Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, are abortions worse than ever? This is prompted by a heartbreaking article I read recently in the New York Times. In 2022, Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that gave rise to legal abortions in the United States, was overturned as the court really sent the issue of abortion back to the particular states so that each state could decide for itself where it would fall. So it might surprise you to hear that since Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortions in America are on rise, not the decline. Now, this is prompted by telehealth. In the same way that you and I might pop on a zoom call with a doctor and receive medicine, for our sinus infection or migraines or what have you. Women are increasingly turning to online doctor's appointments to receive a doctor's advice, counsel and drugs for for having an abortion. In fact, 25% of abortions in the United States now happen in through telehealth, with 99% of abortions in states where abortion is illegal relying on mail order abortion pills that came from a telehealth provider. The point is that even though the political battle, at least on one level, seemed to have been won, the actual fight against abortion, or you might say the fight to save the lives of unborn children is being lost in a very real and day to day way. Now you might think, well, that's tragic and sad, but what does that have to do with me? I'm not considering getting an abortion. My wife or girlfriend's not considering getting an abortion. So what's the point? Well, here's the issue. Life is something that God calls every Christian to protect. Proverbs 24:11 says this Rescue those who are being taken away to death hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. You see, unborn children being massacred is a problem. And it's a problem that God wants you and I to be thinking about and he wants you and I to to be solving. Now, I don't pretend that you and I are superheroes or even maybe elected officials with the ability to push a button and make any of this go away. But knowing about it is the first step to whatever God may want. I do think that for many of us, the first call is to prayer, to be crying out to God to mourn the fact that we live in a society where unborn children are being murdered, where they're being murdered at increasing rates. They're being murdered in, in a cold and calculated and kind of impersonal way, a zoom call and some pills, destroying, a life. But for others of us, God's call will actually go beyond prayer. He will call us to be his hands and feet in engaging the fight against abortion for some of us. He will call us to run for office, to volunteer at a pregnancy resource center, to engage in online counseling that might meet women or young couples in a crisis, in a moment of need, and offer them counsel towards life and away from murder. He might call us to think about how we vote or to think about who in what organizations we support. The point is that the issue of life is our issue. The issue of protecting the unborn, protecting the vulnerable is our issue. And it's something that we have to engage in one way or the other. My concern is that in the Christian world, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was the last step. Hey, we did that. It's done. Let's move our attention to other issues, particularly for people who live in states where maybe abortion has been made illegal. That doesn't mean babies aren't being killed. They are. And that is a reason you and I must get involved. So what will God do in your heart and in your mind and in your life? How can you pray? How can you engage? How can you get involved? Because people's lives quite literally depend on it. The life of the unborn child and the life of the mother, who, as studies have shown us, will live in regret over that decision. And by the way, let me say this because I think it's always important anytime we talk about abortion, if you are one of those women, if abortion is part of your own story, I want to remind you that when Jesus Christ goes to the cross, he takes our sin, including even the sin, of murder. So let him pay the penalty. Don't act out of guilt and shame. But consider that maybe your story is a story that many young women need to hear. Abortion is on the rise. The church must step up. Lives really do hang in the balance. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!