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We Have Lost a Little Child!

I googled “Todd Akin” and in less than one half of a second 912, 000,000 websites of articles were available for my viewing. A firestorm was ignited that as of this date has not died down. When asked if women who become pregnant as a result of rape should have the option for an abortion, his exact words in answer were: “Well you know, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, well how do you, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” This Senatorial candidate submitted five sentences in answer to this question. One sentence of the five sentences has received an inordinate amount of attention. Few people give his second sentence with the words, “…from what I understand….” This was far from being dogmatic in his conclusion; he was giving us the idea that he did not have all the research in front of him and he was open to correction. The sentence the majority of the media (including the more conservative networks) leave out is Mr. Akin’s fifth and final sentence. If I may use a play on words, I would like to “plead the fifth,” not referring to that which I would exclude, but rather in this instance, what I would include, that being this sentence: “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” So, we see that the man clearly shows his disdain and total angst with the crime and sin of rape by saying punishment should be applied. I say Amen! Mr. Akin has apologized for his errors in the first part of his discourse, but no one seems to quote or care about his words that resound with moral veracity: “…but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.” Any clear thinking, conscientious Christian should support those fourteen words.

What about the child? There is a lost child in this merciless attack on Mr. Akin. In the horrible act of rape that places the woman soundly in the category of a victim, it is only right that we should protect the rights of this woman and activate the full arm of the law to bring the perpetrator to justice. However, in the cases when this crime has left in its wake a little life, why do you want to kill the innocent baby because of the sin of the father? Two crimes do not make a right. There is an atmosphere in our country that is reflected in this character assassination of Mr. Akin. I did not write this article to defend this Senatorial candidate; I am writing this to ask all who read these words, what about the child? There is a child lost in the story. And I, for one, intend to lift my voice for the child who has been left out.

1. The lost child is reflective that we have made a moral shift in our country.
Do you remember Robert Bork? In 1987 President Reagan nominated him to become a Justice in the United States Supreme Court. He was denied due to his conservatism and high moral ground that he as Justice would be insisting on as a justice in the highest court of the land. He said, "A nation's moral life is the foundation of its culture." He wrote a book reflecting the serious moral shift America was taking entitled Slouching Towards Gomorrah. The title of Robert Bork's book comes from a portion of a poem by Yeats: "The ceremony of innocence is drowned; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity... And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?” --William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming. The "rough beast" that the visionary poet Yeats foresaw in 1919 is now (according to Bork) “…a monster of decadence, a plague several generations in gestation, and we, as a nation, are now slouching, not towards Bethlehem, but towards Gomorrah, the biblical city burned to the ground for the sinfulness of its people.” The Bible says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psalm 9:17). We do not get “a pass” because of our illustrious Christian past. We should also take into consideration, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverb 14:34).

In March 2002, the Oxford English Dictionary added an entry for the verb Bork as U.S. political slang, with this definition: "To defame or vilify (a person) systematically, esp. in the mass media, usually with the aim of preventing his or her appointment to public office; to obstruct or thwart (a person) in this way." So in the frantic, screaming, outrage of political leaders and the media in an all-out effort to “bork” Mr. Akin, have we now slid right into a Sodom and Gomorrah attitude of a country that fears not God and holds only selective lives as valuable? Do we no longer hear the silent whimpering coo of a little baby yet to be born?

2. The lost child is reflective of a national conscience that has become calloused.
The Bible says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5). Let’s use our imaginations for a moment. We are entering into the fall of the year, school has started. A troubled mother goes to a psychiatrist who says, as many secular non-God-fearing humanist say, “You must see your life as a garden; any weed that grows in your garden must be pulled and removed for you to have peace of mind.” A well-scrubbed nurse then goes to the grade school where a precious little five year old has just begun her first day of kindergarten. She is sitting in the classroom, crayons in hand anxiously ready to start her first assignment. Can you see her beaming face with a smile that shows her missing front teeth? What a sweetheart, right? The nurse enters the classroom, approaches her, takes her by the hand and leads her to an awaiting ambulance. “Where am I going?” the little girl asks. Silence ensues as the ambulance travels to an undisclosed place to eradicate the weed that was placed into the garden of her mother’s life by rape. If something like this were to really happen, the mother, the medical team and any one associated with this crime would go on trial for first degree murder in any one of our fifty states. If anyone advocates taking the life of a child whose presence is the result of a rape, may I remind you that the hypothetical parable I just gave you is only divided by five years. If the murder takes place five years earlier, it is justifiable abortion (according to law of our land). If it takes place after birth, even within the first twenty-four hours, it would be considered first degree, premeditated homicide.

Unless we begin “Casting down imaginations…and bringing every thought..” (II Corinthians 10:5) under control we stand in grave danger of becoming like those whom the Bible says, “…became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21).

3. The lost child is reflective of a society that has forgotten that all children are precious.
“And thou shalt not let any of thy seed (children) pass through the fire (human sacrifice) to Molech (a false god)…I am the LORD” (Leviticus 18:21). Jesus said, “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
(Luke 17:2). Many are bowing to the idols of their own making, their own self and personal expediency. Rights are being demanded only by the already born woman, not the unborn one.

As I look into the crowded concentric circles of our society, I see so much more than a cultural war. We are now in the throes of an already declared war on God. In the morally decaying ruins of our culture, I hear the faint cry of a lost child wanting someone -- anyone -- to hear. I hear the voice of one of those grown children like Ethel Waters singing the words of the song she made famous, “I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free; for His eye is on the sparrow and I know He watches me.” You see, Ethel Waters’ mother was mercilessly raped and Ethel was the fruit. How sad this world would be if not for little children like Mrs. Waters, who grew up, gave her heart to Jesus and blessed the world.

- Pastor Pope