When Life Begins…

In a Nation wherein the murder of innocent lives has continued on for nearly 50 years, as a means of perpetuating reckless fornication, by allowing an option to terminate unexpected outcomes of that sin… We often see much praise and trumpeting for mediocre “wins” against this vile practice.

And so it goes with the famed “Heartbeat Bills” introduced over the last few years in America, including Ohio’s own. This law outlawing the practice of a doctor performing an abortion if a fetal heartbeat can be detected (which could be as soon as six weeks into gestation), was said to be an “undue burden” on the rights of a woman to murder the living, growing person inside of her. That’s is, if we are to go by the court ruling of the lone judge’s injunction which halted the “Heartbeat Bill” dead in its tracks, 3 years ago on July 3rd, 2019…8 days before it was to take effect.

Our own cherished Declaration of Independence lays out three of the most important human rights as “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Life is the first most-important right of a person; they cannot begin to fathom Liberty or what Happiness is, if they do not have “Life”, first.

Having established what the secular world says about “Life”, and a bit about what and when it thinks “Life” begins and should be protected … when does God say life begins, in His Holy Word?

Psalm 22 was referenced by Jesus Christ, while near mortal death upon the Cross, speaking in the ancient Hebrew, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” While some use this to question His deity, or are confused by why He said such…I believe it was not because He feared what was to come next, nor that He was ever “forsaken” by the Father. Instead, it is a reference to a message of hope, summarizing Christ’s walk on the earth (all the things that led up to the point of Him uttering the words)…and a reminder that the Lord is our deliverer from all troubles. In Verse 9 and 10, it says, “But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. [10] I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.” The Lord Himself referenced a passage of Scripture from the days of King David before Him, and establishing that we are alive from our mother’s womb.

Jeremiah 1:5 defines this ‘state of living’ to another extent, with God speaking, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” And this is not the only time that the Bible establishes that we are God’s Creation BEFORE we are conceived. In Psalm 139:13-16, it is written, “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. [14] I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. [15] My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. [16] Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; l and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” –It is that latter part which is most profound, is it not? Before we ARE, all of the parts of our bodies were already “made” by God.

Well, when today we live in a world of evil, I suppose we ‘should’ celebrate the ‘small wins’, which effectively do nothing, as even such laws are immediately rendered moot. Or, we can remember the precedent President Andrew Jackson once set (for much less noble a reason), when he responded to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court that, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!”

For Ohio’s upcoming elections for Governor, both the Republican Primary in May and the General Election in November, it’s possible that the result may be one or two candidates who are willing to take much more aggressive stances in stopping the scourge of abortion in Ohio, than we’ve seen in the past from the ‘politicians who promise’. And wouldn’t it be interesting indeed, to see what would happen if the Executive Power of Governor in Ohio was used to unilaterally stop this institution of murder, Statewide? And see the resulting scramble of Republican-majority politicians put into a spot? –The same ones who stood by and failed to impeach Governor DeWine and members of his administration for over two years of unlawful, unconstitutional acts, violating the human rights of countless Ohioans: Would they now rush to impeach over a declaration to stop murder of the innocent (when their campaigns are filled with “pro-life” claims)?

In Ohio, we know two things. Upon our State Seal is our motto: “With God all things are possible.” Which is a quote from Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:26. And from Proverbs 6:17, we know that God hates “…hands that shed innocent blood.”

What might God be willing to do, “If <His> people, which are called by <His> name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek <His> face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will <He> hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Never forget: You were fearfully and wonderfully made before you ever took a breath, before your heart ever began beating, and before the smallest speck of flesh came to be assembled in your mother’s womb. May God inspire you to cherish and defend all life, not just that which you can see with your eyes, or sample with a machine. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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