A. Origins of pastoral resistance:

1. The mistaken belief that abortion is a political rather than a spiritual issue. Anyone who doubts that abortion involves pure spiritual warfare needs to read the cover story in the October 1993 issue of New Age Journal ("Sister Against Sister," p.66)--the flagship publication of the occult. Listen to author Brenda Peterson:

"In her book Pagan Meditations, Ginette Paris describes abortion as an essentially religious act, a sacred sacrifice to Artemis. 'One aborts an impossible love,' she writes, 'not a hatred.' In her new book, The Sacrament of Abortion, Paris explains further that if we saw abortion as a sacred ritual, it would restore to the act a sense of the sanctity of life."

The goddess Artemis is, as we know, the pagan idol whose worshippers nearly killed Paul and two other disciples for persuading the people of Ephesus to embrace Christ (Acts 19:23- 41). "Most of all," Peterson goes on to say,

"We'll initiate our daughters into the women's mysteries, such as charting our reproductive rhythms, remembering the midwives' potions; and perhaps with dignity we'll ritualize the RU 486 pill with prayers to Artemis or the Divine Mother, She who gives and takes life."

Newsweek magazine reports (October 17,1994) that many abortionists "have a missionary sense about their work." Dr. Curtis Boyd, a Texas abortionist, told the magazine, "I perform abortions because of my religion." Dr. Boyd is often asked by Native American women to bless the aborted fetus, and by Catholic women to baptize it. He proposes schools of theology develop special ceremonies and prayers to mark the loss of a fetus.

It's ironic that pagans understand better than most Christians that abortion is a spiritual issue. Nonetheless, many pastors continue to downplay abortion as a political matter unrelated to the mission of the church. In reality, abortion is a sin. It is an act of violence which kills a baby and victimizes desperate women. [See p. 148]

(For an excellent study linking current pro-abortion thinking directly to the occult philosophies of 19th century spiritism, see Marvin Olasky's book, Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America, published by Crossway Books, 1992, pp.61- 82)

2. Crisis of faith. This derives from the clergy's inability to believe that God can be trusted to protect their ministries whenever they preach inconvenient truth. As with some politicians, there are preachers who are more interested in keeping their jobs than doing their jobs. Many pastor congregations that are heavily in debt because of a church building fund. These leaders will not risk losing members.

Ironically, a pastoral decision to confront abortion provokes the greatest anger in the congregations with the greatest need to hear the truth. Clergy fear this anger. They know intuitively that they are going to be punished by certain members of their congregations if they address this issue. Like Saul in I Samuel 15, these leaders ignore God's call to provide leadership because they fear their own people more than they fear God.

3. Many church leaders have actually counseled parishioners to kill their babies or have given ambiguous counsel. Press them and they will nervously rationalize their complicity in the deaths of these children. They feel personally threatened by any urging that the church remain true to its calling and stand against this evil.

4. A sudden break in a pastor's silence on the issue raises the question of where he has been for the last several years. It is an awkward question; the clergy dread dealing with it. Pastors who finally see the light often pursue a "go slow" strategy to make the shift seem less abrupt. This approach might save face, but it also kills more babies. Pride must give way to humility before confession and repentance can yield the forgiveness required to liberate and empower your pastor. As is true of all of us, pastors do not suffer humiliation gladly.

5. The Great Commission 'cop out.' Some pastors see their mission primarily in terms of the Great Commission which they mistakenly interpret to mean only evangelism. They often suggest that abortion is not a spiritual concern, but rather a social or political one. In reality, abortion is a sin. It violates the Ten Commandments. It is an act of violence which kills an innocent baby and savages desperate women.

A closer reading of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) shows that Christ gave His church two specific mandates: 1) preach salvation and 2) disciple believers. Christ defined this discipleship responsibility as teaching believers to obey His commandments. One of those commandments to which the Lord was referring is the prohibition against shedding innocent blood (Ex.23:7, Prov. 6:16- 17,etc.) Abortion is the shedding of innocent blood. It is an act of violence which kills a baby. Hence, abortion is a discipleship issue not unrelated to the Great Commission responsibilities of the church.

6. Faint hearted pastors who worship "peace" instead of the "Prince of Peace." "It's a sin for contemporary pastors to become so "seeker sensitive" that they become "believer worthless." Serving God means confronting evil. Confronting evil provokes controversy. Paul enraged opponents with a message so confrontational that they conspired to kill him in Damascus, forced him to flee Jerusalem, ran him out of Antioch, threatened his life in Iconia, stoned him and left him for dead in Lystra, attacked and beat him in Macedonia, stormed his residence in Thessolonica, drove him from Beroea, abused him in Corinth, assaulted and arrested him in Crispus, silenced him with mob violence in Ephesus, and incited two riots in which he was almost killed in Jerusalem, the city in which the book of Acts ends, with a plot to assassinate him.

What kind of "peace" is that? Obviously not the kind that is devoid of conflict; not the naive utopian "peace" craved by spiritual draft dodgers who twist the meaning of Scriptures like Romans 12:18 to unilaterally disarm the Body of Christ. Paul did not say "at all costs, live at peace with everyone." Instead, he said we are to live in peace, "as far as it depends on us."

We should also remember that Christ preached a message so divisive that even his closest followers abandoned him. In Luke 12: 49-53 and Matthew 10: 34-36 He is recorded as admonishing His disciples to "not suppose that I came to give peace on earth. I tell you, not at all. But rather division." In Matthew chapters 5 and 6 we hear Him preaching against adultery, lust, fornication, anger, hatred and hypocrisy. Luke 7:23 records Him saying, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of me." John 8:59 describes a crowd to which he was preaching that became so offended they took up stones to kill Him. There is, in fact, not one recorded example of Christ or the apostles modeling evangelism by ignoring sin.

7. They are more concerned with saving "souls" than saving babies. These pastors sometimes argue that "heavy handed" tactics drive women away who need to hear the gospel. They essentially assert that risking a baby's life is morally acceptable if necessary to save his mother's soul. This is a false dilemma which reflects the flawed logic of the adversary, masquerading as an angel of light. Saving a woman's soul may be the more important thing to focus on over the long haul, but saving her baby's life is the more urgent thing to do at the moment. We have years to minister to mothers but only moments to save their babies. God does not call us to accept child-sacrifice as an instrument of evangelism, especially when an abortion imperils a woman's soul by making it more difficult to bring her to salvation.

8. They don't want to upset women who have had previous abortions. Those who have been wounded by abortion desperately need to be brought out of denial and into confession so they can repent. The fact that repentance is painful does not relieve us of our responsibility to teach it ("Godly sorrow" leads to healing--2 Cor. 7: 10). When our pastors teach repentance which doesn't require heartbreak, they are operating in the flesh rather than the Spirit -- an error which savages women and kills babies. (See also Prov. 28:13; 1 John 1:9-10, etc.)

9. The pastor claims there is no consensus on abortion in his church, hence he refuses to preach against it. Whose job is it to forge a Biblical consensus on moral issues? Is that not what pastors are supposed to do? If the issue were slavery, what would we think of a pastor who said, "There is no consensus on that issue in my church, therefore I better not address it?" Chances are, most of us would consider this an outrage.

B. Consequences of the Clergy Ignoring Abortion

1. Babies die in the church. The Chicago Tribune reports on a Guttmacher study indicating that one out of every five women who aborts identifies herself as an "born again Christian." That's a quarter of a million babies a year dying in evangelical churches. That same study went on to note that Catholic women are as likely as other women to have abortions.

Time magazine (12/5/94) describes the first woman to kill her baby in the Midwest states using RU 486 as having been raised in a Christian, pro-life home. Her mother was quite happy to assist by driving her to the clinic and coaching her through the painful expulsion of the fetus.

2. Women are victimized. There are now 25 peer reviewed studies in the medical literature suggesting a link between abortion and breast cancer. The latest published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (11/94) found that girls under the age of 18 who abort their pregnancies at eight weeks gestation or beyond are 150% more likely to contract breast cancer by age 45. (Only 13% of all breast cancers manifest by that age.) Those women who escape breast cancer still face untold risks from internal bleeding, uterine perforations, etc. If pastors don't take the lead as truth tellers on these issues, who will?

3. Sin is institutionalized into law. Weak pastors produce weak congregations who turn around and elect weak political leaders. When there is a failure of spiritual leadership that leaves parishioners confused about sin, those parishioners make poor decisions at the ballot box, which results in failed political leadership. 45% of evangelicals voted for pro-abortion Presidential candidates in the 1992 elections. 45-50% of Catholics did also.

CBR Speaking Resources for Clergy and Lay Leaders

Cassette Tapes ($5 each):

"Is the Bible Silent On Abortion?" (Proves why the Bible is pro-life)
"How Pastors Can Be Leaders On Abortion" (Clergy luncheon tape)
"Tempting God" (A warning for Christians who presume on God's grace)
"How Christian Teens Can Help Stop the Killing" & "How to Give a 20 Minute Pro-life Presentation"
"The Pro-life Movement Speaks to the Church" (Moving from attitudinal opposition to abortion to behavioral opposition to abortion).