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The American Holocaust
By
D. James Kennedy
A.B., M. Div., M. Th., D.D., D. Sac. Lit., Ph D., Litt. D.,
D. Sac. Theol., D. Humane Let.
"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." -- Jeremiah 1:5
Today, January 22, 1989, marks the 16th anniversary of the controversial and infamous Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which opened the door to what has been termed the American Holocaust, wherein 23 million infants yet unborn have perished. This is more than the total population of the nation of Canada. This is twice the population of the whole continent of Australia. This is almost four times the number of Jews who were slaughtered by Hitler.
On Memorial Day we remember the thousands of men and women who fought and gave their lives for our country. It is fitting, I believe, on this anniversary of Roe v. Wade (known as Sanctity-of-Life Sunday) that we consider the tens of millions of babies who never had a chance to give their lives for anything; who never saw the light of day.
Last week I preached on the quest for personal peace. If we are going to effectively fight the battles that the Lord has called us into, it is important that there be that cool center of rest - or to change the metaphor, that warm center, that quiet center, as in a hurricane that fuels the tremendous activity that goes on about it and which unquestionably changes things wherever it goes. If we are going to change things, we need to have a quiet and warm center where we can find peace with God.
But, on the other hand, for the Christian there must be some activity beyond the center. Dr. Francis Schaeffer of L'Abri, Switzerland, one of the greatest theologians and philosophers of this century, said in this pulpit several years before he died that the great tragedy of the American church is that the vast majority of American church people are concerned about nothing beyond personal peace and prosperity.
Interestingly, having just returned from the inauguration of President Bush in Washington, it was very clear over and over again that the theme of that event was peace and prosperity. Now, I am as much for peace and prosperity as any man, but as Christians our concerns must reach beyond simply a concern for our own peace and prosperity.
In the New Testament Jesus Christ declares that we must reach out and be concerned for our neighbor and for the world in which we live. A Christian must have a greater concern than simply for peace and prosperity. Indeed, the most unregenerate, the most self-centered, the most unconcerned and egoistic unbeliever in the world is concerned about peace and prosperity. But for a Christian there must be more. In fact, if that is all we are concerned about, it is very unlikely that we are truly Christians at all.
THE THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR ROE V. WADE
Let us consider for a few moments the real nature of what lies behind Roe v. Wade - this decision which has so changed our nation. Mother Teresa said, "Abortion is a crime that kills not only the child but [it kills] the consciences of all involved."
What is the real theological, philosophical basis for all of this? Many people don't know that Roe v. Wade had religious roots to it. Strangely, the courts have struck down laws because they had religious overtones, because they had been influenced by religion. That is very interesting when we consider that even this case had some religious roots to it as well. In fact, Justice Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion, made it abundantly clear that if any religion was to be a guide to him, it would be... I wonder how many of you know what religion was the most guidance to the Justice in this decision? "It would be," said Blackmun, "paganism."
He alluded to the ancient religions of the Persians, the Greeks and of the Romans - ancient paganism with its little concern for the sanctity of life, where babies were left out on the sides of the mountains or in the forests to be devoured by animals or picked up by strange looking people who had some weird designs for them.
SANCTITY OF LIFE V. QUALITY OF LIFE
We are told that the sanctity of life ethic must be replaced with a "quality of life" ethic. Millions of people hear those terms bandied about yet they really don't perceive what is involved in them at all. But let me tell you, my friends, I would like for you to look through that window and you will see a totally different world opening before you when you understand what that means.
Malcolm Muggeridge, a brilliant author from England, made this profound statement:
The sanctity of life is, of course, a religious or transcendental concept, and has no meaning otherwise; if there is no God, life cannot have sanctity. By the same token, the quality of life is an earthly or worldly concept, and can only be expressed legalistically, and in materialistic terms; the soul does not come into it.
Did you grasp that? It is only with a theistic, with a godly, with a spiritual view of life that we can have a sanctity of life ethic, because only God grants sanctity or sanctifies. But is that view is replaced with a quality of life ethic, it is being replaced with a paganistic or materialistic or atheistic ethic. We can talk about the quality of a material thing or baby, but we cannot talk about the quality of his soul as being greater or less than the quality of the soul of another baby. That is transcendental; it is spiritual.
And so, in going from the sanctity of life to the quality of life, we have gone from a theistic to an atheistic view; from a spiritual to a materialistic view; from a Christian to a pagan view of life. And we have done it without most Americans even knowing it has happened.
ANALOGIES WITH NAZISM
There are other roots and analogies that are involved in this. In addition to paganism there are close analogies with Nazism. To wit: In the Nuremberg Trials the Nazis were denounced for killing people in their gas chambers, for aborting children in their concentration camps and killing them. Again, Malcolm Muggeridge says something which I think is very interesting. He said, "Surely some future Gibbon, surveying our times will note sardonically that it took no more than three decades to transform a war crime [an atrocity condemned in the Nuremberg Trials] into an act of compassion..."
Consider that. What the whole world condemned as atrocious and crimes against humanity has now become an act of compassion! This is absolutely astonishing when you think about it. In fact, I don't know if you knew this or not, but the institution that was in charge of the concentrations camps of Germany had a very interesting title. It was called the "Charitable Foundation for Institution Care."
If you think that is incredible, listen to this: The institutions which have performed this slaughter and butchery, this dismemberment of 23 million American babies, has been designated by the Internal Revenue Service with this tax exempt designation: "Charitable Organizations" engaged in "Promoting Health." Semantic gymnastics, to say the least.
WHEN DOES LIFE BEGIN?
Some people claim that they don't really know whether the unborn is a living thing or not...or whether it is potential life...or if it is real life! They don't really know what it is! Ronald Reagan, in a book Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, said something I think very profound, yet very simple. He said, "If you don't know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it."
Suppose you had an automobile accident and your daughter was severely injured. A doctor arrives at the scene and says, "I can barely perceive a pulse. I can hardly see much indication of breathing. I'm not sure whether she is alive or dead." But he says to the policeman, "Take her and bury her because I'm not sure whether she is alive or not." Even that bit of doubt should keep us from ever killing a child.
Yet, today, with the advance of embryology and with the advance of fetology, a fetoscope is able to be inserted into the womb to take motion pictures of an actual abortion. As you watch a baby fighting to get rid of the tools that are being used to rip its arms off, and then its legs, and finally to crush its head, you know that is a living human being who is struggling to live.
Abortion is indeed a crime that kills not only the baby but the consciences of all involved. The consciences of those who are involved in performing abortions, indeed, have become hardened beyond anything that we might imagine.
COMPARISONS WITH NAZI HOLOCAUST
Listen to some of the comments by American abortionists (doctors whom you would not imagine) as we consider some of the parallels between abortion in America and the holocaust in Germany - the American Holocaust compared to the Nazi Holocaust:
In 1936 the high court of Germany "refused to recognize Jews living in Germany as 'persons' in the legal sense." They were not persons and therefore were not protected by any of the laws.
In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court [Roe v. Wade] declared that "the word 'person,' as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the un-born." They are, according to Roe v. Wade not persons. Therefore you can burn them alive with saline solutions; you can rip their limits off one by one as long as you put them together again outside the womb to make sure you've got all of the parts and other similarities.
At the Hadamar euthanasia hospital [in Germany] patients killed with injections were told that they were for "treatment of their lung disease."
In 1976 [in America] Dr. Willard Cates called abortion the "preferred treatment" for..."the number two sexually transmitted disease." What was the disease? "Unwanted pregnancy"! To him it is a disease to be treated - treated by ripping the baby apart!
Dr. Howard I. Diamond, physician, supposed to be concerned with the lives of people says, "I feel sorry for a starving cat...a fetus that nobody wants - that's not sad." My friends, it is sad that any doctor who has taken the Hippocratic Oath could ever come to such a state of degeneracy as that.
Indeed, there is no such thing as an unwanted child. One of the arguments used by abortionists is that it is better to kill the child than to have him or her come into the world unwanted. There are 1½ million babies aborted every year - but there are 2 million couples looking to adopt children at the same time. Recently a baby was born with AIDS. The parents didn't want the child. There were seven families lined up to adopt that child. Another myth has been exploded by reality.
What do we call this child created in the image of God? Sacred, holy unto God. Someone said of the bodies of Jews in one of the gas ovens, "What should we do with this garbage?" And yet Fetal researcher Dr. Martti Kekomaki [in America] in 1980 said, "An aborted baby is just garbage."
Heads severed from inmates exterminated in gas chambers were utilized as "paperweights" in the offices of camp commanders [in Nazi Germany]. But, of course, this is America. We would never do a thing like that - or would we? The brains, organs and bodies of aborted babies encased in a "paperweight" type of plastic block were sold by a Chicago biological supply firm.
As the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial in 1947 witness Walter E. Schmidt defended the Nazi holocaust with this statement: "The jurists in Berlin told us this was a legal matter...quite legal."
In 1980 abortionist Dr. Michael Jackson furnished an identical rationalization in support of today's abortion holocaust: "I just go by what the courts say...I only do what's legal."
The subjects [in Nazi Germany] were forced to undergo when we cut their heads off, but anesthetics are definitely unnecessary." And one doctor cut off a number of heads, connected them up to pumps with blood and kept them alive for days, functioning with brain wave patterns.
And so we see that the similarities between the Nazi Holocaust and the American Holocaust are great. There are many, many more quotations which I did not read but I that is enough to give you the idea that we are going down the same slippery path. It is tragic that it took just 30 years for us, who condemned the Nazis, to begin our way down the same path.
COMPARISONS WITH SLAVERY
Also, we might notice the comparisons with slavery. In 1857 the Dred Scott Decision of the Supreme Court declared that slaves were not "persons" in the legal sense of the Constitution. Therefore you could do anything you wanted with them, including killing them, because they were not persons. In the same way the ancient Greek pagans and Romans referred to their slaves simply as "inanimate tools." They were not persons; they were not human beings, they did not have souls even as the black slaves were said not to have souls and therefore they could be killed or mutilated as one saw fit.
But, my friends, we now look back on the Dred Scott Decision...we now look back on ancient paganism...we now look back on the Nazi atrocities...and say, "How could people have been so blind to do such things as that?" Indeed, how could they?
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
I remember one time asking a person who had lived in Germany during the Nazi atrocities, "How did the Germany people allow these things to go on? How could that have happened?" I wonder if some of our grandchildren aren't going to say, when Roe v. Wade is overturned and goes the way of the Dred Scott Decision (as I am sure it will), "Granddaddy, what were you doing during the time of the American Holocaust? What did you do to stop it?"
I would ask you that question right now. I believe that it will be ended. Sandra Day O'Connor believes that it will be ended. She has said repeatedly that Roe v. Wade has encountered a collision course with itself because of the tremendous inconsistencies. It is not only bad morals and bad medicine, it is bad law. Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote for the majority in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, said, "Will Roe v. Wade go down the drain? I think there's a very distinct possibility that it will - this term. You can count the votes."
You may remember that in the first abortion case the decision was 7 to 2 in favor of abortion. In the second case, several years later, it was 6 to 3. In the third case it was 5 to 4. Since then the Court has changed with the addition of Anthony Kennedy so that now there are the three new judges on the Supreme Court: Kennedy, Scalia and O'Connor, all of whom are against abortion, as well as the other two judges who voted against it in 1973, White and Rehnquist. So now there is a 5 to 4 majority against abortion on the Supreme Court and that majority will probably increase in the next several years.
There are several abortion cases presently working their way up through the courts. One of them which is most important, is the Missouri case which would require the Court to declare when an individual becomes a person; when life truly begins. This could be a very significant case.
My friends, we need to be involved. We need to pray fervently for the Court and for the Justices as they consider these cases coming before them. We need to be active in this fight. What indeed were you doing during the American Holocaust? It may very well be that Roe v. Wade will be overturned this year. What did you do during that frightful 16 or 17 years in which it was enforced when so many millions died?
If we took the quality of life concept, then indeed, as someone has pointed out, no doubt "Beethoven would scarcely have been allowed to be born." With a family history of syphilis, insanity and deafness, it no doubt would have been recommended that he not be born.
EXCUSES OF ABORTIONISTS
Of course, we hear many excuses. We are told about the woman who has been raped. Yet less than 2 percent of rape victims conceive. We are told about cases of incest. But all of the cases of incest and all of the cases of rape amount to just 2 percent of all abortions. Recent studies have confirmed repeatedly that 98 percent of all abortions are done because the women "do not wish to be pregnant at this particular time."
Murder for convenience is what it is. Ninety-eight percent! And yet those 2 percent represent 98 percent of the arguments of the pro-abortionists! That is all they talk about. Fine! Let's get rid of the other 98 percent and we'll talk about those later. About 60 percent of the women who get abortions don't do it because of their own free choice. The vast majority of them are unwed, young, teenagers, 70 percent white. They do it because they were pressured to do it...by the father of the child...by friends...by parents...by other people. Many of them say that if it weren't for that pressure, they would have brought the baby to term and either have kept it or put it out for adoption.
There are a lot men who would have to see Roe v. Wade overturned because it removes from them an easy way out of their immorality. Many a man is guilty of pressuring a young lady to get an abortion, to sweep under the rug his promiscuity as well as hers. We talk about free choice. There is always a choice. The choice was made nine months earlier or seven or five or two - but there was a choice - the choice to say no to sin rather than to say no to life.
I saw a cartoon this week which, if it weren't tragic, would indeed be humorous. It showed two babies sitting upon a cloud in heaven with halos around their heads and one of them was saying to the other, "She had no right aborting me...after all, it's my body!"
Prayer: Father, we are thankful that a young unmarried woman who was pregnant and who some felt was babbling about visitations from angels - was not subject to abortion, or we would not be here today to worship Jesus. We pray, O God, that we may be concerned for something other than personal peace and prosperity; that we may have hearts that reach out to those who are being led off to destruction; that we may have caring hearts. O God, we pray that we may not use false rationalizations simply to cover up our own immoral choices. We pray that this great blight on America, this holocaust, will soon end and that tiny babies may live to see the light of day. O God, deliver us from the mentality of paganism and Nazism and slavery, and help us to know that that babe within the womb can be sanctified by Thee and ordained even to be a prophet unto the nations, as was Jeremiah before he was ever brought forth from the womb. We thank thee, O God, that Jesus was born and lived and gave His life willingly on a Cross that we might find forgiveness for our sins, and though they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.
O God, there may be some here who are guilty of taking the life of their own baby. We pray that Thou wilt cause them to flee to the Cross to find mercy and forgiveness in a time of need. There may be others here - men who by their immoral acts have encouraged young girls to such action. May they find repentance and forgiveness through Christ. And take this blight away from America, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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