Throughout biblical and secular history we find that by the sinful, evil ways of man, many times the innocent are victimized. This is clearly the case with over 1,500,000 unborn babies in our country each year. They have become victims due in part to the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court on January 22, 1973 which stated that according to the U.S. Constitution unborn humans are not legal "persons." An unborn baby has become the property of the owner (mother) and she can have the child killed (aborted) at her request, even up to the time of the birth if her doctor agrees. Thus by a 7 to 2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutional all state laws protecting unborn children from abortion. This decision of course, has opened the door to the right to have an abortion-on-demand. All of this has produced more than 16,000,000 murders since 1973.

As appalling as it is, I guess we really shouldn't be too surprised since similar events have characterized the sinner and sin all through time, as the following examples will further illustrate.

Example 1: In Exodus 1,2 we read that Moses was born at a time in history when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had resolved to have every newborn male child among the Israelites put to death. The death toll would have been one more had not Moses' mother placed him in a basket in the Nile among the reeds.

Example 2: The following archaeological note concerning Baal worship is taken from Halley's Bible Handbook.- "The Oriental Institute, excavating at Megiddo which is near Samaria, found, in the stratum of Ahab's time, the ruins of a temple of Ashtoreth, goddess wife of Baal. Just a few steps from the temple was a cemetery, where jars were found, containing remains of infants who had been sacrificed in the temple. Prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth were official murderers of little children" (Halley's Bible Handbook, p. 198).

Example 3: When King Herod found out that he had been deceived by the wise men whom he had sent out to locate baby Jesus, he ordered all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all that region, from two years old and under, to be put to death (cf. Matt. 2:16f).

Example 4: In the late '30s and early '40s Adolf Hitler was able to delude Germany with his racial dogmas which eventually led to a policy of genocide, under which deliberate campaigns of extermination were carried out against the Poles, Russians, and most notably against the Jews. Some historical references estimate that as many as 7,000,000 Jews were murdered by the National Socialistic Party which was in power in Germany.

Why has all of this happened throughout the years of man's existence? Sin!

In Egypt, Pharaoh saw that the children of Israel had multiplied to the point of being mightier than the Egyptians. And in Exodus 1:10 Pharaoh said, "Come, let us deal wisely with them." So he afflicted them with hard labor, commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill the male children at birth, and when he saw that they continued to multiply and become mighty, he ordered every newborn son cast into the Nile. When Stephen touches on this part of history in Acts 7:19 he says that Pharaoh "dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers. "

The worship of Baal (a generic term for god in many of the Syro-Arabian languages) must have been a rather powerful force during Old Testament days. In numerous references the Bible speaks of temples erected to Baal, many altars on lofty eminences, and literally hundreds of priests. In one reference however to the Northern tribes of Israel we find these words recorded: "they have built the high places of Baal to bum their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of nor did it ever enter My mind" (cf. Jer. 19:5).

The Gospel writer Matthew tells us that when Herod the king heard of the King of the Jews being born, he was troubled. Why? Perhaps it was because he was by birth an Edomite, thus a usurper to the throne of David. Or perhaps it was the fact that his rise to power and his holding of the throne had been a bloody ordeal. Or could it have been the knowledge of the promised Messiah of the Jews that was anticipated? Whatever those selfish motives were that Herod had, the result was that hundreds of male children were slaughtered (cf. Matt. 2:1f).

And finally there was Germany, a country torn by economic and social problems, allowing Hitler to manipulate them into such human slaughter of innocent victims.

Conclusion

Sometimes sin masquerades as what seems to be best for a country; as religion; as control of worldly power; and even as an answer to economic woes. Today one disguise sin wears is a title of Planned Parenthood, an organization which promotes abortion on demand, immorality and undermines parental authority. This organization is being partly funded by our government, their sex curriculum is being used in public schools to promote promiscuity (sex education classes) while in their own clinics abortions are being performed.

How sad it is to think that less than 45 years after Hitler's heartless massacre that shocked the world, we live in a nation that for 14 years now, has legalized the murder of innocent babies.

Regardless of its many names and many disguises, it is still sin (cf. 1 Jn. 3:4). And woe to those who must face the terrible vengeance of our God (cf. 2 Thess. 1:7-9).

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 11, pp. 323-324
June 4, 1987