MISSION TIDINGS

GIFTS RECEIVED FOR MISSIONS IN DECEMBER 1980

CLASSIS EAST SOURCE AMOUNT

Franklin Lakes Collections $1685.50

Clifton Miscellaneous 225.00

CLASSIS MID WEST

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 100.00

Friend in Chicago Hts. Gift 100.00

In Kalamazoo collection Gifts 585.00

Kalamazoo Mission Night 425.00

Kalamazoo fund Gift 500.00

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 300.00

Unionville & Bradford Mission Night 1037.25

Friend in Lynwood Gift 200.00

St. Catharines Mission Night 500.00

St. Catharines Gift 250.00

Plymouth School Miscellaneous 50.00

Grand Rapids Miscellaneous 225.00

Grand Rapids Miscellaneous 325.00

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 600.00

Timothy Gift 10.00

Friend in Michigan Gift 150.00

CLASSIS WEST

Sioux Center & Rock

Valley Mission Night 696.00

Sioux Center Gift 141.00

Sheboygan Mission Night 500.00

Mrs. Minderhound estate Gift 1000.00

Friend in Waupun Gift 200.00

Sioux Center Mission Sale 4237.00

CLASSIS FAR WEST

Sunnyside Mission Night 2640.00

Lethbridge Tabitha Miscellaneous 82.00

Artesia Miscellaneous 55.00

Chilliwack Mission Night 869.75

OTHER

Covell Ave. - Gr. Rapids Gift 250.00

Friends in Australia Gift 200.00

Friend in Salisbury Gift 150.00

Friend in Manhatten Gift 500.00

Friend in Columbia Gift 200.00

TOTAL: $18,988.50

Dear friends,

For the last month of the year of 1980 we are again priviledged by the Lord, in behalf of the mission board, to extend our hearty thanks for the generous support for our Missions in the month of December. Also, herewith, we want to thank everyone for all their gifts throughout the year of 1980. May the Lord truly bless you all and your gifts. Could it please the Lord to go with us into another year. That the Lord would bless the mission workers wherever they are working, far and near, and that the bond of our congregations may be strengthened by the Lord in the way of prayer and financial support.

The command the Lord has given to His church must be more and more felt by every true member of His church as we enter into the perilous times that the Bible speaks about and also that the time of the world appears to be nearing its end. We must realize the great responsibility that lies upon the true church of Christ. I really believe if there could be sorrow in heaven it would be on account that we are so careless, in general, about the very command of the Lord Jesus Christ, what you find in the last part of Matthew 28, “go ye into all the world.”

How can we be so satisfied, that we have the truth, while millions have never heard the law and the gospel expounded unto them.

My friends, think of the early church and how that the Lord commanded the apostles to begin at Jerusalem. The Bible says, the Jew first. What are we doing as far as the Jews are concerned? That the Lord might raise up men who may be truly born again and called to the mission work among the Jews. The Lord also said to go from Jerusalem to the Gentiles. How sad it is that the mission board having made an appeal for mission workers for Haiti or elsewhere, have not received one reply. Do we truly, as a church, feel our sad situation? Do God’s people feel a burden on their hearts to pray for laborers in the vineyard for the last hour? If it is right, we don’t have to throw stones.

May the Lord rend the heavens and come down and visit His vine. That the messengers may be sent out to the east and to the west, to the north and to the south, so that the Lord’s house may be full.

Mr. and Mrs. Tom Moerdyk, with their children, have arrived safely home by Tom’s parents in Kalamazoo and hope to be there for a few months. May the Lord give them a blessed time in the States visiting relatives and friends.

American General Mission Fund Netherlands Reformed Congregations of United States and Canada.

John Spaans, Treasurer 2376 Shadow Lane N.E.

Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505

Telephone: 616-364-8379

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

From Rev. and Mrs. Hegeman:

We want to thank all the friends who sent us their good wishes for the New Year. That God may richly bless you and your families is our wish and prayer for 1981.

Please take notice of our correct address in Ermelo.

Kozakkemkamp 29,

3851 G.J. ermelo

Nederland

Sincerely yours,

Rev. and Mrs. C. Hegeman

IS ABORTION REALLY SO BAD?

In the year 1979, 1.32 million abortions were performed in hospitals and various clinics across the United States and more than 60,000 unborn children were put to death across Canada. Three out of every ten pregnancies were aborted in North America in 1979. If we consider that Canada lost 40,000 men and United States surrendered .4 million lives during World War II, we begin to realize how many lives are being taken by human hands in our countries. Three times as many unborn children have lost their lives in one year in our countries than our countries have lost soldiers in the Second World War.

When we reflect back with grief upon the lives lost during World War II, how much more we should contemplate this present day issue of abortion. We certainly should have a strong rational, ethical, and moral basis to permit this many lives to be ended by human hands each year.

Let us examine the arguments used by those who promote abortion to determine on how strong of a foundation this practice is based.

Argument 1: The fetus (unborn child) is not really human, therefore it can be killed.

Those who hold this viewpoint will agree that at some point the child growing in the womb of the mother becomes a human being. Some set this time at the sixth week of pregnancy, some at three months, some at felt signs of life by the mother, and some at birth. Hospitals, clinics, and state or provincial rules conerning the maximum development stage at which to allow abortion vary with these various opinions. When we consider some medical facts, as the following, it would appear very difficult to speak definitely of a time in which the fetus is not human.

- At 3 weeks after conception a baby’s heart begins beating

- At 6 weeks after conception a baby’s brain waves are traceable

- At 11 weeks after conception all of the baby’s internal organs are present and functioning.

Further, if there was a time after conception in which the living and growing unborn child was not human, what would it be then? If we search biological classifications of living organisms, what would we classify this living and growing fetus as if it was not a human being? If this matter of determining when the unborn child is a human being is so unclear, how do we dare to say that abortion is permissable, and that it is not murder?

Argument 2: The fetus requires a host body and therefore cannot be considered fully human because it is dependent on another.

Those who uphold this argument of independent viability tread on very dangerous territory. If this is true than an individual is less human because he is dependent upon another person or object, we could also argue with this principle that the newborn, the physically and mentally handicapped, the senile, the kidney-machine dependent, etc. are all less human, because they are directly dependent on others and therefore we may dispose of them at random. If it is murder for a mother to kill her newborn child which is entirely dependent upon her, (consider especially an infant born prematurely) why is it not murder for her to kill her child before it is born?

Argument 3: A woman has a right to do with her body what she wants.

Even if this argument were entirely true, (which it is not) this would not give her the right to do with another person’s body what she would desire. Abortion involves the death of a separate body, her unborn child’s. To argue that the living fetus is part of the mother’s body defies reason: which organ of her body is it then? When the unborn child’s heart beats, whose heart is it? When the fetus’ brain waves can be traced, whose brain is it? To willfully end the life of another for one’s own convenience has always been viewed as murder.

Argument 4: If abortion upon demand is declared illegal again, women will have abortions anyway by travelling to other countries or through illegal and unsafe street abortionists.

The fact that other areas of the world practice things which we forbid, or that items can be purchased illegally which are out-lawed, is not a proper basis for law making. Our laws must be based on sound principles; if abortion is the taking of the life of another, it must be forbidden by law. Further, whatever evidence can be gathered seems to indicate that the back-street abortionists are as active today as they were some years ago before abortion upon demand was practiced.

Argument 5: Death before birth is better for the “unwanted” child, than living a life of “unwantedness”.

To give a human being decisional powers to determine if another individual is “wanted” or “unwanted” is most dangerous. The implications of this viewpoint are staggering. Once human life is devalued to a level of human decision concerning its worthiness or its “wantedness”, then the horrors of Nazi defined worthless or “unwanted” human beings are again brought into the field of human consideration. Would some not place the severely mentally retarded, invalids, the senile, etc. in this same category? Further, do not many “unwanted” pregnancies result in “wanted” children after birth? Do not many “unwanted” children overcome severe social handicaps in their youth and function as useful adult citizens? Are not adoption agencies continually short of infants for parents who want “unwanted” children?

In critically examining the five basic arguments for abortion upon demand, can we honestly conclude that on a rational, ethical, and moral basis abortion should be legal? When we consider that more than 95% of all abortions in the past year were for personal convenience reasons and that less than 5% were for rape, incest, protection of the life of the mother, and defective fetuses, must this not heighten our concern? In a country based on the guaranteeing of certain individual rights to its citizens—of which the right to life is a most basic principle, are we not digressing to authorize “murder-upon-demand” today?

It is amazing that often those stressing the need to stop abortion are accused of trying to force their beliefs on others, instead of the promoters of abortion. All who participate in an abortion force their views on another; on the unborn child’s, so strongly in fact, that it results in his or her death. If the unborn child is a human being when examined rationally, ethically, and morally, then how can one be accused of trying to force his own belief on another when trying to protect the life of the child from his or her murderer? If a mother abused her six month old child so severely that the child died and we demand this practice be stopped because it harms and results in the loss of life of another, would we be accused of forcing our belief on another? This type of shallow accusation misses the entire argument. If the unborn child is a human being—then abortion is MURDER! If abortion is murder we must do all in our power to stop it.

The liberalization of interpretation of laws concerning abortion today by many courts, legislatures, doctors, and hospital boards has resulted in the huge number of abortions we are witnessing presently. Further, it has certainly subjected our society to some strong paradoxes; such as:

*Today, a woman crossing the street in front of a hospital, which she plans to enter to have an abortion, could be hit by a car and lose her baby. If the driver of the car was at fault, she could legally sue the driver for the loss of her child’s life. Yet the same woman could also proceed into the hospital without an accident, and legally have her child’s life taken away through abortion.

*Today, more unborn children and infants die from abortion than from any other form of accidents or diseases. The most dangerous place for a developing child today is in his or her mother’s womb.

*Today, there is much concern and travelling of great distances to try to protect whales or defenseless seal pups from those who would try to kill them. Yet more defenseless human babies were put to death last year than whales and seals combined, in our own localities, with much less concern and publicity.

*Today, many legislators are fighting to outlaw all forms of capital punishment, even for the worst of criminal offenders, because this is viewed as cruel and unusual punishment. Yet, many of the same individuals can vote to approve the killing of thousands and thousands of innocent unborn children.

So far we have concentrated on defeating the proabortionists’ “best” arguments on their own grounds of rational, ethical, and moral reasoning, via a negative approach. We have left basically untouched the innumerable serious side-consequences of abortion: the screams of the unborn (see Dr. Gilson’s book, Alarm—A World in Danger); the cutting, slicing, burning, poisoning, or bleeding accompanying approved murder (see Dr. Koop’s book, The Right to Live, particularly the section on the techniques of abortion); the tragic burial of the unborn in trash cans and ashen incinerators (see Ed Melton’s article in Temple Times); the post-abortion anxiety, depression, sense of loss, anger, remorse, nightmares, infertility, and flashbacks of murdering mothers who yielded to the increasingly acceptable option and social fashion of modern abortioning. (See a remarkable study in Milwaukee of 95 postabortion women which reveals the variety of types of distress experienced, pp. 57–58 of Dr. Koops’ book.)

But now, in the second half of our article, we must turn to a higher court of authority than human reasoning and human consequences. We are called to the infinitely more important task of setting forth positively the truths and proclamations of God’s Word which are directly and/or indirectly involved in the issue of abortion. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them,” (Is. 8:20). Ultimately, the issue of abortion can and must be settled only in the pages of Holy Writ—not by court proclamations of Bible-denying judges. Proclamation 1: God’s Word clearly treats person-hood (soul and body) as commencing at conception.

God’s Word never treats the soul as being created in the womb at some point after conception. Rather, in Psalm 51:5 David tells us: “Behold I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” How can an unborn child, while yet in the womb, possess a sinful nature which separates him from God, and yet possess no soul? Can anything be shapen in iniquity while remaining soul-less? David confesses his united soul-body creation even more plainly in Psalm 139:13–16,

“For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise Thee; for I (soul and body) am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

Further, in Gen. 9:4 we read, “the life thereof, which is the blood thereof.” This phrase is the basis for many other passages of Scripture which equate blood with life, and call the shedding of blood sin (Jer. 22:3; Ps. 106:37–38; Dt. 19:10, 13; 21:9; II. Ki. 24:4; Prov. 6:16–17, etc.). In other words, since every fetus has its own blood, the shedding of that blood is as surely the taking of life (soul and body) as it would be in any other circumstance or situation.

Proclamation 2: The Word of God forbids murder— by abortion or any other means— BECAUSE God created man in His own image.

Sacred Biblical truth proclaims to us unceasingly that God is the Author and Giver of human life, and therefore no creature has a right to intentionally dispose of, nor destroy such a complex Divine creation. In Gen. 9:6 we read, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man.” Though we have lost the image of God in its narrower sense entirely through our deep fall in Adam, wider remnants of God’s image still cling to us after the fall—including our very soul-body personhood. (See Conf. of Faith, art. 14.) In spite of our fall, we still receive our life from God in a special manner. In a peculiar manner we receive the breath or life of our soul directly from God (Gen. 2:7), making us more than a plant or animal. Job confessed, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”

Contrary to Scripture, abortionists—in the very principle of abortion, inevitably reject the sacredness and value of life, treat God’s complex creation as nothing more than a growing cell, and deny that the life of a human being is created for a never-ending eternity. At minimum, abortion reduces man to an animalistic level, ignoring the very mark of true personhood—his never-dying soul.

Proclamation 3: God’s Word teaches us that Divine sovereignty excludes all abortions —even in such cases as rape, incest, or possible retardation.

God’s sovereignty must be brought to the foreground in all areas of life—also in current areas of debate such as abortion. Abortion treads into Divine territory by taking into the hands of man that which belongs to the sovereign Jehovah alone. “The Lord killeth and maketh alive,” (I Sam. 2:6). Humanistic abortionists think it cruel to cut off all abortions entirely, especially in cases of rape, possible handicaps or retardation, and incest. Their cruelty charge, however, falls back on themselves.

With respect to rape, studies reveal that it seldom results in pregnancy. A study in Minneapolis of 3,500 consecutive rapes revealed not a single pregnancy. Besides, will abortion of the innocent product of a rape return the mother to an unviolated, unassaulted state? Will abortion apprehend the rapist? Will abortion restore the mother to her preraped state of peace of mind? In a sense, abortion of the unborn baby produced by rape is just as violent an act as the rape itself. Instead of adding crime to crime, how much better would it not be for such a mother to bow before the Lord, crying out, ” I know, Lord, that what has taken place is within the realm of Thy providence and sovereignty. Give me grace to bow under Thy ways.” Such grace would bring peace of mind far greater than all the abortion clinics in the world could give.

Each person formed in the womb of his mother lies in the decree of God—blind, retarded, maimed, and deformed as equally as those born with full health. Also in this respect the Lord’s way is above our ways. On the one hand, such a child is often not only loved by its parents equally as the others, but the Lord may also be pleased to teach valuable lessons through such trials. Dr. Koops writes:

“My professional life has been spent largely with children who are less than one would consider totally normal....In the thousands of such circumstances in which I have participated, I have never had a parent ask me why I tried so hard to save the life of their defective child. Nor has any parent ever expressed to me the wish that his child had not been saved.”

On the other hand, doctors are often wrong in predicting handicaps at birth. A British medical journal recently included this contribution:

“One way of catching class attention is to ask what advice students would give when presented with the following family history. The father has syphilis, the mother tuberculosis; they have already had four children—the first is blind, the second died, the third is deaf and dumb, and the fourth has tuberculosis. The mother is pregnant with her fifth child, and the parents are willing to have an abortion should you so decided....After the majority of the class express their favor of abortion, you tell them they have just murdered Beethoven.” God’s Sovereignty stands above everything— even of children conceived in incest. Aaron and Moses, the two appointed leaders of Israel, were both conceived in incest (Ex. 6:20).

God is free to do with all His creatures as it pleases Him, but we need grace to bow before Him, under Him, and in with Him. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and John the Baptist were converted already in the womb before many today would judge that they even had a soul, and we read in Romans 9:

“When Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the chidlren being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” (vs. 10;13).

Proclamation 4: According to God’s Word, Divine justice shall rest heavily on the nation or people who persevere in such murdering tragedies as abortion.

In Exodus 21:22–23 we read:

“If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life.”

If God’s commanded penalty for a case of accidental abortion is so severe, shall He stand idly by while murderous abortionists deliberately shed man’s blood? Must we not cry out, “Woe unto thee, North America. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. “Yes, abortion is truly bad. Abortion is nothing less than the premeditated, calculated, legalized murder of nameless, voiceless, helpless human beings created by God. It is said of the ancients that they sacrificed their infants unto the god Moloch. It may one day be written that the pagans of 20th century America sacrificed their infants—their unborn sons and daughters—to the gods of Selfishness, Materialm, Irresponsibility, and Humanism, via abortion. Abortion, together with a host of sexually permissive sins and materialistic idolatry, surely makes our land stink in the nostrils of God.

The Judge stands before the door. He will not be mocked. His patience will not endure forever. Senator Jesse Helms wrote: “Unless the abortion decision is reversed by an amendment to the Constitution, the future of America is in grave doubt, for no nation can remain free or exercise moral leadership when it has embraced the doctrine of death.”

The blood of countless millions cries to God. It is on all of our hands, for we are all guilty. Who is there among us that trembles at the Word of God—who trembles at the thought that what the Lord said to Cain—”the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to Me from the ground”—brings with it the awesome burden of the voiceless millions in our land whose innocent blood is being shed year after year?

May the Lord humble us. He only knows how far the evil of abortion has penetrated the domain of the church of God. It is an evil that eats as a canker because the truth has very little impression on the conscience of man any more.

Only the fear of God can keep us from sin. May the Lord convict us of our deep guilt, personally and nationally. God forbid that He find us unconcerned, silent, or lukewarm over such blatant iniquity as abortion. Personally and denominationally, let us seek grace to strive together against this outright breach of the 6th commandment.

WHA T TASKS ARE WE THEN CALLED TO?

(1) Prayer. Ask the Lord to give a prayer for our countries, its leaders, the medical profession, and others involved.

(2) Education. Obtain information on abortion, and seek ways to fight effectively against it.

(3) Support. Give financial or membership support to conservative anti-abortion groups such as Pro-Life, etc. (In the United States—subscribe to Eight to Life News, P.O. Box 73, Clovis, Calif. 93613.) (In Canada—subscribe to Pro Life News, 203–379 Broadway Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3C-0T9.) Speak against the sin of abortion to others when the opportunity avails itself.

(4) Legislation. As citizens of United States and Canada, write your appropriate elected government officials on a local and national level. (A form letter for this purpose will be printed and mailed to you or your consistory for distribution—please take the time to follow through with it.)

“Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance. Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved” (Ps. 28:9,10:19).

In behalf of the Denominational

Appointees to Government,

Rev. J.R. Beeke

Elder J.W. Beeke

The dog ceaseth not to bark so long as the thief is in the yard. A minister without this boldness is like a smooth file, a knife without an edge, a sentinel that is afraid to let off his gun when he should alarm the city upon a danger approaching. Nothing more unworthy than to see people bold to sin and the minister afraid to reprove!

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