Subject: Abortion – The Unspoken Issue in Next Week’s Midterm Elections

Deuteronomy 12:31 “Even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.”

With midterm elections taking place next week, Americans have ranked their most important issues as the economy, health care, immigration (specifically, the border wall), and the Supreme Court nominations.

With all the TV ads we are bombarded with, there is one issue that is getting little notice. Some like to call this issue “women’s’ reproductive rights”, or “a woman’s right to choose”. It’s called abortion.

The word “abortion” is defined as the death of a baby due to premature expulsion from the womb. It can occur naturally, as in a miscarriage, or it can be induced surgically or chemically. The issue is over induced abortion, where the baby’s life in intentionally ended by the mother. So far, candidates are not using TV ads to tell us their stance on abortion. I would contend it is the watershed issue of this election cycle.

Just a month ago in Washington DC, something happened that defined American culture’s position on abortion. As with the election campaign TV ads, this event didn’t openly discuss abortion, but the symbolism cannot be missed for any of us who understand history. In Washington, DC, they installed the Arch of Palmyra near the Capital building, a monument to the pagan religious practice of abortion.

I have debated many nonbelievers who accuse God of genocide for destroying certain people groups. But one only has to study the Bible to find the reason not only for why God gave their land to Israel but why He drove them out: “Do not think in your hearts after the Lord has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’. It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out before you, and that He might fulfill the word which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 9:4-5). What wickedness did the former inhabitants commit that was so offensive to God? Again, the Bible tells us.

“When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I will also do likewise.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods. They burned their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12: 29-31). Who were these gods of child sacrifice?

The major pagan gods that the God of the Bible condemns for this practice were Molech, Chemosh and Baal. Molech was a huge bronze statue of a man with a bull’s head. The statue was hollow, and inside a fire burned which colored Molech a glowing red. Children of all ages, especially babies, were placed in the outstretched hands of the statue, which were raised to the mouth (as if Molech were eating). As they fell into the fire, everyone danced before Molech, the sounds of flutes and tambourines drowning out their screams. Then there was Baal, and the Arch of Palmyra.
Baal is mentioned in the Bible over 100 times, more than any other pagan deity (including Molech and Chemosh). Baal was a created god that symbolized fertility and rain, and those who worshipped Baal entered the Temple of Baal by passing through the Arch of Palmyra. As the worshippers gathered around the altar of Baal in the temple, they would burn their babies in the fire, and while their children burned to death they would perform bisexual orgies, which they believed aroused Baal to bring rain to their arid land. But this sacrifice of their babies served a dual purpose. It was a convenient way to solve any unwanted pregnancy. The Arch of Palmyra was the entry point to civilization’s ancient practice of abortion.

We will hear over and over again that any attempts to end abortion in America not only violate the right of the mother to choose but also puts the mother’s health at risk. What isn’t being told is that at least 93% of all induced abortions are done for elective, social, non-medical reasons, the most common being “a woman doesn’t feel ready for a baby at the time, or “her partner wants her to have an abortion” (National Right to Life data). That means more than 9 of every 10 abortions performed today in America are eerily similar to Baal worship, where an unwanted baby is destroyed because the baby is an unwanted inconvenience.

As you vote in the midterm elections, pay close attention to each candidate’s stance on abortion. As we see with the Arch of Palmyra, we must be educated on the facts because choices have consequences.

Ed Croteau is a resident of Lee’s Summit and hosts a weekly study in Lees Summit called “Faith: Substance and Evidence.” He can be reached with your questions through the Lee’s Summit Tribune at Editor@lstribune.net.