Information Related to "The Silent Epidemic"
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For more than a year the world has endured the Covid-19 pandemic and its fallout. Governments launched all-out offensives in response, including "warp-speed" vaccine development efforts and extensive stay-at-home "lockdowns" imposed on much of the world. Medical authorities called on everyone to wash their hands regularly, wear face coverings, socially distance from others and get vaccinated as soon as the opportunity arose.
This has all been trumpeted unceasingly by the media. Plus, governments everywhere spared no expense -- and even amassed tremendous debt -- in coping with this infection, which, at the time of this writing, is claimed to have taken the lives of more than 2.5 million people worldwide. In the United States the number is said to be more than half a million.
Yet at the same time another pandemic rages in our midst, with nearly nothing being done to stop its spread. We hear little about this wave of death, since most media outlets remain virtually silent about it -- except, bizarrely enough, when opposing those who seek to halt it! Incredibly, some governments actually promote this massive loss of life by using taxpayers' money to fund organizations and clinics where this lethal rampage continues.
In 2020 this terrible pandemic took the lives of nearly 43 million human beings -- which is more than one death per second. This death toll is higher than all of World War I, yet it's exacted every year. In the United States alone, deaths by this plague in 2020 outpaced Covid-19 deaths by 2,300 percent!
What is this fatal affliction? It's the dreadful silent pandemic of abortion -- far and away the world's biggest killer.
As reported at Breitbart News: "Globally, there were more deaths from abortion in 2020 than all deaths from cancer, malaria, HIV/AIDS, smoking, alcohol, and traffic accidents combined, according to Worldometer statistics. The shocking number of deaths from abortion, in fact, has led certain observers to call abortion 'the social justice cause of our time,' since the sheer magnitude of the problem completely overshadows other human rights issues" (Thomas Williams, Ph.D., "Abortion Leading Global Cause of Death in 2020 With 42.7 Million Killed," Jan. 1, 2021, emphasis added throughout).
The abortion pandemic -- this abysmal culture of death operating in plain sight -- has tragically become a broadly accepted part of society. But what do most people hear from the mainstream media about the horrendous number of deaths generated by this killer? Nothing! There is only silence. Instead, most of our media, entertainment and government figures actually provide support to those who endorse, implement and participate in its fatal, gruesome work.
Of all of the world's 195 sovereign nations, only El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have banned abortion completely. On the other side, abortion is so common in some countries that it's become an integral form of birth control. For example, Foreign Policy magazine reported that "many Russian women use abortion as their sole source of birth control and official figures show almost 930,000 women terminate a pregnancy each year" (Amie Ferris-Rotman, "Putin's Next Target Is Russia's Abortion Culture," Oct. 3, 2017).
LifeNews.com reported that "according to a new report by the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, more than half of women [in the U.S.] who had abortions between 2008 and 2014 already had at least one child" (Micaiah Bilger, "Women Using Abortion as Birth Control: 59% Already Had One Child, 33% Had Two Kids," May 13, 2016).
Tragically, abortion -- the deliberate, premeditated killing of a helpless unborn human being -- has simply become another method of birth control in much of the world.
What's behind this horrible state of affairs? As Breitbart noted, "the infamous January 22, 1973 U.S Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade . . . , together with the 1992 [ruling in] Planned Parenthood v. Casey, invalidated 50 state laws and made abortion legal and available on demand throughout the United States."
These horrendous decisions have, since the first in 1973, brought cruel and merciless deaths to more than 64 million innocent, preborn babies in the United States alone. That's more than the entire populations of most nations!
And yet, that seems not to be enough death! Over the years, various efforts have been initiated to loosen or abolish restrictions to abortion laws. A recent example occurred on Jan. 22, 2019, the 46th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.
On that day New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Reproductive Health Act. This bill rescinded a portion of the state's public health law by removing protections for babies born alive after an abortion -- meaning these tiny, most defenseless ones among us could be left to die after birth, amounting to infanticide. This despicable law also allows for abortion through all nine months of pregnancy when the mother's "life or health is at risk," which can be claimed for virtually any pregnancy.
How did the mainstream media react to the signing of the New York abortion law? With utter silence! The Global Dispatch reported: "None of the major national TV networks has bothered to mention the story. This deafening silence is in stark contrast to the alarmist coverage seen when a state passes legislation that the media see as curtailing 'abortion rights'" (Brandon Jones, "Media Avoiding Coverage of New York's 'Ghoulish Radical' Abortion Law, Jan. 29, 2019).
Along with New York, five other state governments have ratified similar horrific legislation. For example, a bill passed in the Massachusetts state legislature and signed by the governor allows women to obtain an abortion anytime during the third trimester of pregnancy (28-40 weeks) -- a time when babies routinely can and do survive outside the womb. National Review reported that "this lenient definition essentially allows for abortion on demand up until the moment of birth" (Alexandra DeSanctis, "Massachusetts Bill Would Allow Abortion Until Birth," Jan. 3, 2020).
The pace of death from abortion was accelerated in various states in 2020. The U.S. federal government followed this course when the new presidential administration took over at the beginning of 2021. On Jan. 28, Joe Biden restored U.S. funding to the United Nations Population Fund, the agency responsible for so-called "reproductive health," which includes abortion. Previously, in April 2017, President Donald Trump had ended U.S. funding of $32.5 million to this agency because it supported a Chinese program that used forced abortions and sterilizations under its two-child policy.
Also on Jan. 28, President Biden directed the Department of Health and Human Services to abolish the Trump administration's 2019 executive action that had stripped tens of millions of dollars in grants from going to Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. However, according to Jessica Lea of ChurchLeaders.com, even though Planned Parenthood lost that particular funding during the Trump administration, they still "performed a record 354,871 abortions in 2019-2020 and received a record $618.1 million in government funding."
Considering that the duty of government representatives and officials is to protect and defend the lives of their nation's people, including those who are most helpless and defenseless, the above examples reveal that government leaders have not only failed in their responsibility, but actively fight against it in promoting the grisly and gruesome culture of abortion.
In his 2015 book The Snapping of the American Mind, journalist David Kupelian, managing editor of WND.com (formerly WorldNetDaily), stated: "In this strange parallel world, the same killing of a baby that in the real world outrages us and results in prosecution, prison, and possibly execution, is mysteriously transformed into a 'medical procedure' and 'constitutional right' provided for and fiercely defended by a multibillion-dollar [abortion] industry and all the powers of government -- and funded by taxpayers" (p. 179).
The U.S. Declaration of Independence declares that "all men" -- meaning all human beings -- "are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Yet what do we see? Each day these fundamental God-given rights are denied to thousands of growing, preborn babies whose lives are brutally terminated through the forceps, curettes, scissors, syringes and vacuums of pitiless abortionists.
But why? What happened in America that contributed to this horrendous outcome when decades earlier abortion was barely mentioned?
Beginning in the 1960s and 1970s vast numbers of people in the United States rejected and turned away from its biblically rooted moral foundation. The so-called "free love" movement took root. It involved a sexually promiscuous lifestyle with many casual partners. Fueled by growing access to birth control pills, this decadence was promoted in movies, television and magazines, subverting and severely weakening the institutions of marriage and family, the very building blocks of a sound society.
This cancerous cultural degeneration has continued relentlessly to the point that today virtually any forms of sexual behavior or deviance are accepted as "normal" -- and often aggressively promoted by society's supposed leaders.
What happens when godly morality is abandoned, the Creator's wise laws going unheeded, in a nation that was originally founded to honor Him and submit to His rule? Through the ancient prophet Hosea, God warned: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest [or representative] for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (Hosea 4:6).
Over the decades, the consequences of such moral degradation have taken their predictable and enormous toll in broken homes, crime, violence, narcissism, mental and physical illness, incivility, and disdain for God as Creator, Protector and Provider (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Sadly, America and other nations are fulfilling the words of the prophet Isaiah who wrote: "Oh, what a sinful nation they are -- loaded down with a burden of guilt. They are evil people, corrupt children who have rejected the Lord. They have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick" (Isaiah 1:4-5, New Living Translation).
In choosing to determine for themselves what is good and evil, human beings have formed an "anything goes" society, including in the way they approach sex. Whereas God says in Scripture that sex is reserved for only the loving, committed relationship of marriage, people have rejected that and decided they know better than the God who actually designed and created sex!
Rejecting God's moral standards has given rise to today's chaotic and decadent sexual hookup culture, cohabitation, the normalization of homosexuality, same-sex marriage and transgenderism. Such sinful and self-destructive behavior is condemned in the Bible (see Matthew 5:28; Leviticus 18:22; Deuteronomy 22:5; Romans 1:26-29; Genesis 5:2).
Should it be any wonder that the appalling "abortion on demand" culture has accompanied this depravity? Tragically, cultures throughout the world have descended into the degradation of murdering their most innocent and vulnerable members. And for what? So other people can serve their own decadent, self-indulgent pleasures (see 2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Far too many people have bought into the awful lie that an unborn baby is simply an "unviable mass of tissue" and that the mother therefore has the "right" to do with it as she pleases. Another falsehood is that human life doesn't begin until sometime near birth when the baby would be viable on its own. Here abortionists try drawing the line at self-sufficiency. They tell women that since the fetus depends on the mother for life support and cannot survive apart from her, an abortion is perfectly acceptable if the mother so desires.
But what's clear from science, and as well as from what God tells us, is that human life begins at conception. At that point a unique life comes into existence with its own genetic code, comprising everything this miniature person will become -- from height, the color of eyes, personality and so much more.
An amazing process of rapid growth and development then takes place in this new human life in the mother's womb. Within only 18 days a heartbeat is evident. At about three weeks, the baby's eyes, spinal cord and digestive system begin forming. At around 43 days, brain waves can be detected. By about 60 days, fingers and toes are beginning to show. At around 65 days the thyroid and adrenal glands function and the embryo can swallow and respond to noise.
By 70 days the preborn baby has basically everything a newborn baby does. At 84 days fingerprints are forming. The little boy or girl is now more than three inches long and weighs about an ounce. By 125 days, he or she is moving and kicking. The pre-born infant responds to pain, touch, cold, sound and light, gets hiccups, can suck its thumb, passes through waking and sleeping cycles, can smile, express emotions, can respond to its mother's voice, yawns and even dreams!
The Bible explains that God views the preborn infant as a separate individual from its mother. For example, God specified that long before the prophet Jeremiah was born, God selected him for a special commission. God told Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5). Additionally, the patriarch Job said regarding himself and others: "Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb?" (Job 31:15).
We see, then, that the inspired Word of God shows that our Creator regards the preborn baby, even at the earliest moment of its life and development, as a uniquely new and precious individual. He or she has the right, like everyone else, to live -- to play, smile, laugh, learn and dream! So, while abortion is not directly addressed in Scripture, the passages above clearly show that God considers unborn infants as individual human beings. This means that the deliberate killing of a preborn baby is murder, which is prohibited by the sixth of God's Ten Commandments.
Let's now take this to an even higher level -- beyond the physical. Just how spiritually significant and momentous is every human being to our Eternal Creator? Although He created all things, including the entire universe and everything in it, did you know that what He is making of human beings is without doubt His greatest creation?
In fact, God's intention for human life is the principal focus of the amazing and remarkable divine plan He has prepared. Consider these inspiring words of King David of ancient Israel:
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen -- even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea . . ." (Psalms 8:3-8).
Also, ponder the following New Testament passage which, in commenting on these words, offers a fuller explanation of humanity's astounding destiny:
"For in subjecting all things to him [that is, to man], He [God] left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings" (Hebrews 2:8-10, New American Standard Bible).
So, as we just read, Jesus Christ's great mission is to bring "many sons to glory." But what does that mean? God's astounding intention and purpose in creating human beings is to produce His very own divine family. He makes this remarkable statement in 2 Corinthians 6:18: "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." He will accomplish this through a process whereby physical flesh-and-blood individuals will be transformed into spirit beings in a resurrection from the dead.
The act of human reproduction is a physical parallel to the spiritual process leading to the birth of divine children into God's immortal spirit family! When human beings terminate the life of a preborn child, they foolishly and irreverently step in the way of God's divine plan. Consequently, the lives of all preborn babies must be regarded as supremely valuable. God planned for every one of them to have a magnificent future destiny without parallel!.
With all this in mind, if you know someone who's thinking about aborting her baby, we earnestly request that you direct her to this article and others in this magazine and suggest that she seek dependable, godly counsel. The United Church of God, the publisher of Beyond Today magazine, has ministers throughout the world who will gladly offer spiritual guidance. Please visit our website to find a congregation or office nearest you.
Our great Creator desires that all of us thoroughly reject the ways of this world's culture of evil and death -- which is powerfully influenced by dark, deceptive, unseen spiritual forces (see Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; 2 Corinthians 11:14). Considering the growing evil of the times we live in, it's crucial that we fully turn our lives over to God through Jesus Christ and diligently follow His perfect, life-changing teachings (Matthew 5:19).
Finally, if in the past you made the choice to end a pregnancy, please know that your caring, compassionate Heavenly Father offers you forgiveness and tremendous hope! His divine grace is available to you when you reach out to Him in sincere repentance. You can leave your past wrongs behind and build a wonderful life today in preparation for a radiant future in His coming Kingdom -- all based on the truth and wisdom God makes available to you through the Bible.
Yes, our awesome Creator has an exciting plan and purpose for all people -- including you! Indeed, you have the marvelous promise of an incomparably full and joyous divine life in His spiritual family. In the meantime let's remember that all human life, including the lives of every preborn child, is supremely and infinitely precious to Him!
Abortion is not mentioned in the Bible, but history records that it was practiced by the ancient Egyptians, Persians, Romans and other civilizations. However, at that time abortion was generally regarded as immoral. For example, in the fifth century B.C. the Hippocratic Oath prohibited physicians from inducing elective abortions.
Some church fathers around the 200s wrote disapprovingly of contraceptives and drugs or devices used to cause abortion. Abortion was included in denunciations of other reprehensible conduct such as theft, perjury, pride and hypocrisy.
Pilgrim and Puritan founders of Colonial America, along with Lutherans and Anglicans, saw abortion as murderous. "New England was filled with Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches founded on the doctrines of John Calvin, who wrote that an unborn child, 'though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being' and should not be 'rob[bed] of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy'" (Marvin Olasky, "Did Colonial America Have Abortions? Yes But . . . ," World, Jan. 17, 2015, excerpted from Abortion Rites: A Social History of Abortion in America, 1992).
Abortion was long viewed as sinful and deplorable but, being extremely rare (ibid.), was not specifically legislated against in the early United States. However, beginning in the early to mid-1800s, laws forbidding abortion began appearing. By 1900 most abortions in the country were outlawed, primarily through legislative efforts promoted by the American Medical Association.
By the early 1960s public opinion about abortion began to shift following the thalidomide drug tragedy that was revealed in the late 1950s. For several years this drug had been prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness and as a sleeping aid, but was later found to cause serious birth defects. Used widely in the United Kingdom from 1958 to 1962, thalidomide caused up to 10,000 miscarriages and infant deaths. Worldwide, an estimated 20,000 babies were maimed and 80,000 died. Although thalidomide was banned in 1961, dialog about legal abortion escalated due to the fear pregnant women had that their babies could be born with significant deformities.
From 1967 to 1970, 15 states legalized abortion for pregnancies that resulted from rape or incest or threatened the life of the mother. Then, in 1971, the infamous Roe v. Wade abortion case came to trial, and in 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state laws regulating abortion, legalizing it throughout the country.
Sadly, abortion -- the willful and deliberate taking of human life -- is the leading cause of death throughout the world today. However, a magnificent time is coming when it will forever be a thing of the past -- when Jesus Christ returns in power and glory to establish God's righteous government (Daniel 2:44-45).
In 1917 Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in the United States in Brooklyn, New York. In 1921 she established the American Birth Control League, a precursor to today's Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Although Sanger gained some goodwill from her pioneering advocacy about birth control, one particular element of the issue was overwhelmingly abhorrent. This involved eugenics -- the practice of controlled selective human breeding. Sanger wrote: "Birth Control . . . means the release and cultivation of the better elements in our society, and the gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction, of defective stocks" ("High Lights in the History of Birth Control," Oct. 1923, emphasis added).
Though it's not politically correct to say so, Margaret Sanger's motive was blatantly racist, intending to reduce the number of black births. The original organization she founded has since mutated into a massive business that has destroyed the precious lives of multiple millions of preborn babies through abortion. And as with Planned Parenthood's founding, racial minorities continue to be its primary victims.
According to LifeNews.com, research has revealed that 86 percent of Planned Parenthood's abortion facilities are located in or near African-American and Latino neighborhoods (Micaiah Bilger, "Planned Parenthood Puts 86% of Its Abortion Facilities in Minority Neighborhoods," Sept. 23, 2020).
Furthermore, LiveAction reported that "CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] data also reveals that [in 2016] the Black abortion rate (abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44 years) exceeded all other races (Carole Novielli, "Tragic: Black Women Abort at Almost Four Times the Rate of White Women," Feb. 17, 2020).
Moreover, this vile industry is enriched through the plight of the poor. LifeNews.com reported that the Center for Medical Progress released video footage "showing a Planned Parenthood partner admitting that body parts were harvested from aborted babies who still had beating hearts" (Micaiah Bilger, "Planned Parenthood Leaders Admit Under Oath to Harvesting Body Parts From Babies Born Alive," Jun 30, 2020).
And such parts sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars each, making murder of the unborn an appalling but highly profitable enterprise. This abominable practice also exposes the abortion supporters' lie that the unborn are only "masses of tissue," since "masses of tissue" would have no eyes, hearts, brains and other organs to sell to willing buyers.
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