Would you consider abortion in the following situations?

(Once you've read the questions, answer them from your heart and then look down for the answers.)

1) There's a preacher and wife who are very, very poor. They already have fourteen kids. Now she

finds out she's pregnant with the fifteenth. They're living in tremendous poverty. Considering their

poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?

2) The mother has TB. She and her husband had four children. The first was blind, the second died,

the third was deaf, the fourth had TB. She found she's pregnant again. Given the extreme situation,

would you consider recommending abortion?

3) A white man raped a 13 year old black girl and she got pregnant. If you were her parents, would

you consider recommending abortion?

4) A teenage girl is pregnant. She's not married. Her fiance is not the father of the baby, and he's very

upset. Would you consider recommending abortion?

ANSWERS:

1) In the first case, if you answered yes, you have just killed John Wesley,one of the great evangelists

in the 19th Century (Methodist Church).

2) In the second case, if you answered yes, you have just killed Beethoven.

3) In the third case, if you answered yes, you have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer.

4) If you said yes to the fourth case, you have just declared the murder of Jesus Christ!

The fact is, in an abortion, you never know who you may have eliminated. It's something to think about!

Someone prayed, "Lord, why don't you send somebody to solve all these problems we have here on earth?" God said, "I

have, but you keep aborting them."

 Deuteronomy 30: 11-20 "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleaveunto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

God sets before us life and death and gives us a choice. Believe it or not, many will choose death. What God is doing is not some mysterious work. It is open for all to see. His desire is that we live and multiply. If we reject Him, we will perish. (v11-14) For some reason, we seem to be given to destroying the life that God has so graciously given through various means:

Since 1973, more than 40 million babies have been murdered through abortion. If I were to describe the various means of aborting babies,it would turn your stomachs. Suffice it to say that these children are brutally murdered through legal means, according to the US Government. God has never legalized abortion. The fact remains that a life conceived is a life, whether inside or outside of the womb.

The psalmist declared in Psalm 139:13 - 16 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast coveredme in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all mymembers were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. Young people are told by abortionists that the fetus is not a person yet. What a shock when those young people are told in their biology classes that the opposite is true - the fetus was a person - a living being. Then they realize, only too late, that they have committed murder.

Legalized abortion is a devaluation of human life. What is human life worth. When we are made to feel that prenatal life is worthless, it makes us question our own worth.The sad fact is that 1 in 5 South Carolina girls will be pregnant before their 18th birthday - 1 in 3 before their 19th. And teenage pregnant girls are more likely to be placed on public assistance, more likely to quit school, less likely to receive adequate prenatal care, and more likely to have an abortion.

• Studies show that more than 50% of the pregnancies among American women are unintentional, and half of those are terminated by abortion.

• Each year 3 out of every 100 women between 15 and 44 have an abortion.
• The majority of those women are under age 25. 21% are teenagers.
• 51% of abortions is among unmarried women.
• 13% of abortions are paid for with your tax money.

But it doesn’t stop there. The devaluation of human life tends to spread into other areas - euthanasia and suicide.

As population increases, healthcare costs rise, and hospital beds grow crowded, there is less emphasis on resuscitating the really serious cases, particularly the older ones. Senior citizens used to be revered. Now they are considered by some to just be taking up space some younger person could use.

The First Lady once said that healthcare might need to be rationed to people over 60. I wonder if she’ll feel that way when she is 60.

Then we have this thing called "euthanasia" - which literally means "good death". We call it ‘mercy killing’. It is when doctors, or other health care professionals, or family members end a person’s life to stop their suffering. I have to ask, do we have the right to end the lives God gave us? Life and death are God’s domain, not ours.

Closely related to euthanasia is "assisted suicide". Dr. Death, Jack Kervorkian, has assisted more than 40 suicides since 1990. The frightening thing is 39% of the public sup-ports the Doc’s actions.

Suicide is the 9th leading cause of death in America. It is the 3rd leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds. The US population increased by 48% from 1960 - 1990. The suicide rate among 15-24 year olds increased 407% during that same period - more than 8 times the population growth.

Why are our young people killing themselves? Why are so many people giving up on life?

· It’s because we have lost our moorings! Our foundations are crumbling under us. We’ve lost our objective standards and values in our society. We have come to believe that anything new is good, that anything old is not good, and that any change is progress. We’ve come to believe that there is no right and wrong - every action can be justified by the circumstances. But the heart deep inside of each of us tells us different.

· Another symptom is that things are changing too rapidly. We just can’t assimilate the changes as quickly as they come. In a few short years we have seen nations rise and fall with amazing suddenness. We have seen our tech-nology advance beyond comprehension. We have seen beliefs and institutions reverse, gender roles have become confused. The whole society has been thrown off balance.In a single generation, our country has experienced:

· a relentless campaign to discredit and erode traditional values and respect for authority.

· a tremendous decline in church attendance (40%)

· an increase in divorce and broken homes; a 5-fold increase in one-parent homes

· a tenfold increase in child abuse, including sexual molestation

· an era of teenage affluence and mobility (they’ve got more money to spend and more places to go)

· an increased pressure on teens to perform and produce at a higher lever than ever before (they are driven to an early adulthood)

· a redefinition of the concept of happiness to mean freedom from responsibility and problems

· unlimited sexual freedom

· free access to contraception and abortion

· rock stars and teen idols who extol the virtues of drug use, sexual freedom, and suicide, and

· an increased availability of drugs

And with all these other pressures, it is no wonder they turn to drugsto ease the tension. Drug use is just another way to choose death. There is a resurgence of drug use today that is worse than what we saw in the 60's. In 1995, 9.8 million Americans were current users of marijuana - 4.7% of the population 12 and older. Since 1992, the rate has more than doubled.

Also, in 1995, 111 million Americans 12 and older were current alcohol users - 52% of the population in that age group. About 10 million current drinkers were under the age of 21. 61 million are cigarette smokers - and although you may see cigarettes in a different category, addiction is still addiction.

Also, in 1995, 1.5 million Americans were current cocaine users - 0.7% of the population. And cocaine use was highest among the 18-25 year old group.

",,, I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life …"

Most importantly, God has provided eternal life for us. He has provided it for all mankind. But how many are choosing life?

Christianity has been, more and more, ridiculed by those on the outside and embarrassed by those on the inside. But regardless, God has not changed - Jesus has not changed - the wages of sin has not changed - and the terms of salvation have not changed.

The offer still stands -

"Whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

"He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son hath not life."

John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: