There is an old Mother Goose tale that describes today and the challenges for us who live for Jesus Christ and His Word. It’s a poem about a crooked man.

There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,

He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; in

He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,

And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

The challenge is that when everything is crooked, straight seems odd, unnatural, and not right. We live in a world morally that has embraced crookedness in almost every moral form. No longer does crooked seem odd and not right; crookedness has become the standard.

I have been thinking of this as I have watched the Democratic candidates for President in debates and forums. While there are a multitude of candidates and opinions, on two issues there is universal agreement and even passion. One is the right of a woman to have her child aborted. The second is a wholesale embrace of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) agenda. It gives evidence of a society in full rebellion against God. It reflects a society upside down, ‘crooked’ morally, a place where wrong is boldly asserted to be right. As described in Romans 1:32, “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”

When it comes to the right of a woman to abort her unborn child, there is great passion. They phrase it as if it is about a woman’s right to have control of her body. Her right to abort is called a civil right that no one has the right to challenge. They generate great fear of those in the other political party who would take away the right of a woman to her body. It is never acknowledged in the discussion that there is another person and life involved. The child developing is a person as well. We were created as a nation with the truth that each person has been endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right of an unborn child to life is not controlled by a mother. The unborn child is a person with a soul made in the  image of God. The Bible says God actively knits us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:15-16). Life belongs to God alone, and no one has the right to take the life of another.

We gain insight into God’s view on this in Exodus. Exodus 21:22-25 describes what happens if men are fighting and a pregnant woman is struck and prematurely delivers her baby. If the baby is unharmed, the man is fined, but if the baby is harmed, justice must be served. “Life for life…”. The baby is not regarded as an appendage to a woman’s body, but as a person made in the image of God. This is not about “men” telling a woman what she can do with her body; this is government being used as an instrument of God to protect the sacredness of life. It is life at its most innocent and vulnerable. The one place in the world a child should be safe is in her or his mother’s womb, yet in our world this can be a place of ultimate violence, with a woman giving the right to somebody to take the life of her baby.

The statistics on voluntary abortion are staggering.  This year already in the USA over 860,000  unborn babies have been put to death. People note the number of total children aborted is declining, but the reality is that this is just a result of less people becoming pregnant. 18% of children in a given year will be voluntarily aborted in the USA. Almost one in five children conceived are voluntarily put to death. So far in the world this year over 36 million children have been aborted. In Genesis 4, God noted to Cain that the blood of the brother he killed calls out to God for justice. As God’s rising judgment is increasingly being shown, surely a nation that allows its children to be aborted cannot know God’s blessings. To God and those who share His heart, every life is valuable, sacred, and to be protected.

However, the influence of this crooked world is evident even in the Christian community. According to a survey done in May, less than 50% of evangelical Christians consider themselves pro-life. Only 25% believe that abortion is always wrong (except in the case of saving a mother’s life).

God has given to women the unbelievable honor of bearing and nurturing life. It is not a curse from God or from men. Could there any other achievement in life that matches that of bearing life? But with the privilege comes the responsibility and accountability for that life. The most basic role of government is to protect life. To support mothers in their pregnancy and to support them as they nurture young life is a responsibility we all have. For politicians to state that the purpose of government is to protect the right of a woman to have her baby aborted is to disqualify themselves for consideration for support. A political party that passionately advocates for a woman’s right to have her baby’s life taken has turned justice absolutely upside down. It is a crooked party calling us to join them in their rebellion against God.

In a subsequent post I will address the issue of LGBTQ. For now, it is so important that we realize that each unborn child is a person that has the right to live. I had a personal experience of significance one summer. I was the evening speaker at a family camp at Forest Home Conference Center. At the same time there was also a camp for students. One morning as I was studying in a cabin, a small group of students met on the porch outside. They didn’t know I was there, and I didn’t want to interrupt them. The counselor shared her story. When her mother was pregnant with her in Chicago, she decided she didn’t want her. An abortion at a clinic was scheduled, but the night before, a massive snowstorm hit Chicago, and the city was shut down. Because of weather, the clinic was closed, and the appointment was canceled. Her mother never rescheduled. As she shared her story and God’s providential intervention to spare her life, I was so impressed that these issues of unborn children are not just statistics. These are lives in development who have given by God the right to life.

Now, alongside this call of God to protect life, there is also a path given from God for forgiveness, acceptance, and new life for those who have taken life. The Bible says that Jesus took upon Himself the wrath for the guilty judgment of our sin upon the cross. Jesus has paid in full, so that whoever repents and calls on Him for forgiveness and commits to follow Him in His paths of righteousness will be forgiven, accepted, and helped by God. The Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Bible promises in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If you are guilty, turn to God’s Son Jesus in true humble repentance and trust, and He will bless you in the life He has for you from this point on.

In this crooked world we must speak for the unborn and their right to life. We must call those who stand for public office to uphold the inalienable rights of children to life. Those who do not stand for the innocent in the womb will not truly bring justice to the living. Repent, Presidential candidates, repent. America’s hope is God’s favor. He cannot and will not bless the crooked in their crooked ways.