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Some time ago, a Christian friend wrote to me concerning some questions he had regarding marriage, children and birth control. Although he had read my series entitled "Abortion: The Slaughter of the Innocent" several times, it seems that he still hadn't been able to come to any firm conclusions in his own heart regarding these matters. Thus, in addition to seeking my advice, he continued to delve into God's Word, hoping to find the Lord's answers to his questions.

In thinking about this situation, the first thing that entered my mind, is that if we are going to search the Scriptures for the truth regarding a certain matter, as did the Bereans in the Book of Acts, we must make certain that it is not a self-defeating process. In others words, if we search the Scriptures with the attitude that our minds are already made up, and if we are only looking for Scriptures which will support what we have already chosen to believe, regardless of what the full counsel of God might tell us, then we are just wasting our time.

Not only that, but there is an even greater danger. That is that we will also place ourselves in the potential position of falling under delusion. In short, as I point out in other articles which deal with the subject of finding God's Will, such as "What Is God's Will For My Life?", and also "Are You Crucified With Christ?", we must make sure that our will is aligned with God's Will, and that we are not subconsciously and purposely resisting the truth which He may be trying to show us through His Word. In his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote the following wise lines:

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."


As you can see, Paul is telling us that in order to find the perfect Will of God, we must make sure that both our body and our mind, is yielded to the Lord in every area. In fact, Paul tells us that we must have a renewed mind. That is to say, we must forsake our own ideas, and what we think is right, and put on the mind of Christ, as Paul explains in this verse:

"For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."


As I more amply explain in the series called "So You Really Think You Are So Humble?", we must each both think and act as Jesus Christ thought and acted, and be totally yielded to the Will of the Father, just as Jesus was. We must be willing to wholeheartedly accept and obey the Lord's program, no matter how difficult and how challenging it may be for us, even when it contradicts our own personal plans, and what we feel we want to do. In the following verses, Jesus referred to this sacrificial surrendering of our will, mind and body to the Lord, as taking up our cross daily, in order to follow Him:

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it."


While we might be tempted to view these verses as having a purely symbolic meaning, the truth of the matter, is that the physical is a manifestation of the spiritual; and if we are not willing to submit our physical bodies to God's Will, as "a living sacrifice" in the words of the Apostle Paul, might this be an indication that there is something wrong with our spiritual attitude as well? In my various articles concerning discipleship, I make clear that God owns all of us. We are His possessions, bought with the precious Blood of His dear Son. As such, He can do whatever He wants with us. The Apostle Paul says the very same thing in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, as we see by these two verses:

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."


Notice that Paul states quite clearly "ye are not your own", because we are bought with a price. Because of this fact, he says that we are to glorify God in both our body and in our spirit, which are God's. Your body, and your spirit, belong to God, and not to you. Do you see that? God the Father has first rights over you entirely. To reiterate this important point, you are God's possession.

Now, if as Christians, we truly and honestly believe that our entire spiritual and physical being belongs to God, doesn't it stand to reason that in matters concerning pregnancy and childbirth, the only right attitude for a Christian Believer to have -- and particularly a Christian woman to have -- is to place their faith in God, and their future in God's hands, by allowing Him to decide whether or not He wants her to have any children?

If children are truly an heritage of the Lord -- Psalm 127:3 -- as the Psalmist tells us, is not having children one way of glorifying God in our bodies? While some Christians like to boast about how many spiritual children they have had -- by leading others to the Lord -- what if God likewise wants you to give birth to His physical children as well? In such a case, as a woman or a husband, are you just as willing and yielded to His Divine Will? Furthermore, is it possible that by practicing some form of birth control, you are in effect trying to preempt what might be the Will of God, either due to your own lack of faith, or possibly for even more selfish reasons?

In the world today, one major, contentious issue which has constantly been discussed between the sexes, concerns who has the right over a woman's body. No doubt you are familiar with the well-known mantra "My body, my choice!". This argument is particularly popular with those liberal-minded, worldly women who advocate and promote abortion as a viable and acceptable form of birth control. As far as they are concerned, no man has the right to tell them what to do with their own bodies. In many cases, not even their own husbands, even though that baby wouldn't even exist without the husband's participation. In the United States of America, this debate has raged even hotter ever since the Supreme Court overturned 1973's Roe v. Wade ruling -- which declared abortion a constitutional right on a national level -- on June 24, 2022.

Of course, the misguided women who vociferously support and fight for this vile, ungodly practice do not view abortion as being a cold-blooded, murderous act. Rather, they see it as taking personal responsibility for their lives. Sadly, while many such ungodly, selfish women claim that they alone have the final say when it comes to deciding the fate of the unborn child they carry within -- thus the adoption of the popular term "pro-choice" -- the truth of the matter is that God -- who is the Creator and the Giver of that life -- has the final say, whether they like it, or can admit to it or not.

Furthermore, while they love to shout "My body, my choice!", they refuse to recognize -- or maybe purposely ignore -- the biological fact that an unborn fetus is in reality a unique, separate human being who is growing inside of them. That baby is not a part of a woman's body. She merely nourishes it and provides it with a safe, conducive place to develop. As we all know, that fetus will become an independent being at the time of his/her physical birth. So the truth is that an unborn baby is a body within a body, and no woman has the right to terminate its life.

Sadly, in many cases, the Lord has long since been rubbed out of the picture -- if they ever even believed in Him to begin with -- and some women and couples could not care less what God thinks of their selfish actions. Hardening their hearts against God is the only way in which some of these people can effectively resist the conviction which the Lord places upon their hearts when they are considering having an abortion. In other words, they have to deny the very existence of the One who created them to begin with, as well as who created their unborn child. In his first Epistle to Timothy, the Apostle Paul discusses people who have had "their conscience seared with a hot iron", meaning that they have become numb to the conviction of God's Spirit. In fact, God isn't even in their thoughts. Consider the following two verses:

"Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;"


"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts."


To continue, the Christian friend who wrote to me went on to say that since their marriage several years earlier, both he and his wife had felt that children might not be a part of their future. Due to my personal knowledge of the Scriptures regarding this topic, I was taken back a bit upon reading this comment. My initial question was to ask whether or not the Lord had specifically revealed this to them through His Word, or if this was just their personal desire not to have children. I was immediately reminded of the following verse that is found in the Book of Psalms, which I mentioned to you a moment ago. In the Book of Genesis, we also find the phrase "be fruitful, and multiply" five times. Consider this:

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward."


"And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth."


"And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."


"Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth."


"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."


"And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;"


How very different is the attitude of the world today where many women and couples go against the original commandment which God gave to Adam and Eve, to His natural Creation, to Noah after the Flood, and to Jacob. Instead of accepting the Lord's blessing of fruitfulness in their lives, many married couples and single women resort to every means possible from birth control pills, to diaphragms, to condoms, to rhythmic birth control, to the murderous act of abortion, in order to reject what may very well be God's Will for their lives. It is truly ironic that while some married couples desire with all of their hearts to have children, others selfishly and coldheartedly reject the blessing of new life in their lives.

Please notice that in the previous verse from the Book of Psalms, we are specifically told that "children are an heritage of the Lord". According to the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon, the word "heritage" is translated from the Hebrew word "nachalah". Pronounced nakh-al-aw', this Hebrew word means possession, property, inheritance, heritage, portion or share.

In one regard, we can look at that verse as meaning that our children belong to the Lord. They are His possession, and we are merely being made temporary earthly stewards over them. The fact that we have even been considered worthy of bearing and raising the children of the King, should be counted as a great blessing, and we should take it very seriously. I was just reminded of what Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew:

"Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence."


In looking at other meanings of the word "nachalah", we can also consider that the number of children we have in life is our portion, or share, from the Lord. In that same verse -- Psalm 127:3 -- the word "reward" is derived from the Hebrew word "sakar". Pronounced as saw-kawr', it means hire, wages, pay, fare, fee, or passage-money. In this case, given the context of the verse, the most likely meaning of the word is "hire". Similar to the servants who are mentioned by Jesus in some of His Parables, we could say that when a wife becomes pregnant, in essence, she has been hired by God to raise His children properly with a knowledge of the Lord and His Word. Sadly, as I point out in articles such as "The Plight of the Children: School Gun Violence!", so many many parents today fail miserably at this important God-ordained task.

Disgracefully, as we've already discussed, even though they have been hired by the Lord, many modern, selfish women -- particularly many American women -- do not want the job. As mothers-to-be, they -- along with their spouses -- need to realize that God knows what we can each handle, and that He will bless us accordingly. It is truly tragic when deciding whether or not to have children comes down to a financial decision. As Christians, we need to believe that if God is going to bless us with children, then He is likewise going to make a way for us to provide for them as well. One of my favorite verses regarding this subject is the following one:

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."


A main part of the problem is that because so many married couples in the world today have rejected God in their lives -- or at least don't give Him a primary place in their lives -- they simply have no one in whom they can truly place their faith and confidence, except in themselves, and in their own abilities and human limitations. They think that they have to do it all on their own. Given the current economic situation in the world, having a baby and raising a child can thus seem to be a rather daunting challenge. As a result, whether or not to have a child quite often comes down to the basic issue of money, as I mentioned a moment ago. Because such people do not believe in God, or fail to lean on Him and trust in Him, it simply does not occur to them that He is there waiting to help, if they will just call out to Him.

Of course, as I mention in the series "Abortion: The Slaughter of the Innocent", with a lot of women, terminating a pregnancy is not so much about financial considerations, as it is about selfishness and personal convenience. In other words, because they are still young, such women want to enjoy their lives a while before being burdened by the so-called "inconvenience" of motherhood. If we want to be brutally honest here, what it comes down to is the fact that their happiness is apparently more important to them than the life of the child they carry within. Instead of viewing that baby as a blessing from God, they view it as an interference which interrupts the personal plans they have for their life. So, if they do unintentionally become pregnant, off they run to the local abortionist without giving it second thought. Trust me; you would be shocked to learn how few abortions are really performed to save the life of a woman. Please refer to the aforementioned series for the actual statistics.

Sadly, these kinds of selfish women foolishly think that they can do as they please, and that they will never have to pay the consequences for their acts of selfishness. However, the Word of God makes it very clear that someday when they appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, they will be shocked to learn how terribly wrong they have been. They will indeed be held accountable for having murdered their baby. In thinking about this, I am reminded of something the Apostle Paul wrote in his second Epistle to Timothy:

"Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;"


Wow! Just look at what Paul wrote: "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God". Surely Paul's words are right on target in describing the attitude which is prevalent in the world today. Many people truly are much more interested in pursuing selfish, unbridled sexual pleasures than they are in pleasing the Lord. We can blame the publishing industry as well as the entertainment industry for that. In fact, as you may know, to our own shame, even the American public school system is now promoting sexual promiscuity and sexual perversions to young impressionable children in elementary schools and above. Sex in one form or another is constantly being thrown in our faces from a very young age.

In light of this shameful truth, should it really come as a surprise to us then that so many people want to enjoy sex, but not have to pay the price of the fruit which may result from their sexual encounters? Thus, as we have seen, they resort to birth control, abortion, and unnatural, unhealthy relationships with persons of the same sex in order to steer clear of the responsibility. While the world has labeled it as "safe sex", might a more appropriate term be "selfish sex"? Furthermore, is it really "safe sex" if it results in AIDS, Monkeypox, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Genital Herpes, and other Sexual Transmitted Diseases?

As I mentioned earlier, I know that it is common for many parents, including Christian parents, to worry about the future; particularly when their number of children begins to multiply. We begin to consider such factors as the high cost of living, limited living space, an inadequate income, the expensive cost of a formal education, etc. There are so many seemingly "legitimate" reasons for us to consider the option of planned parenthood. However, when the temptation of birth control enters our hearts, we need to remember the following wise words of the Apostle Paul which are found in his first Epistle to the Corinthians:

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."


If you are a child of God, then this is where personal faith enters the picture. As God-fearing Christian parents, we must place our faith fully and totally in the Lord. We must trust so much in God's love for His children, that we know that He will take care of every situation, if we will only give Him the time to work. As I told you before, we need to believe that if God is going to bless us with children, then He is likewise going to make a way for us to provide for them as well. Quite often, it's when we fail to do this, and blunder ahead in our impatience, and in our own strength and wisdom, that we make mistakes. As I have quoted many times before:

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."


The wisdom which is found in these verses can be applied to the issue of planned parenthood as well. The last thing that we want to do is to be swayed by the fearful ideas of carnal, earthly, godless men who erroneously believe that it is they alone who possess the solutions to the world's problems. This is secular humanism to the core. It has been said that fear is the opposite of faith. Sadly, the world today is full of many unfounded fears, some of which have been intentionally created, or at least magnified beyond measure, for the sole purpose of controlling and manipulating the masses. As more and more people have rejected the Word of the Lord, faith has diminished in our modern world, while at the same time, fear and mistrust have grown. I am reminded of certain things that Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke. Consider this:

". . . Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"


"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."


While we can debate regarding the actual time frame of the previous verses, the main thing that I want you to see from Jesus' words is that as faith diminishes, fear increases.

One way in which this fear is manifested, is through the issue of overpopulation. I recall how many years ago, when I was a young man in my early twenties, I possessed a poster in which the artist depicted his views concerning the future of the world. In this grim image, the world's inhabitable land is occupied by an unsustainable population. The Earth's natural resources have been dwindled down to nothing. In the painting, people are seen desperately clinging to pinnacles above the masses, while others are engaged in hand-to-hand combat in the overpopulated lowlands, as the oceans slowly encroach upon them. Scattered throughout the confusing mass of humanity are seen obviously-pregnant women, which serve as a not-so-subtle hint regarding the cause of the problem.

I am also reminded of several movies I saw decades ago which also dealt with the issue of overpopulation. For example, in the popular 1973 sci-fi classic, "Soylent Green", starring world-renown actors, Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson, we are led to believe that the world situation is going to deteriorate to such a degree, that humanity will eventually end up placing themselves on the platter. At that time, due to overpopulation -- at least according to this Hollywood movie -- euthanasia will have become an acceptable practice in order to sustain a viable population on the Earth. It is towards the end of this movie, that we discover that those delicious, little, green tablets referred to as "Soylent Green", are actually made from the reprocessed bodies of those old folks who have patriotically -- and dutifully -- undergone euthanasia. Cannibalism! Nothing goes to waste in this future world!

Ironically, according to the IMDB website, "Soylent Green" is set in the year 2022 when powerful corporations control the world. Sound familiar? Equally ironic is the fact that at our current time in 2022, euthanasia is slowly becoming an acceptable practice as well. As it has been often said, yesterday's science fiction is today's reality.

The 1976 sci-fi film "Logan's Run", starring British actors, Michael York and Jenny Agutter, likewise employed a rather fiendish -- as well as very deceptive -- form of population control. In this case, upon reaching the age of thirty, the controlled inhabitants of an underground, encapsulated city are obligated to undergo a so-called process of rejuvenation. But then our smart protagonist soon discovers that more folks are participating in the process, than are actually coming out of it alive. To his horror, he eventually realizes that rather than being rejuvenated, his friends are really being zapped out of existence by a laser beam. Thus begins their flight to freedom, and to the natural surface world outside of their domed artificial prison. The 2005 movie "The Island" ends in a very similar fashion.

Finally, in 1972's sci-fi film "ZPG: Zero Population Growth", British actor Oliver Reed and his wife become fugitives in a futuristic society, when they decide to have a child without the approval of government authorities, who remain anonymous throughout the movie. This movie employs a lot of fear, such as a dark smoggy sky which requires the use of a gas mask when one is out in public, helicopters with bright lights and authoritative voices which boom out orders over megaphones to the offenders, and traitorous friends who become jealous when the couple has their "illegal" child, while they are forced to be content with robotic dolls which talk and act like the real thing. As in "Logan's Run", rather than give up their precious child, the couple embarks on a flight to freedom; and the movie ends with them obtaining it far away from the oppressive government.

This then is Satan's dark and fearful picture of the future. It is through media such as the aforementioned three movies, that the devilish controllers of this world slowly mold and manipulate the public psyche, and pressure people -- even God's children -- into accepting what they frame as being personal responsibility, for their actions. For the foolish children of the world who don't know the Lord, or who refuse to bend to His Will, accepting personal responsibility seems to include taking matters of life and death into their own hands, through both birth control and the ungodly practice of abortion. This places Christians in an awkward position. While we wish to be responsible for our actions, including our sexual actions, we do not wish to defy the natural laws which have been ordained by our Creator. Because of this fact, we place ourselves at odds with the children of the world who have chosen to not follow the Divine Guidelines.

Please go to part two for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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