A friend of mine on Facebook made a post the other day that expressed the opinion that if a pastor really cared for the preborn, he would find a way to talk about abortion in his church every week.
This brought on a whole slough of responses, one of which caught my eye.
The comment stated: "Not if he is an expository preacher. I preached from Daniel 9 today and didn't mention abortion. Don't plan to mention it next week either."
It greatly bothered me that this pastor replied so pathetically (due to the fact that we know at least 3500 preborn babies ARE murdered daily in this nation by the under the color of law but no one's gonna guilt him into bringing it up to his congregation) and flippantly (as if abortion really isn't homicide in the worst degree or that preborn babies have any more value then the toddlers being taught in his Children's Church) to arrogantly state that Daniel 9 did not lend itself in any way to talking about the sin of abortion.
I happen to love the ninth chapter of Daniel (and specifically the prayer of Daniel it contains) with a passion, and I could not help but make the following comment:
"Daniel 9? This Daniel 9?"
3 "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:"
4 "And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;"
5 "We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:"
6 "Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land."
7 "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee."
8 "O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee."
9 "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;"
10 "Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets."
11 "Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him." 12 "And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem."
13 "As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth."
14 "Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice."
15 "And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly."
16 "O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us."
17 "Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake."
18 "O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies."
19 "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name."
20 "And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;"
"So, you are saying that when Daniel was seeking God's face in prayer,
When he laid out and confessed the sins of his people,
When he acknowledged God's just judgment upon them for their iniquities (the most grievous among them having been child sacrifice and the shedding of innocent blood),
When he beseeched God's mercy,
The horrific act of abortion, our Nation's holocaust of the greatest proportion, did not enter your mind?
There is much parallel to our own society:
Our sin as a people, including the massive slaughter of our children, far outnumbering the bloodshed of King Manasseh, which precipitated the Captivity, and the justice of God and the need for God's people to seek His face in repentance?
This would seem a most opportune moment in the book of Daniel to bring up abortion."
Then I finished up my comment...
"We must also must consider that the brother in Christ who made the original post didn't say that a pastor had to mention abortion IN the sermon. He said "in church". I would assume that he meant during the service somewhere, in the sermon, yes,
OR in announcements...
perhaps inviting the body to join him at the local abortion mill to preach and plead, or to the streets for public engagement, to bring the Gospel into conflict with the culture that tolerates baby murder and engage for truth in that venue,
OR during a testimony time to thank the Lord for the "save last week of a mother who turned from the killing of her child",
OR in prayer for the turning of our nation's leaders to establish justice and equity for the preborn as well as the born, for the parents who are scheduled to murder the children to hear the truth and repent, not only turning from abortion, but turning to the Saviour."
The truth of God must be proclaimed. Abortion must be abolished.
