Christians Must Stand Up for Pro-Life Values in Politically Correct World That Tells Us to Shut Up

Opinion   |   Father Frank Pavone   |   Jan 27, 2020   |   10:10AM   |   Washington, DC

Today we march!

We march with a twofold message, brothers and sisters!

We march because we demand that our government protect the smallest, weakest, most vulnerable human beings, the children in the womb!

And we march in prophetic victory, to declare that the days of legal abortion in our country are numbered!

We are here today, at the center of political, legislative, and judicial power of the most powerful nation on earth, to raise our voices for the least powerful people on earth!

And we do so, united by another power, contained in a Name that is above all other names, and is the only name given to the human family by which we are to be saved…

The NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!

We together proclaim that the lawmakers of the United States and of all the world are subject to the Supreme Lawmaker, Jesus Christ!

We proclaim that all the governors of the land are subject to the Governor of the Universe, Jesus Christ!

And we proclaim that the Supreme Court of the United States is subject to the Supreme Court of Jesus Christ!

We are here to raise our voices about abortion!

You know, when we talk about abortion in the Churches, we’re told we’re too political

When we talk about it in politics, we’re told we’re too religious

In the media, it’s too disturbing

In business, it’s too distracting

In education, it’s too controversial

In the streets, it’s too disruptive.

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So if abortion is wrong, where do we go to say so?

We go into the Churches, we go into politics, into the media, into business, into education, and into the streets!

And today I want to talk about how we need to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into politics in this crucial election year 2020!

An important theme of Old Testament history is the way in which God’s people Israel related to the other nations surrounding them. The people of the covenant were not to follow the idolatrous practices of those nations. Israel, after all, had the benefit of God’s revealed law. The other nations did not.

One thing that the Israelites wanted to imitate, however, was the fact that other nations had a king. At one point they demanded of Samuel the prophet, “Give us a king!” Upon consulting the Lord, Samuel was told, “They have asked for a king—Give them a king.” But as we read in the first book of Samuel, God also gave this essential warning: both the people and their king have a king in heaven! The well-being of the entire nation depends on the obedience which both the king and his people give to the King of heaven.

The Lord Jesus expressed the same theme in Matthew 22, from which today’s gospel reading is drawn. When asked whether taxes should be paid to Caesar, Jesus asked whose image and inscription was on the coin. “Caesar’s,” came the answer—The Lord then said, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”

The coin belongs to Caesar, for it bears Caesar’s image.

What then belongs to God? That which bears his image — Human lives!

The implication of the passage is that “What belongs to God” includes Caesar himself! Caesar must obey God.

And that means that the people, who are under Caesar, must insist that he obey God!

There is a legitimate separation of Church and state. The Church does not deliver today’s mail, and the state didn’t choose the readings for today’s service. The Church doesn’t have a military, and the state doesn’t appoint the pastor of your parish.

But we all know that the phrase “separation of church and state” has been hijacked by those who want it to mean the separation of God and state.

And we will not let that continue.

Unless the state and its leaders obey God, the state will disintegrate. Separation of God and state means no state at all.

And the separation of human government from a clear moral code makes it impossible for the people to choose the kinds of leaders who will protect the rights of the people rather than impose the will of the leaders, or worse, oppress or kill the people.

As St. Paul tells the Philippians, you and I are citizens of heaven (see Phil. 3:20).

But that fact makes us more concerned about earth, not less concerned. Why? Because God has both commanded and equipped us to do good on this earth – this is his will for us… In commanding us to make disciples of all the nations, the Lord Jesus said, “teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you.”

Shape the laws and policies.

Challenge Caesar to obey God, as the prophets challenged the kings of old to lead the people in the ways of the covenant.

But for us, it goes even further than that – we not only challenge those who exercise authority, we choose them! We govern ourselves, and therefore all the responsibility that Scripture places upon kings and rulers now fall upon us, the voters.

Let’s look more closely, then, at how our voting either serves or violates the covenant.

As you read through the Old Testament and you see that the kings either led the people to renew their faithfulness to the Covenant with which God had blessed them or led the people in rebellion against the Covenant. It was one way or the other, and when you read the history of the Old Testament, it’s like a pendulum swinging back and forth. You have the faithful kings. They led the people in the ways of God and the land was blessed. Then you had the unfaithful kings. They led the people in sin and the land was cursed because God allowed their enemies to come in and overrun them — and that was not a political problem, that was a spiritual problem.

People who rebelled against God suffered not only spiritually, they suffered politically.

Today’s first reading shows us the ways in which the people violated the covenant. By so doing, they ended up being taken into exile…first the Northern Kingdom of Israel was taken by the Assyrians in the 8th century before Christ, and then the Southern Kingdom of Judah was overcome by the Babylonians in the 6th century before Christ.

And both for the same reason.

Both in the passage we heard today from First Kings 17, and seven chapters later, we read that in violating the covenant, the people were shedding the innocent blood of their own children.

Hear again these words from today’s reading: “This came about because the Israelites sinned against the LORD, their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt… …They rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, …they followed the surrounding nations whom the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.   They immolated their sons and daughters by fire.”

Child sacrifice.

Under the evil kings, shrines were set up in the worship of Baal, an ancient fertility god, and large bronze statues of Molech were made. These were ovens, and in these idolatrous rituals, the children were thrown into the fire.

And it is still happening today… the moral evil is still happening. We have just changed the places we do it, the tools we use and the names we call it. But it is still child sacrifice.

Think for a moment of the meaning of sacrifice. We give something up to get something in return. A deity is given an offering, in exchange for a blessing; an animal is sacrificed, and a good harvest is implored in return.

In the true and perfect worship of the New Covenant, the Son of God is sacrificed, and we have eternal salvation.

Sacrifice can be used to godly purposes; sacrifice can also be evil.

Abortion is child sacrifice. The devil doesn’t care if his name is used or not; he’s content to be on the sidelines, in the shadows. He doesn’t care what is given in exchange for the child – whether career or convenience or money or autonomy… No matter what the sacrifice is given for or what it’s called, it’s still child sacrifice.

We are not saying that mothers who get abortions are devil worshippers; they are, for the most part, desperate and afraid, and deserving of our greatest compassion.

But when that child is sacrificed, the devil is nevertheless pleased, and God is mocked.

This is false worship; this is a violation of the covenant.

And so we go back to the Kings. Some reaffirmed the covenant; others set up shrines for child sacrifice.

And so it is today. Our leaders in civil government will either lead us in the ways of God or they will lead us in rebellion against God. Now these public officials may not say, “Let’s rebel against God.” (Although some come pretty close to saying that.)

I’m saying they get up and say, “abortion should be legal… right up to birth… no exceptions and no restrictions.”

Now you tell me if that’s any better than the kings of Israel and Judah setting up sacred pillars to Baal and giving the people an opportunity for false worship.

Brothers and sisters if we think for one minute that government has the authority to permit child killing, we might as well go worship at some kind of temple of an idol because we’re violating the Covenant in the same way. And if we choose, by voting, to put someone in office who’s going to do the same thing we might as well go on Sunday to a temple of idols to worship. We might as well do that because we are violating the Covenant.

They do not set up shrines to Molech, but they fund abortion clinics. And they take our own money to fund them as well.

Brothers and sisters, these pro-abortion politicians are leading us into false worship. And we have a duty, not only an opportunity, a duty to throw these people out of public office.

Once and for all, we need public servants who can tell the difference between serving the public and killing the public.

And if they can’t, they don’t belong in public office.

If politicians can’t respect the life of a little baby, how can they respect yours?

The debate in this election cannot be about personalities, or whether we like somebody, or what we think about their private virtues or vices.

It is not about what we personally like. It is about the COMMON GOOD>

It is not about private virtue, it is about PUBLIC VIRTUE.

What virtue, or vice, will they write into the law and into the courts?

Where will THEIR ACTIONS TODAY lead our country tomorrow; how will their decisions now will impact our children, our grandchildren, and theirs?

Look at the Supreme Court. There are five conservative judges and four left-wing extremists. The two oldest on the Court are of the leftist wing. Justice Breyer is 81; and in a few weeks, Justice Ginsburg turns 87.

With a pro-life President and Senate to replace them, we could have, in a very short time, a Supreme Court with a pro-life majority of 7 to 2!

But without a successful 2020 election, it is absolutely impossible.

The President and Senate have placed 185 federal judges, and counting, on the other courts, who will serve lifetime terms!

Don’t let anyone tell you we have not made progress. Your pro-life votes in the past have paid off. Billions of dollars have been diverted from the abortion industry. Freedom of conscience has more protection than ever, much of the research using aborted babies has been stopped, Congress has been urged to end late-term abortion, and we have an Administration that, along with saying Merry Christmas, says clearly that ripping babies from the womb is not OK.

In fact, we have the most pro-life President in American history!

More progress is needed, but it’s not because those we elected aren’t doing their jobs. It’s because we need more of them.

Remember because of how the US Senate works, we need not just a majority of pro-life votes, but 60. We would have defunded Planned Parenthood already, and passed numerous other pro-life laws, if we had about 7 more reliable pro-life votes.

Pro-life progress in the law happens when we have a pro-life President, a pro-life House, and 60 pro-life votes in the Senate. It’s as simple as that.

We started the job in 2016; let’s finish it in 2020.

So many elections are won by just a few percentage points. Gallup found last year that 29 % of voters only choose candidates that agree with their position on abortion. And pro-life voters win among that group by a nine-point margin! Pro-life is a winning issue!

Elections are a numbers game; So today we have a Voter Registration table in the in the lobby. Register to vote. Remember, you may have to update your registration if you’ve moved, or had a name change. ProLifeVoterRegistration.com is a special site we have set up. And all of your pro-life events this year should have voter registration!

At ProLifeVote.com, you can also get this brochure, Voting with a Clear Conscience, and this flier comparing the two parties.

What is at stake in 2020 is bigger than we all realize.

The unborn are on the line; America is on the line; Western Civilization is on the line.

This is not just a choice; it’s a war. And only one side will win.

Do not fear division; fear only being on the wrong side of that division.

Together, there is one clear side that we commit ourselves to today, in our worship, in our march, in our lives, and in the voting booth, and that is the side of the one Lord, the one Savior, the author of life and the conqueror of death, whose name is Jesus Christ! AMEN!