Sanctity Of Life Sermon: Just Think About It

Just think about it

Being an old man, I have lived through many changes, changes that caused Americans to disagree, but never have I seen anything like the division and outright hatred we see today, violence across this Country in cities such as Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and now in our Nation’s Capitol. Why? Why is our Country so divided, why so much hatred? What are the primary religious issues that divide us? In addition, I have lived through the Asian Flu in 1957, the Hong Kong Flu in 1968, the Swine Flu in 1976 but never have I seen anything like Covid-19. I been asked, ”Are we in the last days?” I am no prophet but I doubt it; I do think that God wants us to consider why all of this, are we, the American people, doing something wrong? I turned to the scriptures looking for answers, looking for wisdom and understanding. I present my worst thoughts not to convince you one way or the other but just for you to think about it, listen.

What do the scriptures say about times that resemble our time? 2 Timothy 4:3-4, “3 For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.” In this scripture, “truth” refers to the Bible. Are we living in a time when many Americans have forsaken the truth of the Bible and have wandered away to pursue their own sinful desirers?

Isaiah 5:20-21 voices a similar warning, “20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Are people now calling evil things good and sinful things acceptable behaviors? Do these people think that they are wiser than God is?

In Deuteronomy Chapter 28, the first fifteen verses describe the blessings an obedient nation receives. Deuteronomy 28:1, 3, “1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. … 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.” America started as a Christian nation and, as the results, God has blessed us; we have become to the richest most powerful nation the world has ever seen.

Now, the last fifty-three verses of Deuteronomy Chapter 28 describe what happens to a disobedient nation. Listen to verse 15-16 and verses 20-21, “15 But if you will not obey the LORD your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country … 20 The LORD will send upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.” Are we cursed in the city and cursed in the country? Are you frustrated with much that is going on? Is disease plaguing us?

For the people and nations that failed to do even the minimum God requires; judgments came. Examples: Noah and the great flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the Canaanite nations, the destruction of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) by Assyria, the destruction of Judah (the southern Kingdom) by the Babylonians and on and on.

Has God changed? America has fallen away; even in some of our churches, we are seeing people calling right wrong and wrong right. Does the God of the twenty-first century still punish nations, even powerful nations?

One example of how America has fallen away: Exodus 21:22-23, “22 If men strive together, and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the judges determine. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life.” This law protects the unborn. If violent men cause a pregnant woman to miscarry but the baby lives, the husband goes to the judges who imposed a fine commensurate with the damage done by the men. However, if the baby dies, it is a life for a life.

Proverbs 6:16-17, “16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood.” Is shedding the blood of an innocent child while in its mother’s womb detestable, something the LORD hates?