Child Sacrifice/Blood Guilt, Parts I and II
Albert Lemmons
Introduction
1. In 1973 the United States of America took a moral turn for the worse with the
Supreme Court ruling re: Roe vs. Wade.
2. Though many believe this event marked the decline of human morality, the decision to
allow the murder of children is one Satan has propagated through human history.
3. This ungodly approach to human life has been a gradual descent which encourages the
killing of one’s own children.
4. Christians need to be aware of how this thought process came about in order to battle
against the enemy.
5. Even nature affirms that the female will jeopardize her own life to protect, not destroy,
her offspring.
Discussion Part I
I. American Follows Lot’s Example.
When the citizens of Sodom demanded access to the visitor in Lot’s home so they could rape him, Lot offered his two daughters to them instead. Lot gave up (sacrificed) his daughters to the homosexuals for his own personal convenience and pleasure. Following God’s judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot fled to a cave with his two daughters. After getting their father drunk, Lot’s daughters committed incest with him and became pregnant. Lot’s compromising lifestyle led to his daughters’ behavior.
When the daughters gave birth, they named their children Moab and Ben-Ammi. Moab became the father of the Moabites, people who practiced Molech-worship, while Ben-Ammi became the father of the Ammonites, who practiced Baal-worship. Child sacrifice was part of both cultures, a way of appeasing the gods of pleasure.
There are similarities between this ancient story and modern times. Lot had no consideration for his daughters when he gave them over to those evil men, nor did his descendants consider the lives of their children as they placed them on pagan altars. These people offered the lives of their children for their own benefit. America’s tolerance and encouragement of abortion offers the lives of children on the altar of convenience.
II. Darwin Says Death Equals Progress.
One cause of the acceptance of abortion is the shift which took place when Darwinian evolution became popular. Dr. Richard Weikart says:
One of the most important ways that Darwinism revolutionized thinking about morality, especially (in) relation to bioethics and medical ethics, was by introducing a new idea of what death is. The Judeo-Christian conception of death is that death is an enemy that is to be overcome and, ultimately, will be overcome through Christ, but the Darwinian vision is that death is a positive force that brings progress. And, in fact, the more death, the more progress, the more people are born, the more variation you have. This gives more possibilities for good variations. 1
1 “The Politics of Life,” http://www.bucknerprez.typepad.com
If death eventually causes progress, as evolutionists believe, it does not matter when one dies. After all, every person will die eventually—why not now, rather than later? This type of humanistic, Darwinian thinking encourages the death cult of abortion and even suicide (euthanasia).
This view of morality corresponds with the exchange of biblical truth for evolutionary theory in the school systems. It is the biblical view of life which gives hope and meaning to human beings. Evolutionism teaches that death is a good thing, helping society to progress and rid itself of the “weaker” humans. This idea encourages many atrocities, abortion included. The unwanted children are killed off, leaving only those who are “desired.” To an evolutionist, this may seem positive, but Christians need to recognize this way of thinking as an attack on God’s love for human life.
III. The Judgment of God.
Leviticus 18:21 Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD”.
Leviticus 20:1-5 The LORD told Moses to say to the community of Israel: Death by stoning is the penalty for any citizens or foreigners in the country who sacrifice their children to the god Molech. They have disgraced both the place where I am worshiped and my holy name, and so I will turn against them and no longer let them belong to my people. Some of you may let them get away with human sacrifice, but not me. If any of you worship Molech, I will turn against you and your entire family, and I will no longer let you belong to my people. (Contemporary English Version)
Psalm 106:37-42 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. Therefore the LROD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power.
IV. Not Against Flesh and Blood.
The leadership of the Church must be watchmen on the tower and sound the call for spiritual warfare. The enemy is not Planned Parenthood, the ACLU or the Supreme Court. Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Discussion Part II
I. Doing Things Right in Matters of the Heart.
1. Atonement for an unsolved murder. Deuteronomy 21:1-9 If a man is found slain, lying in a field in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns. Then the elders of the town nearest the body shall take a heifer that has never been worked and has never worn a yoke and lead her down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and where there is a flowing stream. There in the valley they are to break the heifer's neck. The priests, the sons of Levi, shall step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister and to pronounce blessings in the name of the LORD and to decide all cases of dispute and assault. Then all the elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of the blood of an innocent man." And the bloodshed will be atoned for. So you will purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
2. There needs to be times of repentance and lamentation re: abortion in
America.
3. James 4:7-10 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will
flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your
hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve,
mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
II. Plea #1 – Take Blood-Guilt Seriously.
A. Psalm 51:14a Save me from blood-guilt, O God…
1. In Deuteronomy 21 If… in the Law, then do this!
2. 35th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade decree, not law.
3. Lamentations 5:15 Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned
to mourning.
4. Amos 8:10a I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your
singing into weeping.
- Blood-guilt is the summit of evil. The story of Cain--Gen. 4:10-11 The LORD
said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the
ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened
its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
C. Why does the blood of an innocent one cry out to God?
1. Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them.
2. Genesis 9:5-6 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will
demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will
demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood
of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made
man.
3. Leviticus 24:17 If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to
death.
4. Numbers 35:33-34 Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes
the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been
shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where
you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.
5. Ezekiel 16:20-21 And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me
and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.
D. Abortion is child sacrifice.
1. It is the taking of a life so that something else can be attained.
a. Cover-up so no one will know.
b. Finish college
c. Birth Control.
2. Where abortion is practiced, God is not honored. Our solemn assemblies
need to express Godly sorrow.
3. Isaiah 1:15-17 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes
from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full
of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my
sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the
oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
E. Pastors must take the shedding of innocent blood seriously.
1. When you spread out your hands…your hands are full of blood…
2. II Chronicles 7:14 …Turn from your wicked ways.
F. Sexual sin damages the conscience above all other sin.
1. This is the moral equivalent to slavery.
2. Most young women don’t really have a “choice”.
3. The church must step forward.
III. Plea #2.
A. Pastors/prayer leaders must lead!
1. Quality of leadership.
2. Among the warriors who joined David were the men of Issachar who
understood the times and knew what Israel should do I Chronicles 12:32.
1. Most abortions are at the request or insistence of men. In this sense, men are
sexual predators.
2. Many young females have little choice having been forced by relative or
a counterpart.
3. In most abortions, a woman not only loses her baby, but also the man involved.
4. Abortion is a matter of choice in the political arena.
C. The tragedy.
1. Many teenage girls abort their baby and their faith.
2. When this happens it is not unusual for one to take her own life.
3. Psalm 82:2-5 How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the
wicked? Selah. Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the
rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them
from the hand of the wicked. They know nothing, they understand nothing.
They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
IV. Plea #3.
A. This is our problem.
1. We must take ownership.
2. Parable of Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37. He had no more obligation than
the Priest and Levite.
3. Verse 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and
when he saw him, he took pity on him.
4. Jesus asked, Which of these three do you think was neighbor to the man?
… The one who had mercy on him” Jesus told them, Go and do likewise.
B. The law of love requires that we get involved.
C. Statistics reveal that 30% of women have had an abortion (50,000,000 since
RVW)
V. Plea #4.
A. God suffers in the loss of innocent blood. Deuteronomy 21:6-8 Then all the
elders of the town nearest the body shall wash their hands over the heifer whose
neck was broken in the valley, and they shall declare: "Our hands did not shed
this blood, nor did our eyes see it done. Accept this atonement for your people
Israel, whom you have redeemed, O LORD, and do not hold your people guilty of
the blood of an innocent man." And the bloodshed will be atoned.
B. Bring brokenness to the cross.
1. The death of one hand-knitted, hand-crafted baby formed by the God of
heaven, implicates and involves all of us. We are family.
2. The cross deals with shame, pain and damnation.
3. The full penalty of shame and condemnation is satisfied and only satisfied
in the cross of Jesus Christ.
4. We must believe in total forgiveness.
C. [Complete] forgiveness.
1. Takes place in Heaven and on earth in the human heart.
2. The Christians in this world must recognize the descent into humanistic thought which allows and encourages the sacrifice of our children. The choice is set before us: choose life or death. I beseech you, on behalf of the millions of world-changers yet to be born, to choose life.
3. This is where the church must step softly, but surely.
4. A dark cloud still hangs over the head of many who are in church, but until they can forgive themselves, the quality of their entire lives is impaired.
5. God uses mercy, love, circumstances, the Holy Spirit and fellow Christians as divine tools to bring the unforgiven into light and out of darkness. The same obligation of the elders in Deuteronomy 21 to bring about atonement of innocent blood rests upon us and we have a Jesus.
(I am indebted to Dennis Lindsay for his editorial in C.F.N., Volume 60, #10, January 2008, and John Ensor for his books Matters of the Heart, Answering the Call and The Great Work of the Gospel.)
Addendum #1
Fight the Good Fight