A Calling, Conviction, and Compassion
The Spirit of the Age and the Value of Life
Today we reflect on the deep human desire to find meaning in our labor. We look for a sense of purpose that sustains us through trials, obstacles, and the heavy burdens of life.
Consider the story of a Canadian physician—a man deeply dedicated to his craft, possessing more experience in his specialized field than almost anyone else on earth. With his own hands, he has performed his specific procedure more than 25,000 times, and he has founded clinics to ensure that others can carry out this same work.
Faced with intense controversy, opposition, and frustration, this doctor remains steadfast. He looks at his work and declares:
"I have a very good feeling about what I’m doing. We are helping a lot of people in a very competent and compassionate way, and that compensates for all the unpleasantness."
He feels a profound sense of reward because he believes he is lifting a heavy burden from those in distress. He sees women whose contraceptives have failed, young single mothers fearing disgrace or the derailment of their futures, students trying to build a career, and parents who feel they simply cannot care for another child. To him, providing an abortion is an act of mercy, a way to relieve suffering, and a calling pursued with unwavering conviction.
The Contrast of Perspectives
This narrative brings us face-to-face with a profound moral division in our world. From a secular perspective, the world praises autonomy, the relief of immediate distress, and the freedom to choose one's path. Dr. Morgentaler is viewed by his supporters as a humanitarian, a pioneer fighting against obstacles to provide a service he believes is essential for human well-being.
Yet, as people of faith, we must weigh these human justifications against a different standard—the unchanging Word of God.
- The Sanctity of Life:
Scripture teaches us that human life is not an accident of biology, nor is it merely a burden to be measured by convenience or timing. Psalm 139 reminds us that God knits us together in our mother’s womb; He knows our days before one of them comes to be.
- The Weight of Suffering:
We do not minimize the very real fears, financial pressures, or social stigmas that lead individuals to seek an abortion. Compassion is demanded of us. But true biblical compassion does not remove a life to alleviate a trial; rather, it surrounds the vulnerable mother and her unborn child with support, love, and resources, recognizing that every child bears the image of the Creator.
A Call to Grace and Truth
The dedication and zeal of Dr. Morgentaler challenges us. If a man can spend a lifetime with unwavering commitment to a cause he believes in, how much more should the Church be radically devoted to the defense of the defenseless, the protection of the unborn, and the active, compassionate care of mothers in need?
Let us examine our own hearts. Are we merely holding theological opinions, or are we actively offering a sanctuary of grace, practical help, and unconditional love to those facing difficult pregnancies? May God give us the conviction to stand for life and the compassion to walk closely with the hurting.
What is one practical way our community can better support mothers and families in need today?
The Promise of Control
As we look out at our modern world, we see a society captivated by the promise of control. We live in an era where technology grants us unprecedented choices. Medical advancements allow us to peer into the womb, to map genetics, and to plan our families down to the finest details.
For many, these advancements are framed purely as triumphs of freedom. The narrative goes something like this: If a pregnancy is unexpected, abortion offers a way out. If an ultrasound reveals a gender you did not hope for, or if testing uncovers a potential disability like Down Syndrome, technology gives you the option to start over. Proponents of this view, like the late Dr. Henry Morgentaler, have argued that parents have a "right" to terminate a pregnancy simply because the child does not match their ideal specifications—hoping, as they say, to "do better next time" or to find a more "ideal specimen."
On the surface, to a world that prioritizes convenience, comfort, and the avoidance of hardship, these choices look like benefits. They promise that you don’t have to accept disappointment. They promise that you can avoid struggle and get exactly what you want.
The Hidden Cost: Looking Beyond the Illusion
"Every one of these supposed benefits involves the death of a helpless child, and the death of children is a trademark of the devil himself."
We must pause and ask ourselves: What is the true cost of this absolute control? When we strip away the clinical language, the medical euphemisms, and the pursuit of convenience, we are left with a sobering reality. Every single one of these "benefits" comes at a devastating price. They rest on the termination of a living, breathing, vulnerable human being created in the image of God. The destruction of innocent children is not a new phenomenon; it is a dark and ancient trademark of the enemy.
- Look back into history, and you will see Satan delighting when pagan nations sacrificed their children in cruel religious rituals.
- Look to the banks of the Nile, where the Pharaoh of Egypt sought to drown every Hebrew baby boy.
- Look to Bethlehem, where a paranoid King Herod ordered the slaughter of the innocents in a desperate attempt to destroy the infant Jesus.
The methods change with the centuries, but the underlying spirit remains entirely unchanged.
Recognizing the Spirit of the Age
The Apostle Paul and the writers of Scripture often warn us about the powers and principalities of this dark world. The Bible speaks of Satan as "the spirit of the age." The devil does not always appear with pitchforks and fire; often, he comes disguised as progress, compassion, and personal autonomy. He warps the moral compass of entire cultures, blinding nations and governments to the sanctity of life. He convinces millions that convenience is more valuable than existence, and that human worth is conditional upon perfection, gender, or health.
In our time, this spirit of the age has successfully blinded huge masses of people into believing that sacrificing the lives of the most helpless among us is somehow acceptable, or even noble.
A Call to Stand for Life
We are called to resist this spirit. We are called to look past the cultural promises of a stress-free, custom-ordered life and return to the unchanging truth of God's Word.
God knits every child together in the womb (Psalm 139). He forms them with purpose, dignity, and immeasurable worth—regardless of whether they are a boy or a girl, whether they are strong or weak, healthy or facing lifelong challenges. Life is not a product to be returned to the manufacturer if it doesn't meet our standards; it is a sacred gift from the Creator.
Let us pray for our culture, let us support mothers and families in difficult circumstances, and let us boldly stand as a voice for the voiceless. How can our faith community better support families facing unexpected diagnoses or difficult pregnancies today?
Satan Is Bringing Death
The Battle Before the King Returns
We know with unwavering faith that Jesus Christ will someday return. He will split the eastern sky, vanquish the darkness, and utterly crush the spirit of this age. But until that glorious day arrives, we are called to a state of watchful defense. We must contend against the active work of Satan. We must stand firm and boldly resist that ancient, seductive voice that whispers from the depths of hell, echoing down through the corridors of time:
“Sacrifice your children, and with you, it will be well.”
We must open our eyes to a sobering truth. Satan’s masterpiece in the destruction of helpless lives did not happen long ago on some primitive, blood-stained altar of stone. It did not happen exclusively at the hands of a paranoid dictator like King Herod. It is happening right now. It happens in clean, comfortable clinics. It happens at the request of the very mothers and fathers who gave those children life. It happens at the hands of physicians who took an oath to promote life. It happens with the applause, the approval, and the financial backing of governments ordained to protect life.
Satan is bringing death to millions of preborn babies, and his greatest tragedy is who he uses as accomplices. He is using the very people most responsible for nurturing life. And most of them do not even know it. They remain respectable, likable people who, in the chilling words of Dr. Morgentaler, “feel very good” about what they are doing.
The Two Faces of the Enemy: Murderer and Liar
To understand how this deception grips an entire culture, we must turn to a profound and sobering statement from our Lord in John 8:44, which lays bare the very essence of Satan’s character:
"He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in
him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
Jesus reveals two defining pillars of the enemy’s nature: murder and deception.
The Murderer
First, Jesus tells us that Satan is a murderer. Death is the devil’s primary specialty; he takes no greater pleasure than to kill and destroy. The Scriptures use vivid, arresting imagery to shake us out of our spiritual slumber. Revelation 12 pictures him as an enormous, blood-red dragon, eager to devour. The Apostle Peter warns us with another fierce picture:
"Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).
These are not literal descriptions of his physical appearance, but they lay bare his terrifying temperament and his malicious intent. In the plain, unvarnished words of Jesus, he “was a murderer from the beginning.”
The Liar
Yet the devil is not only an expert in death; he is equally a master of deception. He is as clever as he is vicious. He may possess the murderous intent of a lion, but you will seldom hear him roar. He may be as dangerous as a dragon, but do not expect him to look like one. The devil specializes in disguises. As the Apostle Paul reminds us, Satan “masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).
The Devil's Masterpiece: When Evil Looks Normal
Many people mistakenly associate Satan exclusively with sensational darkness—with drug-crazed fanatics performing bizarre rituals in the dead of night to the sound of heavy metal music. No doubt, Satan enjoys those dark corners, because he delights in any destruction of life.
However, those are not his favorite projects. The devil’s most devastating work happens when he infects the thoughts, laws, and actions of entire nations and historic epochs.
In these moments of cultural blindness, the devil’s murderous objectives do not look horrifying. They are packaged to look normal, helpful, and almost inevitable. When those who approve of the killing are perceived as moderate and mainstream, while those who weep and protest for the defenseless are dismissed as extremists—that is what truly delights the father of lies.
Satan cloaks himself in lofty ideals of freedom, compassion, and progress. He convinces ordinary, well-intentioned people that the destruction of preborn children is a compassionate choice.
By the time the master of death completes his spell, civilized society is enthusiastically cheering on the quiet elimination of the most vulnerable. As the Word of God warns us:
"Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).
Parents, doctors, judges, politicians, and yes, even some compromised clergy, have unwittingly become agents of death and deception. Satan has pulled off the ultimate tragic illusion: he has duped the very society that should be fiercely protecting children into becoming the instruments of their undoing.
Call to Stand
(The devil) was a murderer from the beginning… he is a liar and the father of lies. We cannot afford to be naive about the spiritual battle raging in our world today. We must reject the soothing lies of the culture, stand firm for the sanctity of every human life, and pray earnestly for the light of Christ to pierce the darkness until He returns to make all things new.
How is God calling you to stand as a voice for the voiceless in a culture shaped by deception?
Seeing Through the Illusion
Truth, Life, and the Reality of Abortion
There is a profound and terrifying connection between death and deception. Throughout Scripture, we are reminded that the enemy of our souls "was a murderer from the beginning" and that "he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
We will only ever see death for the horrific, soul-crushing thing that it is when we look past the illusions of this world and face the unvarnished truth. So today, let us look honestly at the facts.
- Compassion for the vulnerable: Do we care about pregnant teenagers who feel unready for motherhood?
- Empathy for disruption: Do we feel for the career woman facing a sudden, overwhelming life change?
- A desire for protection: Doesn't our heart break at the thought of abused children?
- The longing for perfection: Wouldn't we prefer that every child be wanted, healthy, and free from suffering?
- Core values: Don’t we all cherish individual freedom, personal privacy, and the dignity of women?
Because these arguments wear the mask of mercy, it is no wonder that white-coated doctors, black-robed judges, dignified clergy, and millions of well-meaning people have been convinced that abortion is a good thing.
Cracks in the Facade
Yet, even within the culture of choice, deep discomfort arises when the logical conclusions of abortion play out. Consider how the vast majority of babies aborted after gender-testing are females. This reality has deeply unsettled many feminists who recognize that the systematic destruction of unborn girls is a direct affront to the dignity of women.
“If the abortion of preborn females is an attack on women, isn’t the abortion of children with Down Syndrome an attack on people with special needs? And isn't the abortion of children due to poverty an attack on the poor? More to the point, isn't the very act of abortion an attack on human life itself?”
When we strip away the rhetoric, we are left with a brutal fact: abortion involves the destruction of a preborn infant.
Unmasking the Deception
The enemy of our souls works tirelessly to keep the reality of these children hidden in the background. We are far more willing to participate in or tolerate destruction when we do not have to face its subjects. This deception goes beyond ignoring the Word of God—it extends to a willful blindness toward scientifically observable facts.
We see museums pressured to remove exhibits of developing fetuses so the public won't encounter the evidence that a mother carries a living, growing child, rather than a dispensable clump of tissue. When photographs of aborted remains are shown, critics call them "sensationalistic." But the outrage is rarely directed at the violence done to the child; it is directed at the fact that people were forced to look at the result.
Looking at the truth is horrifying and repugnant, but it is necessary. Just as photographs documenting historical atrocities are not sensationalism, neither is confronting the reality of what happens in an abortion clinic. It is simply the truth—and it is only by facing that truth in the light of God's grace that we can find true healing, repentance, and a renewed commitment to defending the defenseless.
How can our faith community better support mothers and families so that choosing life feels like an embrace rather than a burden?
Walking in the Light of Truth
Choosing Life in an Age of Deception
When we talk about complex cultural issues today, we hear a great deal about "choice." But we are not truly honest with ourselves until we are willing to look squarely at what the choice to abort really involves.
Whatever a woman’s reasons for seeking an abortion, one result is always the same: another precious human life lost. How many individuals making this choice are truly aware of this reality? We hear endless conversations about rights, but how often are people given the full, unvarnished facts?
Clinics may explain the clinical procedures, but before consent is given, how often is the full picture of fetal development shared? How often are people shown what that growing life looks like, or what the procedure entails? Often, these realities are kept out of sight and out of mind to protect us from discomfort and guilt. Deception and death walk hand in hand. As Jesus warned us about the adversary in John 8:44:
“The devil was a murderer from the beginning… He is a liar and the father of lies.”
The Power of Vocabulary and the Spirit of the Age
This deception is also evident in the language we use. We wrap harsh realities in clinical sugar-coating. Instead of acknowledging the gravity of destroying a developing life, we hear terms like “terminating a pregnancy.” We frame it purely as “reproductive freedom” or “a woman’s right to control her own body,” rather than recognizing the presence of another distinct human being.
Abortion has grown into a massive web of death and deception spun by the spirit of our age. Over the decades, millions of helpless lives have been cut short. And what of the promised advantages? Have societies become more peaceful, prosperous, or free of hardship as a result? History and experience show us the opposite. When respect for human life diminishes, civilization itself begins to deteriorate.
Both Canada and the United States have enshrined abortion on demand into their legal structures, marking decades since landmark legal shifts—such as Roe v. Wade in the U.S. and the 1988 Supreme Court ruling involving Dr. Morgentaler in Canada—swept away legal protections for the unborn. In many ways, our modern nations echo the tragic descriptions found in Psalm 106:
“They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood... and the land was desecrated by their blood.”
A society built on the devaluation of life cannot truly prosper.
The Better Way: Truth and Life in Christ
God cannot indefinitely overlook a culture that embraces destruction. Unless we resist deception and embrace divine truth, unless we reject the way of death and choose life, we move toward spiritual and moral disaster. The adversary promises that convenience and self-preservation will bring happiness, but reality proves otherwise. Thankfully, Jesus provides a better way. While the adversary represents death and lies, Jesus declares:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
Where selfishness urges us to sacrifice the lives of others for our own benefit, Jesus calls us to sacrifice our own desires for the good of others. He demonstrated this ultimate love by laying down His own life on the cross to save us. He sets us free from the bondage of self-absorption and invites us to walk in love.
Hope, Forgiveness, and Restoration
Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, we maintain profound hope—even in difficult cultural moments.
- Forgiveness is available: When individuals turn and trust in the saving grace of Jesus, their past is forgiven. This includes healing and redemption for anyone who has experienced the pain of abortion.
- Transformation is possible: Christ can renew our hearts, creating in us a genuine, fierce love and respect for every human life.
- National healing: As Scripture reminds us in 2 Chronicles 7:14, if God's people humble themselves, pray, and turn from wicked ways, He will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Remember this encouraging truth: although darkness is real, Christ is greater by far. As 1 John 3:8 reminds us, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” Through His resurrection, Jesus broke the power of death, ensuring that God’s truth and light will ultimately prevail.
How can you personally choose to champion life, grace, and truth in your daily conversations this week?