Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the guest author.
This election season, pastors must unapologetically speak truth to their congregations in pulpits nationwide, including this message that many shy away from: Abortion is murder and must be unabashedly opposed by followers of Christ.
The pro-life landscape in America would look radically different if the Church advocated for preborn lives. In Florida, if the deadly abortion Amendment 4 is to fail, Christians cannot remain quiet or complacent as they have in years past.
Sadly, it is estimated that 25 million Christians who are registered to vote don’t, and one in three American Christians do not vote consistently. If the Church voted biblical values, specifically on the life issue, how might our society and culture be different? This week, we hosted a Pastors’ Briefing in six cities across Florida to educate pastors and encourage them to train and mobilize their congregations and defeat the deadly abortion amendment in Florida.
The consequences of an apathetic church are far from hypothetical — look no further than Ohio, a moderately conservative state, where a radical abortion amendment narrowly passed in 2023, to see how Christians can be the difference between evil being restrained or voted into law.
In Ohio, a significant percentage of Christians didn’t vote in the 2023 election, but among the those who did vote, roughly 24% of white evangelicals voted for the deceptively worded abortion amendment (Issue 1) that enshrined abortion into the state constitution. How tragic! If the Church had stepped up to the plate and educated, mobilized, and encouraged churchgoing Christians to vote biblically, imagine how different the result would have been.
Amendment 4 in Florida, the so-called “Amendment to Limit Government Interference in Abortion,” states in the first nine words that “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion.” NO limits. NO doctors. NO health and safety standards. NO parental consent. And taxpayer funding to boot.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis rightfully noted that Amendment 4 is the first constitutional amendment in Florida history that actually takes rights away from people. An entire class of people — the preborn — will be completely stripped of their God-given right to life if this gruesome amendment is enshrined into the Florida constitution.
Just a few years ago, Florida allowed abortion up until 24 weeks’ gestation, but now that the radical 1989 T.W. decision handed down 35 years ago by activist justices on the Florida Supreme Court has been overturned, a heartbeat bill prevents abortion after six weeks, transforming Florida from an abortion “destination state” to one of the most pro-life in the nation. If Amendment 4 enshrines abortion into the state’s Constitution, there will be no restrictions and no protections. Decades of pro-life protections will be erased. The Sunshine State will become an abortion “tourism” state and a graveyard for the preborn — and the broken lives of mothers, fathers, and all of society.
Spiritual Battle of Life or Death
To win the fight for life in Florida and defeat the radical abortion amendment, the Church must stand in the gap, and pastors must be bold enough to speak out — from the pulpit — against the murder of innocents.
It is a dereliction of duty for a pastor to not speak for life and against the deadly abortion cult. There is no greater cause than defending these little ones. Pastors and faith leaders must also dispel myths that abortion is “health care” and good for women.
The preborn are made in the image of God and have the right to life. Satan is the father of lies, so naturally, he is going to use the well-funded propaganda machine of Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion cult to destroy God’s creation and deceive individuals into believing evil is “good.”
How can pastors defeat this evil agenda and stand for life? Urge congregants to register to vote and invite a local voter registrar to your church to register people on the spot. Educate them on the gruesome reality of abortion, pray for abortion measures to fail, preach the truth that all humans are made in God’s image, and teach that standing for life is a way to love your neighbor and the least of these.
A Modern-Day Black Robe Regiment for Life
Ecclesiastes 3 says, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven,” including “a time for war.” In January 1776, Pastor Peter Muhlenberg used this passage and preached, “In the language of the holy writ, there was a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away.”
He continued, “There is a time to fight, and that time has now come,” and then revealed his colonel’s uniform for the Continental Army under his black clerical robe. He implored his congregation: “Who among you is with me?”
As a result, 300 men from his church joined and so the 8th Virginia Regiment was formed. Pastors like Muhlenberg across the 13 colonies who rallied their congregations to fight for liberty earned the name “Black Robe Regiment.”
Nearly 250 years later, we need another “Black Robe Regiment” in pulpits across America to condemn the genocide of the preborn happening outside of church doors, imploring their congregations to, at the very least, vote — and vote for life!
Have pastors become numb to the fact that roughly a million children are killed every year in what is the greatest human rights abuse of our time? If so, it’s time to find a different church or parish.
Life is the right of all rights, and the sanctity of preborn life is close to the heart of God. A Church asleep and apathetic leads to abuse and death, and in this case, to countless preborn lives lost. This is a life-or-death spiritual issue, and silence is deadly.
If we want to see lives saved from the barbarism of abortion, then the Church must be on the front lines in the fight for life.
Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel
Author Bio: Mat Staver is founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, and chairman of Liberty Counsel Action, Faith and Liberty, Covenant Journey and Covenant Journey Academy. He has more than 350 legal opinions, authored eight scholarly law review publications, and many articles and books. Mat has argued in many federal and state courts, including three landmark cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, which includes a 9-0 precedent-setting victory in Shurtleff v. City of Boston. This case unanimously rejected the 1971 Supreme Court opinion of Lemon v. Kurtzman that did incredible damage to the First Amendment for 51-years. He hosts two daily radio programs, “Freedom’s Call and Faith and Freedom,” as well as a weekly television program, “Freedom Alive.”
