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In high school, a girl I knew casually disappeared from life for three weeks. It happened during the school year, not a holiday or summer vacation. She vanished from the cafeteria at lunch, the classes I shared with her and Friday night football games. When I asked her close friends what happened to her, they stuttered through vague answers landing on, “She went to stay with her aunt for a few weeks.” Huh? Why? No answers for that question.

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When the missing girl returned to school, everyone who knew her saw a change. She left bubbly  and talkative and returned quiet and withdrawn. Then, one of her closer friends couldn’t hold onto the secret anymore. This poor sweetie experienced an abortion, at her parents’ insistence.

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Roe versus Wade hadn’t happened yet. Abortions were not legal in my state, but they were in her aunt’s.

 

My classmate was part of a youth group and a faithful attender of a local, evangelical church, a sister church to my own. I always wondered if anyone from that body of believers loved on her, talked to her, or prayed with her? I hope so, but I don’t know. At that time, most Christians only whispered about abortion.

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Here we are decades later, and abortion is still rarely spoken about openly in the church, especially from pulpits. My husband Ken serves as the liaison between our state’s Right to Life organization and pastors and churches. Here’s a sampling from recent conversations with pastors.

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“Oh, I can’t talk about abortion from the pulpit. It’s too political.”

“People threatened to hold back their tithe if I talk about pro-life stuff from the pulpit.”

“I took a stand against abortion and people left the church.”

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It is rare to find a pastor who is prolife and speaks boldly about it in their church. Ken’s passion is to resource and encourage pastors to be courageous and lead by example. To teach their congregations how to stand up and protect life, all life.

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My governor militantly supports abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy plus she is advocating for the termination of unwanted infants outside of the womb. Currently, our state’s abortion laws are some of the most liberal in the nation. Ken and his coworkers fight front line battles every day to defend the sanctity of life.

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So, when pastors are too terrified, intimidated or misinformed to stand with pro-life organizations, and unwilling to teach their congregations Biblical, practical ways to do that, Houston, we’ve got a problem.

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So, that brings me to my question.

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When did standing up for life become

a political statement?

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I believe that shift happened when Satan cleverly maneuvered the abortion issue into the political arena through Roe versus Wade. Before that, it was strictly a moral issue, not that churches talked about it much anyway. Before 1973, the abortion industry was secretive and dangerous, only spoken about in whispers.

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Since it was illegal in most states, women determined to end a life growing inside of them struggled to find their way to underground abortion providers. Man of these “doctors” were often unqualified and unsafe anyway. Some women died from the injuries of a botched “pregnancy termination,” and many carry permanent scars, unable to ever become pregnant again.

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Enter feminist activists like Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug who declared that safe abortion should be a right for every woman, nothing to be ashamed of. When the Supreme Court made their decision to legalize abortion it became a booming industry, passionately supported by liberals in government. People who supported life in the womb became known as “anti-abortion” activists.

 

See what they did there?

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Abortion supporters cast themselves as those motivated by true compassion for women's rights. Pro-life folks became known as the villains trying to

ruin women's lives.

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As someone who lived through all the stages of abortion transitioning from a shameful, underground practice to a booming, legal industry, I noticed that Christian, pro-life voices stayed a small minority in the public arena. Not until I was in my thirties, with my husband as my senior pastor, did I hear abortion preached about from a pulpit. He was considered a radical by other area pastors and advised he needed to “watch himself with that stuff.” Good grief.

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Here we are decades later, and Satan’s intimidation tactics are still keeping pastors from speaking about this sin boldly. Yes, sin. Abortion is murder.

So, what can you do? Pray for your pastors to be filled with courage and wisdom to speak the truth. Ask your leadership to allow speakers from pro-life affiliates in your area to share updates and prayer concerns with your congregation.

 

We, as a country, have entered a time when Christians will need to make hard choices about the churches and pastors they choose to support with their attendance and tithes. Honestly, I think God has had it with the inroads that Babylonian (worldly) thinking has made into the modern church.

 

Judgement and exposure are rolling out in the house of God, based on many news reports I see from all over the country. Pastors with secret lives and sins are being exposed. Those churches and pastors who stand with the world and a women’s “right” to murder her unborn child are in grave danger whether they understand that or not. God will not continue to tolerate the murder of the unborn.

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As individuals, regardless of what choices our church makes, God will hold each of us accountable as to what we did to stand for the sanctity of all life.

 

Find your local pro-life organizations and ask God what your role is in the fight for life. It may be prayer, financial support, or something more. In my state, a bill to legalize assisted suicide is but a vote (which will most likely pass) away from becoming legislation. Our governor will surely sign it. In some provinces of Canada where this is already legal, people with debilitating and life-threatening illnesses are offered pills to end their lives. We are already receiving stories from Canada of insurance companies refusing to cover treatments for serious illnesses but willing to pay for suicide drugs.

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Pastors and laypeople alike, we must awaken to the knowledge that our country is where it is because the body of Christ has allowed it. In our efforts to stay away from “the dirty world of politics,” we have allowed the enemy’s causes to advance at alarming rates. How long will we stay silent, fearful of offending, fearful of causing strain in relationships?

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To end, I’d like to share a story my husband recently heard firsthand from a bold pastor, author and filmmaker named Lucas Miles, pastor of NFluence Church in Granger Indiana. When Pastor Lucas was new to his church, he began to speak powerfully about “political” issues including abortion. The church of 500 members shrunk by half. Then, an extraordinary thing happened. People heard about this courageous pastor and started joining the church, first in trickles then in rivers. The church now has 3,000 members.

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It may cost you to start “getting political” about abortion. I pray God will give you, and your pastor, courage, faith, and tenacity to stand up anyway.