responsibility to rally around single moms, throw the best baby showers no matter how a child was conceived, financially support women and single mom households and see dads empowered and restored to households to be responsible for their own children (Malachi 4).
10. We not only need to continue to pray and advocate for abortion to be illegal but we need to pray and love and write and witness and influence and tell stories that cause abortion to become unthinkable where we create a life culture (Isaiah 61). We need to restore the beauty, meaning and truth of the sanctity and worth of humanity through the gospel and God’s ways. We need to be whole life from the womb to the tomb. We are praying and contending for nothing less than revival, awakening and reformation for the exaltation of Christ and the extension of His kingdom!

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