Moscow March for Life

Moscow March for Life

January 18, 2020

Friendship Square, Moscow, Idaho

Rev. Jonathon T. Krenz, Augustana Lutheran Church

Text: Eph. 6:12-13 (ESV): “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

            People are not the enemy.  Those who are on the other side of this issue, those who are anti-life, even the civil authorities who prop up the abortion industry and serve as their puppets, even the doctors who perform these horrendous procedures and the abortion workers… They are not the enemy.  Not at all.  Our enemy is the devil and his demonic forces, what St. Paul calls “rulers… authorities… cosmic powers over this present darkness… spiritual forces of evil.”  That is what we’re up against.  The darkness.  The deception.  The lie.

            And that explains why so many people are taken in by the agenda of death.  It is the deception of the evil one.  The lie is powerful.  If Adam and Eve in their pristine condition could be deceived, what makes us think we are immune?  Very smart people can still be deceived.  That doesn’t make them the enemy.  That makes them victims of the enemy in need of rescue and release.

            This is so important to remember in our hyper-politicized, Us v. Them culture.  Bitterness and vitriol are the handiwork of the evil one.  Satan hides behind the mask of our own flesh and blood, people made in God’s own image, whose lives are precious in His sight.  So that is the first thing upon which to shine the Epiphany light: the lie that we are battling people.  We are battling Satan and his demonic hoard.  The people on the other side of this issue are people we love, people for whom Christ died.  It is our love for them, as much as it is our love for babies in utero, that brings us here this afternoon.

            We are gathered here this day because love places a demand upon us: We must speak the Truth in the face of the lie.  That is the Light that scatters the darkness.  That is the Light that exposes the evil one for what he is: a liar, and the father of lies.  It is the Light of life in the face of death.  It is the Light of Christ Himself, the Light that is Christ.  And it is the Light no darkness can overcome.  Not even death.  Not even abortion.  Not even Satan and his demonic drones. 

            Now, there will be a cost to it all.  You know that just by being here.  You come here in love, but you are called a hater.  You come here to defend life, but you are seen as threatening.  You come here to speak for the rights of those who cannot speak for themselves, for the most fundamental of rights, the first named in our Declaration of Independence, the right to life.  But it is said that you are against women’s rights, that you must be sexist and misogynist.  Though you speak for all the women who have the disadvantage of not yet having been born, you are regarded as anti-woman.  Do you see the lie?  It has Satan’s fingerprints all over it.  Here we are, pleading with our fellow citizens, for what?  Life.  That we stop killing babies.  That we stop telling women their best choice is abortion (That, my friends, is anti-woman, and it is anti-choice).  That we stop telling men we expect that they’ll abandon their children and their children’s mother.  That we stop calling precious little babies unwanted and an inconvenience, that we stop calling them and treating them as a condition to be treated, to be cured by killing them.  And here we are, offering help and hope, love and life to all concerned.  The rulers and authorities and powers and spiritual forces of evil will not stand for it.  Don’t be surprised if you suffer for it.  Don’t be surprised if even family and friends begin to distance themselves.  Suffer it faithfully.  There is a cost, but it is worth it.  Because the only way to dispel the darkness is to shine the Light.  The only way to expose the lie is to speak the Truth.

            So speak and suffer.  And rejoice.  The Lord is on your side.  Be outfitted with the whole armor of God, that you may withstand in the evil day.  Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees (Is. 35:3).  Speak for the unborn, for the weak and the defenseless, for those who have no voice.  Speak for the now-over-61 million children who have been slaughtered in abortion in this country since Roe v. Wade.  That is the Guttmacher Institute’s own number.  Try to imagine that.  61 million!  And countless more who are being slaughtered by the day.  Speak for the women who are told they have no other choice.  Speak for the men who are told they have no part in this choice.  Speak in repentance on behalf of our nation and our world and the blood on all of our hands.  Speak.  We must not be silent in the face of evil.  This is the great test.  This is THE issue of our day.  But do not fear.  For those who are with us are more than those who are against us.  The pro-life crowd, yes.  But I’m talking about the armies of the LORD, the holy angels, and Christ Himself, the stronger One who binds the strong man, Satan, and plunders his goods.

            Pastors, you must preach on this.  Church, you must be clear on this.  This is not simply a political issue.  It is a moral issue, and if the Church is not the moral conscience of society, who will be?  So many churches have sold out on this.  It is a great apostasy.  Brothers and sisters, repent.  Yes, it is hard.  Yes, people get mad.  They stop giving an offering.  They stop coming to your church.  But why?  Because you actually preached something that threatened the house of cards they’ve built on the lie.  I know that hurts you.  I know it hurts them.  But you know… they just may come around.  And how many others will hear the preaching and reject the lie and embrace the Truth, embrace life?!  Preach. Without fear. 

            After all, if God is for you (and He is, in Christ), who can be against you?  Do you not see that the whole history of the world and your eternal life depends on the birth of a Baby?  That is why Satan hates children.  It all depends on a pregnancy.  It depends on what we would call an “unplanned” pregnancy, though God planned it from all eternity.  And there really is no such thing as an unplanned pregnancy in the sight of God… There are challenging circumstances that are less than ideal, yes, but the human being in the womb is not unplanned.  She is loved!  But I am speaking, in this instance, of course, of our Lord Jesus Christ, born to His unwed, teenage mother.  Conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit, He was an embryo, a fetus, a baby, a child who grew into adulthood, to save us in every stage of life.  To redeem us all.  To redeem the world.  He grew up to die on the cross for aborted babies and their mothers and their fathers, for abortion doctors and politicians, for pastors who fail to preach and Christians who fail to speak, for you, for me, for all… every single person here this day, every single person, period.  People are not the enemy.  How can they be?  So precious are they in God’s sight, He gave His only Son for them.  He gave His only Son for you.

            And death does not get the last word.  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.  He lives.  You live in Him.  He will raise you.  He will raise those precious babies.  The last word is not death.  It is life.  Precious, holy, redeemed life.

            Thank you for being here today.  Do not lose heart.  Keep speaking.  Keep loving.  You are not alone.  Shine the Light.  The darkness cannot overcome it.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.