Building a Culture of Life - 2 Kings 22 & 23

I write these lessons as my labor of love for the Lord; it is published weekly in two newspapers and is sent to about two hundred e-mail addresses that I refer to as my computer Sunday School Class. I receive no compensation and so I sometimes use material written by other bible scholars. Today I want to give Dr. Wayne VanHorn credit for the introduction, since it is taken from his writings in the Explore the Bible Commentary from LifeWay, winter edition, 2010-2011. Southern Baptist have adopted the practice of dedicating one lesson each year to the sanctity of life movement, and this commentary regarding the abortion problem is one of the best I have ever read.

Dr. Vanhorn says that there is a house built of steel framing and thick glass walls in Jackson, Mississippi, about ten miles from his home. It is in a family neighborhood, but was not built for family living. Over the years the “glass house” has been filled with 50 million pennies, worth at least $500,000. It was built by the Baptist people of Mississippi, and dedicated as the “Memorial to the Missing.” The Baptist Church families, and others interested in helping, have donated the pennies “To fill the glass house as a symbolic way of remembering babies who never had the privilege of enjoying even one moment of God’s warm sun caressing their sweet cheeks.”

Dr. VanHorn says that he saw the house when it was only a few inches deep in pennies, but the pennies: “Kept rolling in and piling up. The reinforced glass bulged under the weight of the so many pennies. The weight of the memorial is equivalent to at least 150 tons or 100 automobiles [3,000 pounds each] piled on top of another…One penny for every [each] baby aborted since Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion on demand in 1973. Fifty million voices never heard; 50 million lives never lived. The pennies are an endowment for pro-life issues; their silent but effective witness represents the voices of 50 million [dead] babies.” These babies were intentionally and deliberately murdered. If the parents did not want the child, they could have been placed for adoption into a loving family who wanted and needed children.

The author says that Osama bin Laden [the terrorist] is quoted as saying, “We love death. The US loves life. That is the big difference between the two.” As I ponder this quote today—and based on the fact that Americans have killed 50 million babies since 1973; my question is “do Americans really love life?” How can 100 million parents choose to kill their child and still claim to love life? We know that an uncontrolled passion, usually out of wedlock, is the primary reason for the birth of these babies; sin breeds more sin.

The movie industry and even the prime time-day time TV programs are, more often than not, loaded with sexually-explicit scenes and even the best programs use sexually suggestive images. The popular bent in society today is toward sexual promiscuousness; sadly it is happening among the very young. I contend that we have a different culture of life to what it was prior to the Great Depression and WWII. Unwanted pregnancies were far fewer then than they are today and most of the babies were allowed to live, even during the Great Depression when parents were unable to afford the cost.

During the days following WWII and especially during the 1960’s to 1980’s America adopted a horrible culture of life, and Rowe vs. Wade made it legal by man’s law to murder. The rotten courts and heathen judges have added several other decisions that have added other unacceptable conditions. Gay rights and same-sex marriages now threaten the sanctity of the home. The legal support and promotion of homosexuality spits in God’s eyes because He said that homosexuality was an abomination in the sight of God. Evidently there is far too many who do not believe that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed because of this practice. The city was destroyed as a warning to all that read the record of this historical truth.

The murder of innocent children is not new. Sometime during the 7^th century B.C. Manasseh, King of Judah, sacrificed his own son to the fire god, Molech, also known as Milcon. People, including the king, worshipped as their children were consumed by flames. This carnage took place in the Southern Kingdom [Judah] which was not considered to be as carnal- minded as the nation of Israel. [This story is recorded in 2 Kings 21 to 24.] Seven hundred years later, Christ came along and posed a threat to the Roman King Herod who ordered that all boy babies in the country two years and under be murdered to protect his political hold on the people. In those days Kings [government] ordered babies killed. Today government simply makes it lawful for those that do not want the child to murder it. I doubt seriously that God sees much difference; I don’t.

Chapter 21: 16 says: “Moreover, Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end—besides the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, so that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” Manasseh [one of, if not the most evil of all kings] died and his son, Amon, succeeded him. He was twenty-two years old and reigned for two years. “He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. He walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them—he did not walk in the way of the Lord.” Amon was murdered and his son Josiah, his eight year old son, became king, and reigned in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. “He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his [spiritual] father David, not turning aside to the right or left.”

You must read chapters 22 and 23 to find all the things Josiah did to compensate for the evils his father and grandfather had done. God had announced his wrath and made known that there would be total destruction because of their sinful ways. Josiah was protected and the country was saved because he openly repented by tearing his robe and promising God that he would obey. He declared a personal war against all the gods, and idols that represented them. Every thing connected with the idol worship, including those who had sacrificed their children, were dealt with during his reign. Sin has a price; and the guilty will pay the penalty. God will see to it!

Rowe vs. Wade is an evil law; it has a price and someone will pay the penalty. America needs another man like Josiah, elected to be President, who will demand that God fearing judges interpret the law in favor of innocent unborn babies. Our constitution was written by the people and for the people—and babies are people! Amon was king for only two years, simply because he did not choose to correct the errors made by his predecessor. History repeats itself. Today we are witnessing the demise of many elected officials because of their approval of un-fair and some un-godly laws which they have supported, even against the will of the people. These officials should be concerned about the rejection of the people who elected them; however they should be much more concerned about the penalties that come from the hand of God.