There is no denying this. In my experience in the last almost 20 years, pastors and those in leadership positions are without question the most reluctant to entertain the idea that they may be guilty of being apathetic about their pre-born neighbors who are being slaughtered by the thousands every day.
Sadly, these leaders, many of whom who have been given by God enormous earthly resources such as money, man-power, talents, creativity, and influence, are the ones who are even less likely to alter the stewardship of those resources in any meaningful way toward the fight for the pre-born.
I have heard countless stories and excuses from these men which in the final analysis equate to – “I don’t need to change anything. What we are doing now is enough.”
Several years ago, in a meeting with Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, Mr. Warren said, “He will not be a a poster-boy for the fight against abortion.” Not realizing the reality that the world is watching all of us, especially leaders like him, and we are ambassadors of Christ who cannot help but to be looked to as “poster children” of Christianity. What we do or not do before the world matters.
At one point, Mr. Warren said, “What do you want me to do? Just tell me what you want me to do?” He said this as if we were going to present a checklist to him and put a bar out that as long as he jumps over it to our satisfaction he is good. Not realizing that what we were first calling for is to simply repent of his cold heart, ask God to give him a heart of compassion and then show fruit of such repentance. We had many ideas of things he could do, but I know without question that a man of his position, knowledge, and ability could think of far greater ideas and works in the fight against child sacrifice.
I mean, we are happy to help with ideas, but I am looking at a massive campus full of talented people with huge programs and you are asking me to tell you what to do?
I have heard countless times these pastors use the excuse that, “We are about the Gospel. And they will not get side-tracked by another social ill.” They say this as if loving our neighbors, the second greatest commandment after loving God, is somehow in conflict with the work of evangelism and sharing about forgiveness and new life in Christ. They pit one against the other when in reality obedience to Christ and the Great Commission are inseparable and in harmony with one another. On the surface this excuse can sound good to many, and it works well for the foolish person to justify the status quo of doing little or nothing to fight the evil of abortion.
God’s word says that those in leadership and teaching positions will be held to a higher standard and this should put fear in anyone who holds these positions. And it should be especially terrifying when handling rightly those teachings about the church’s involvement in justice and mercy issues.
And instead of even entertaining the idea of a need for repentance in our church’s, they double-down and say not only is there no need for the repentance of apathy about the holocaust, but that those who are calling for the repentance are evil. They go as far as to say that the real crisis is that we would dare to suggest such a thing about the organized church’s rather than the real crisis being that while our sewers literally run red with the blood of our children, God’s people pass by on the other side of the road.
I have been condemned by colleagues, friends, and even family for my simple observation above. Many of them feel like I am bitter or angry toward the church. Many of them say they support everything I am doing in terms of calling the nation to repent of abortion, except they do not support me calling fellow Christians and pastors to repent.
But I cannot deny the truth of the matter. I cannot deny the truth of God’s word that without question shows that God hates abortion and God repeatedly calls for His people to establish justice and uphold mercy. It is undeniable that Jesus called us to love our neighbor as ourselves and that when we neglect the least of these who are being oppressed, we are neglecting Him! Those are Jesus’s words not mine.
These things are not obscure or difficult to find. We know them. We just don’t want to apply them to abortion. We just do not want to admit our guilt. We just do not want the discomfort of rocking the boat. It’s easier to just think about other things and raise our hands to God and sing a great worship song. It’s much more comfortable to focus on the positive and pat our pastor on the back. It is way easier to pretend that this abortion thing will eventually take care of itself as we keep our attention on other things.
I am really a simple man. I am logical and analytical by bent. I studied engineering and worked in the industry for 15 years. I am also however a man who hates to see others suffer. It bothers me. When I see an image of an aborted child, I think about my own children and what I would do if someone did that to them. I am emotional about it yes but I think I am also rational about it. What kind of man ignores such a thing? I don’t want to be that man. When I sum all of this up, I cannot and will not budge on the obvious fact that our church’s and pastors in our nation are in huge trouble with God over the shedding of innocent blood for the last almost half a century. This has happened on our watch. And our budgets, check books, time-logs, church bulletins, etc. all speak to our hearts being cold as ice about the plight of our neighbors who are crying out to us even as I write this.
Good men repent with me. Take up the cross of Christ which includes loving our neighbors in a sacrificial way. Repent with us and be unashamed to attack the things the world loves but God hates. Be unashamed to agree with God. Be salt and light in all areas of the culture especially the areas where the world is MOST upside down – calling the wrong of the dismemberment of children a “right”.
I say this often but I have to admit I have my doubts – it’s not too late. How long do we give God to tarry before time runs out and His judgment is truly upon us in a way that cannot be reversed. God judged Pharaoh so that he could not even do what was right when Moses came to him. Will God judge any of us in the same way as He repeatedly makes His word clear and we ignore His word?
The Scriptures say to “seek the Lord while He may be found” implying there will be a time that He may not be found. Have we passed such a time? I don’t think so. But do we want to test that any longer?
The time to repent is always now. The time for justice is always now. Please people, acknowledge these truths and repent with me to oppose the evil of our age with the full Gospel of God and do so now.
– Don Cooper – Abolitionist
President- World Life
#abolishhumanabortion #wakeupchurch #churchrepent #gospel #prolife #prochoice
The post Are Pastors In Need of Repentance Over Abortion? appeared first on World Life.