CATO, the Incorrigible

I have an affinity for powerful quotes.

Place: Roman Republic

Time: 2nd Century B.C. (During the latter years of the Punic Wars against Carthage)

Quote: "CENTERUM AUTEM CARTHAGINEM ESSE DELENDAM"

English: "Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed."

This is a oratorical phrase in popular use in the Roman Republic, most famously uttered by the Roman senator, Cato the Elder (234-149 BC), in his speeches.

Cato was a man who believed that Carthage, the foremost enemy of Rome in that day, must be destroyed.  And so he said so.  All the time.

Cato used these words frequently and persistently, no matter the subject of his discourse.

Cato used it emphatically and zealously.

Cato used it with determination, unswayed by pressure to cease or tone it down.

Cato used it almost to the point of absurdity.

Cato was incorrigible.  

Incorrigible means "that which cannot be corrected or amended".  This is usually used in a negative sense, but I want to show the positive sense of the word.  

Consider the following aspects of being incorrigible:
1. Impossible to alter from its course or set onto a different path.
David Livingstone was incorrigible.  He said that he would not "swerve one hairbreadth" from what God called him to do.
2. Impervious to correction, taunts, pressure, intimidation, punishment, or pain.
Richard Wurmbrand was incorrigible. During his ten years being tortured in a Communist prison for not bending the Truth of Scripture, he made one deal with his tormentors: "You beat me.  I'll preach to you.  Then we will BOTH be happy." 
3. Invariable, unalterable, immutable, hence, impossible to improve upon. 
The laws of nature and mathematics are incorrigible.

Impossible to alter...Impervious to pressure...Invariably set...Incorrigible.

That was Cato.  

"Carthage must be destroyed."

He never let the issue go to the back burner in the thoughts of his peers, his audience, his acquaintances.  He was avoided, laughed at, even despised for this continual declaration. But finally, Carthage was indeed destroyed.

Now I cannot truly speak to the virtue of said destruction.  But I DO say we need a Cato in our day.  A Cato for the abolition of human abortion.

Consider:
1. The Holocaust that has murdered over 60,000,000 of our neighbors here in the U.S.A.,
2. The continued slaughter of 3,000+ more children EVERY DAY, 
3. The judgment of the true God that we justly deserve for our national blood guilt,
4. The apathy of the culture, even of those who say they are against the violence, 
5. The constant distractions of entertainment, media, society, and our own selfish pursuits and desires that crowd out thought of the plight of our preborn neighbors and our duty toward them before God.

Taking all these into account,
I am constrained to proclaim that we need such a person as Cato today. 

Someone to tirelessly expose the sin of child sacrifice before the eyes of a pathetic public!
Someone to keep the need for justice, mercy, and equity toward the least of these ringing in our ears!
Someone to call for/put forth bills for the total and immediate abolition of abortion!
Someone who REFUSES to live at peace with child sacrifice!
Someone who will agitate the culture toward repentance and righteous action!
Someone to keep the demand constant!  To make the clarion call for abolition perpetual!

Until human abortion is ABOLISHED. 

A Cato in the United States Legislature.  
A Cato in every State Senate and House of Representatives.  
A Cato in every city council. 
A Cato on every street corner. 
A Cato in every church body.  
A Cato in every family.  

Why settle for one Cato in each sphere?  All Christians should be like Cato in this wise.  Catos all over!  Calling out the declaration to "Cease to do evil!  Learn to do well!"  "Abortion is evil and it must be abolished."  "LET US REPENT!"

Abortion must be abolished.  And it will be abolished when WE cease to tolerate it. 

Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12:34).  Oh, that our hearts would be so filled with the love of God and our neighbors that people would find abolition in every conversation, on every social media post, on our lips, and in our lives!   

This fills my mind, and thus I am compelled to say,

"Furthermore, I consider that ABORTION MUST BE ABOLISHED."