“And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.” —Isaiah 13:11
| Massacre of Innocence - The
Occult Roots of Abortion This video looks at the spiritual roots of abortion and exposes the myths surrounding child killing. Little known historical facts about abortion and how they relate to modern feminism are presented logically and accurately. This video has been effective in converting many to a pro-life position. Massacre of Innocence goes where no pro-life presentation has gone before in "tearing the lid off abortion" to reveal the spiritual realities we must battle if we will bring an end to this crime. The presentation is absorbing, fast-paced, informative and incredibly devastating to any attempt to justify abortion.
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Running Time: 85 minutes |
THE MASSACRE OF INNOCENCE
THE OCCULT ROOTS OF ABORTION!
By Eric Holmberg and Jay Rogers
INTRODUCTION
"You practice your religion and let me practice mine."
"My religion is a holy ritual child sacrifice."
Patricia Baird-Windle,
Founder and owner of Aware Woman Center for Choice
* On August 4, 1992, two employees of Aware Woman abortion clinic, Veronica Jordan and Rebecca Morris, registered a non-profit religious corporation known as the Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida (WRCF). The stated purpose of the WRCF is to provide an umbrella organization for witch covens throughout the state of Florida. The incorporation papers list two abortion clinic employees as directors of the Wiccan organization.
* Shortly after the Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida was founded, Carol Ebbing, another Aware Woman abortion clinic employee ordered this book entitled: The Sacrament of Abortion.
* The book, authored by a Ginnette Paris, a witch in France, presents abortion as "a sacred act." Paris calls abortion: "a sacrifice to Artemis, who refuses to give life if the gift is not pure" (that is innocent or preborn life).
* The January 1993 issue of the Wiccan Open Circle newsletter described the founding of the Wiccan Religious Cooperative of Florida: "A year ago the dream of an umbrella group under which many covens would function and be committed to peace and harmony 'For The Good Of All,' was just that, a dream. But now it is a reality and a very, very big part of the lives of many people."
* This issue of Open Circle, published at the time the pro-life organization, Operation Rescue National, held an event in Melbourne, Florida, alerted Central Florida area Wiccans and Pagans, "... steps are being taken to protect not only Aware Woman, but a woman's right to choose. Work is being done mundanely, financially, and magically, to help get through the next few months and beyond."
* Readers of Open Circle were encouraged to become "clinic escorts" and were told how they could help fund the South Brevard National Organization of Woman's program to "help low income women have abortions."
* Wiccans were also encouraged to work their magic on the area surrounding the Aware Woman abortion clinic: "... many individuals and groups have been helping to magically protect the building and property ... This has been done by magical and psychic shielding being put on and around the property...."
MASSACRE OF INNOCENCE:
THE OCCULT ROOTS OF ABORTION
In focusing on the subject of abortion, much has been contended from a medical and social perspective. But when we pull the lid off and look at abortion from a biblical and spiritual perspective, the implications are far more profound and staggering.
As we view the ties between occult religion and the abortion industry, the conclusion will become obvious. The promotion of abortion is not just a political and social issue; it is part of a religious and spiritual agenda the religion of witchcraft and child sacrifice.
Part 1
ABORTION IN BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
There is much medical evidence that human life begins early in the development of a fetus. At only six to eight weeks of development it is obvious that the developing fetus is not "a blob of tissue," as pro-abortionists would like us to believe, but a remarkably developed baby boy or girl.
But medical and scientific evidence is not our primary source of Truth. The Word of God, the Bible, must be our source for determining the sanctity of life from the moment of conception. In fact, the very name of God points us in the direction of the sanctity of life from the time it is conceived in the womb.
Let's first briefly review what the Bible says about human life in the womb.
The Bible tells us in Exodus 34 verses 5 through 7, the name of the Lord followed by the revelation of His character and nature, Jehovah Rachum, or "God is merciful."
The root of the Hebrew word for "merciful," rachum, and "mercy," rachamim, was the first aspect of God's character to be revealed to the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai.
Racham is also the root of the word in Hebrew for "womb" rachum.
The womb then, in its original Hebrew context, is the center or seat of mercy, the place from which the child, being formed in the image of God, is conceived, formed, nurtured and born.
Jesus declared in Matthew 5:7, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." But the converse is also true. When men, for their own convenience, would send their swords into that place of life and mercy, defiling the sanctity of life within the recham the womb turning it from its purpose, it may be necessary to consider Christ's declaration of the wages earned by those who take up the sword: "Those who live by the sword, shall die by the sword" (Matthew 26:52).
It is no coincidence that Jesus, the Messiah, would be conceived in a womb and born of a woman after a full term pregnancy.
We need look no further than the story of Jesus' conception to see that life is indeed sacred from the womb. Christ himself was both fully man and fully God from the moment of His conception.
"And the angel answered and said to her: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God'" (Luke 1:35).
We see the sanctity of life in the womb outlined clearly in the Gospel according to Luke 1:26-41. Shortly after Christ's conception was revealed to Mary through the angel Gabriel, Luke tells us:
"Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit."
In Luke 1:26, we are told that Jesus was conceived exactly six months after Elizabeth's son, John the Baptist. It was John who leapt in the womb at the greeting of Mary and the coming of the preborn Savior into the house of his father, Zechariah.
The Bible tells us that Jesus was conceived six full months after John. Jesus had to be somewhere within the first trimester of pregnancy the time when 88 percent of the abortions in our nation are performed when John "leapt in the womb" at the arrival of the Savior.
It is also interesting to consider that the first "Gospel message" was preached at the coming of Christ while He was still in the first trimester of development. The "Good News" was initiated by the preborn infant John proclaiming the divinity of the baby Jesus that the Savior had come into the world.
It is clear throughout the Scriptures that life begins at conception in the womb.
"For Thou didst form my inward parts. Thou didst weave me in My mother's womb. I will give thanks to Thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalms 139:13).
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born I consecrated you" (Jeremiah 1:5).
"... the Lord who made you and formed you in the womb ..." (Isaiah 44:2).
According to Scripture, abortion is a sin against God a violation of the sixth commandment, "You shall not murder." It is the wanton killing of innocent human life in the womb a place designed by God to be a refuge of life and mercy.
PART 2
THE ORIGIN OF CHILD SACRIFICE
In focusing on the sin of abortion, we must keep our focus in spiritual perspective. The Bible tells us: "Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).
Our enemy in fighting abortion is not the abortionist, the courts, or those who are advocating for abortion rights. Our enemy is the one who was a murderer from the beginning Satan and the spiritual forces under his command.
Throughout history, certain pagan cultures have sacrificed human infants to demons as a part of a complicated ritual in return for favors asked of them. While few of those involved in abortion today are consciously engaging in child sacrifice, although that is precisely what abortion is the sacrifice of a human life for the convenience or needs of others. In that respect, it is no less barbaric than the human sacrifice practiced to ensure, for example, a successful harvest. But beyond this, there is a spiritual, satanically inspired dimension that gives frightening realism to abortion's identification with literal child sacrifice.
The Bible supports this idea as often we see a particular action viewed by God as something of a more overtly occult nature. Rebellion is called witchcraft; immorality is likened to idolatry; hatred is akin to murder thus abortion is child sacrifice.
To discover the origins child sacrifice we can examine a key passage of scripture. Genesis 19 gives the account of Lot and his daughters, some of the early ancestors of mankind: "And Lot went up from Zoar and stayed in the mountains and his two daughters with him." Then the first born said to the younger, "Our father is old and there is not a man on earth to come into us after the manner of the earth."
Now it so happens that there were men available just a few miles away geographically. But they meant something different. The "earth" is throughout scripture a symbol of a fallen unregenerate realm. James tells us that there is a wisdom from above that is "pure and peaceable," but that there is a wisdom from below which is "earthly, natural and demonic" (James 3:15,17). In the same way that many modern feminists want men purely on their own terms, Lot's daughters wanted a man in this "manner of the earth."
"So they made their father drink wine that night and laid with him" (Genesis 19:29-38). This was a gross act of rebellion against both their father and God. As a result both daughters had children. The oldest daughter's son was named Moab. His descendents, the Moabites, ultimately became an idolatrous nation that was one of the primary enemies of God's people Israel.
The youngest daughter's son Ben Ammi became the father of the sons of Ammon. 1 Kings 11:7 calls Molech "the detestable idol of the Ammonites." The name Molech in Hebrew means: "to ascend the throne" or, in other words, to usurp God's authority. Leviticus 20:2 tells us that Molech worship involved the sacrifice of one's offspring. While the Ammonites primarily sacrificed post-natal children, it is no coincidence that it is the Ammonites that God condemns in the book of Amos for a particular form of blood-thirstiness:
"For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and for four, will I not revoke its punishment, because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their borders" (Amos 1:13).
To "enlarge one's borders" is a biblical metaphor applied not just to land, but to extend the boundaries of acceptable human conduct. How common this is still today as we hear cries of "It's my choice" and "Keep your religion out of my life."
Baal and Molech Worship
"And they built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech" (Jeremiah 32:35).
"They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons as offering to Baal" (Jeremiah 19:5).
Here the Bible implies what modern archaeologists and anthropologists have recently discovered: that Molech and Baal represent the same pagan god. The wife of Baal is Asherah and the wife of Molech is Ashteroth. Asherah and Ashteroth represent the same fertility goddess. This demon was known to the Greeks as Aphrodite; to the Egyptians as Isis; and to the Phoenicians as Tanet.
PART 3
HUMAN SACRIFICE IN HISTORY
As horrific as it may sound, one of the most widespread forms of worship among ancient peoples was human sacrifice. Not only in Canaan, but also in northern Africa, India, Europe, and America, the ancients believed that the blood of the sacrifice is what appeased the gods.
The pagan practice of blood sacrifice is actually a perversion of the rites given by God to His people Old Covenant Israel.
God instructed the priests of Israel through Moses:
"For the life of the creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul" (Leviticus 17:11).
Sacrifice to any other god was condemned as idolatry:
"They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be as statute forever for them throughout their generations" (Leviticus 17:7).
As we look at the practice of human sacrifice among the nations in ancient times, keep in mind that, according to God's perspective, these sacrifices were made to demons the false gods of the pagan nations.
Carthage
The ancient city of Carthage was the capital of the Phoenician empire. Their civilization was advanced culturally and highly educated. But recent archaeological expeditions have revealed its most notable feature the high incidence of child sacrifice. Archaeological relics have been uncovered, such as the altars on which children were sacrificed and stone markers, which marked the burial place of the remains. Stone carvings on the markers depict children who were sacrificed. Clay jars were used to hold the remains. Entire burial grounds full of these slaughtered children have been uncovered.
As barbaric as this sounds, we must remember that this is precisely what we do through abortion. With one obvious exception today we don't honor or bury the children we kill.
The Carthaginians were descendants of the ancient Canaanites and worshipped the same god, Baal or Molech. Archaeologists have established that the primary deity that they children were sacrificed to was the goddess Tanet, the name being a regional representation of the more universal Ashteroth. Archaeologists are horrified even today as they continue to unearth body after body of children who were sacrificed as part of this great holocaust. Written accounts tell us that the priests of Baal would beat drums during the ritual of sacrifice in order to drown out the cries of the crying mothers.
English historian G.K. Chesterton writes: "There was a tendency to call upon spirits of terror and compulsion. There is always a sort of dim idea that these darker powers will really do things, with no nonsense about it. In the interior psychology of the Punic peoples this strange sort of pessimistic practicality had grown to great proportions. In the New Town, which the Romans called Carthage, as in the parent cities of Phoenicia, the god who got things done bore the name Moloch, who was perhaps identical with the other deity whom we know as Baal, the Lord. The Romans did not at first know quite what to call him or what to make of him; they had to go back to the grossest myth of Greek or Roman origins and compare him to Saturn devouring his children. But the worshippers of Moloch were not gross or primitive. They were members of a mature and polished civilisation, abounding in refinements and luxuries; they were probably far more civilised than the Romans. And Moloch was not a myth. These highly civilised people really met together to invoke the blessing of heaven on their empire by throwing hundreds of their infants into a large furnace. We can only realise the combination by imagining a number of Manchester merchants with chimney-pot hats and mutton-chop whiskers, going to church every Sunday at eleven o'clock to see a baby roasted alive."
The typical rationalist would attribute the rites of Molech to superstition and would suggest that science and intellectual advancement would cause this type of unfortunate behavior to lessen and finally cease. But archaeologists have discovered that over Carthage's history, the incident of child sacrifice, even in the face of considerable intellectual advances, actually increased until it suddenly stopped.
And how did it stop? When God judged Carthage. Roman armies invaded and suddenly destroyed the entire civilization. The stark ruins of Carthage are a testimony that God is not mocked. We have to ask ourselves: How far are we from a judgment for our own abortion holocaust?
Aztecs
When the Spanish conquistadors first arrived in the new world in the 1500s, they were surprised to find a highly advanced civilization the Aztecs of Mexico at one time their empire stretched throughout central and North America. Their capital city featured towering pyramids and beautiful palaces.
But the conquistadors were shocked to discover that the Aztecs practiced a barbaric religious ritual of human sacrifice. In fact, the Aztecs, from ancient times to the 1500s, may have sacrificed more people to their gods than any other culture in human history.
When the great temple was dedicated in 1487, priests sacrificed thousands of people in a single day. The Aztecs sacrificed to all the gods and goddesses often through bloodletting on the heights of the pyramids. Again, we find that this was not a primitive culture compared to the rest of the world at that time. It was a highly advanced society of artists, craftsmen, and priests. Yet they spilled more human blood tot heir gods than any other culture in history.
One account by a Spanish conquistador tells of a skull rack containing 136,000 heads of victims who had been ritually murdered.
The Spanish were horrified. In response, they massacred the Aztecs, tore down their temple and built a cathedral in its place.
India Kali worship
Kali was the goddess of death and darkness, demanded human flesh. From ancient times, the sacred scriptures of the Hindus, the Vedas, spoke of the desire of the gods for human sacrifice: "The sacrificer will sacrifice a man first for man is the first of all animals. Thus he slaughters the victim according to its form and according to its excellence" (Shatapata Veda).
Note the deception contained in this subtle twisting of Biblical truth. Genesis 1:26,27 tells of man's primacy in God's creation. However, man is not an animal according to the Bible. Man was created in God's own image, and it is precisely for this reason that killing of innocent human life is a capital offense in the eyes of God.
"Whoever sheds man's blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man"
(Genesis 9:6).
Although the Hindu Vedas speak frequently of human sacrifice, how often or whether these sacrifices ever occurred has been a matter of controversy. When the British military arrived in India in the 1820s, stories abounded of roving bands of ritual murders who would capture strangers and sacrifice them to the goddess Kali.
Kali is a frightening figure the goddess of war, death, darkness and violence. She is depicted with the blackest tone of skin; she is naked; and wears human fetuses as earrings.
Stories of human sacrifice to Kali persist in India until this day. Many are obvious rumors yet if some are true, then India is no different from many cultures of the world which have practiced human sacrifice. And Kali is possibly the same demon worshipped by the people of Canaan and Carthage.
Celtic and Germanic Tribes of northern Europe
In the 1950s, in a peat bog in Denmark workers uncovered the remains of a middle aged man. The corpse's perfect condition made the local authorities believe that it must have been the murdered citizen of a local community. When experts further examined the body, however, it was determined that the victim was murdered before the time of Christ over 2000 years ago. The astonishing preservation of the body was due to tannic acid which had leached out of the peat moss tanning the man's skin to give it a leather-like quality while buried deep in the bog.
At first the first the find seemed unique. Soon, however, throughout northern Europe, from Ireland to Germany, more of these preserved corpses were discovered.
Scientists have concluded that the similar wounds found on all the bodies are evidence of ritual human sacrifice. People believed that the gods or spirits lived out in the swampy marches or bogs. They believed that if they were going to offer some kind of gift to the gods, it had to be placed out in the bogs. A blindfold was placed on the victim and a rope was tied around the neck. The victim was bludgeoned to death sometimes having his throat cut open. The victim was then dumped in a nearby lake or marsh as a gift to the gods.
Other historians tell us that the Celtic and Northern Germanic tribes the ancestors of English, German and Scandinavian peoples were barbaric, pagan idolaters who sacrificed their own people to the gods and goddesses.
The Roman historian, Tacitus, records that the ancestors of the English speaking peoples, the Angles, sacrificed to the Mother Earth Goddess. In his Germania, On the Origin and Geography of Germany, Tacitus describes this gruesome ritual as "a ceremony performed by slaves who are immediately afterward drowned in the lake."
The ancient Canaanites, Carthaginians, Indians, Aztecs, and Northern Europeans practiced human sacrifice as an offering to their pagan gods and goddesses. And each culture in turn was wiped out by an invading army. This demonstrates to us today that cultures of even entire nations must obey God's eternal Law concerning the sanctity of innocent human life or face the consequences.
PART 4
WITCHCRAFT AND CHILD SACRIFICE
Mention the word "witchcraft" and most think of the Salem witch trials or an outbreak of religious hysteria among superstitious people. The term "witch hunt" evokes the most negative images. From the beginning of our look at witchcraft, we should dispel the Hollywood image of the old crone of fairy tales such as Snow White or the Wizard of Oz. There is no doubt that many of those executed for witchcraft in the Middle Ages were innocent victims of gross superstition. But it is hard to cope with the genuine instances of demonically inspired activity recorded with full documentation.
The biblical injunction, "You shall not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus 22:18) had nothing to do with the medieval or modern conception of witchcraft. In Biblical times, those executed for witchcraft were not punished for merely casting spells. The death penalty for those within Israel practicing sorcery and idolatry was prescribed because of their monstrous practice of child sacrifice.
God had warned Israel not to intermingle with the Canaanite tribes worshippers of Baal, Asherah, Molech and Ashteroth because they were practitioners of child sacrifice. The ancient Israelites were first enticed into sexual promiscuity through the worship of Baal and Asherah, the sun god and fertility goddess. The children of this generation grew up in a world in which pagan sex rituals were deemed "normal." Soon Israel was lured into worshipping Molech and Ashteroth, supposedly the same deities; but darker and more sinister, demanding human sacrifice.
And like the ancient Israelites, 20th century Americans were first enticed by the sexual revolution of the 1960s; and just a few years later, at the time of Roe v. Wade in 1973, we codified abortion as a "fundamental right" and have since killed over one million unborn children each year.
Whenever pagan sexual immorality is accepted, abortion and child sacrifice becomes a necessity in covering up the fruit of sin.
As we look at revivals of neo-paganism in modern history, the connection between abortion, child sacrifice and witchcraft becomes even more apparent.
17th Century France
A revival of "neo-paganism" occurred some three hundred years ago in France. Seventeenth century France while not as egalitarian was still very much like western society today. There was substantial material wealth and a large leisure class obsessed with entertainment and sensual pursuits. There was great sophistication in the arts and a dramatic decline in morality. The age's philosopher was Voltaire who provided the underpinning for the "Age of Reason." Its philosophy was a reworking of the old idea that man doesn't need God, but through his own efforts, now coupled with science, he can save himself.
The king was Louis XIV who had a painting done depicting himself as a god with lightning bolts clenched in his hand. This is the essence of secular humanism: man trying to be God. Like many of the aristocrats of his time Louis was sexually promiscuous. One of his mistresses, Madame de Montespan, was so highly favored of Louis that many considered her the unofficial queen of France.
During her reign a disturbing thing began to take place. Many male members of Louis' court began dying for no discernible reason. In order to investigate what appeared to be murders, Louis employed a detective, Gabriel de La Reynie, the Lieutenant General of the police in Versaille. His inquiries led to a witch named la Voisin who provided the poisons that were responsible for the deaths. This investigation also uncovered a network of abortion services connected with satanic rituals. The following is the testimony of la Voisin's daughter at the subsequent trial:
"At one of Madame de Montespan's masses, I saw my mother bring an infant, obviously premature, and place it over a basin over which its throat was slit, and its blood drained into the chalice....
"The child was held over the altar, a sharp gash across the neck, a stifled cry, and warm drops fell into the chalice.... The corpse was handed to la Voisin, who flung it callously into an oven fashioned for that purpose which glowed white hot in its fierceness."
Note that the child was premature, obviously the victim of abortion. Then the cup filled with the baby's blood was lifted up to heaven and this invocation was given:
"Hail Ashteroth and Asmodeus, Princes of friendship, I conjure you to accept the sacrifice of this child in return for the favors asked of you."
Ashteroth was the goddess wife of Molech. Asmodeus is a transliteration of the Hebrew name for a demon that is normally associated with lust. Aborted children were being sacrificed in a satanic ritual designed to empower the practitioners.
At the trial, there was testimony that regular traffic had been carried on for years with beggar women and the lowest prostitutes, who sold their children for this purpose.
At her trial, la Voisin confessed that no less than 2,500 babies had been disposed of in this manner.
One might ask: why aborted prenatal children? For one thing, it is easier to mistreat or abuse someone who doesn't look just like us. This is the root of racial prejudice as well as the view that unborn children are somehow less human than ourselves. Second, since the distinction from fetus to infant relative to their humanity is in fact meaningless, the sacrifice of a fetal child serves the same purpose as the sacrifice of a post-natal child or an adult.
20th Century Wicca
In the 1930s, Dr. Gerald Gardner discovered a practicing coven of witches in England. Gardner, an anthropologist, had studied groups practicing religio-magic or "sympathetic magic" around the world, but believed that witchcraft had been extinct for centuries. Gardner discovered what he believed to be one of the last surviving covens in the world. He became a witch himself by being initiated into the coven. He became familiar the rituals of the ancient religion, many of which he believed had survived until the present day.
At the time of Gardner's discovery, witchcraft was, in fact, on the edge of extinction. There were no known covens in the United States and some countries such as England, had laws on the books outlawing witchcraft. On the publication of Gardner's book, Witchcraft Today, he began to hear from many covens throughout Europe which had also survived. Gardner spent the rest of his life writing on Wicca and promoting witchcraft throughout the world. Gardner is regarded as the grandfather of modern Wicca being solely responsible for igniting the flame of Wiccan revival in the 20th century.
One of Gardner's followers, Raymond Buckland, who was initiated into the craft one year before Gardner's death in 1964, introduced Wicca into the United States in the 1960s. Gardner and Buckland believed that in modern day Wicca, the rituals of the ancient earth religion had survived.
Says Buckland about the Wiccan rituals: "Although we don't know the exact format used by the witches of old, it's certain that centuries ago many of them living far from any village or coven followed the same sort of procedure in dedicating themselves to the gods in whom they believed.
"Universally, whether we are talking about initiation into the ancient Greek mysteries, the modern Wiccan, Australian aboriginal puberty rites, African rites, Haitian Voodoo initiation, Amerindian rites of passage, Egyptian mysteries, or whatever, they all follow the same pattern."
What exactly then, is modern Wicca?
Modern 20th century Wiccans draw their religious ideology from the Mother Earth cults of the Celtic and Nordic peoples of pre-Christian Europe.
The word "Wiccan" first appears in an early manuscript of an Anglo-Saxon scribe in the alliterative phrase: wyccan and waelcyrian, "witches and valkyries." The word in Old English denotes both men and women using magic arts. Modern Wiccans claim that their name means "wise one" and was the name of a matriarchal leader of a tribe skilled in healing, herbal lore and magic arts.
In a paper submitted to the Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions, Michael Thorn writes: "Modern Witchcraft (or Wicca) is the most common expression of the religious movement known as Neo-paganism.... Its practitioners are reviving ancient Pagan practices and beliefs of pre-Christian Europe and adapting them to contemporary American life.... Wiccans focus their liturgy and worship around a Goddess and a God. Rituals and services are timed to the phases of the moon and to the Wheel of the Year (i.e., the solstices, equinoxes, and the days falling midway between these such as May Day and Halloween). Most witches treat their practice as a priesthood, somewhat akin to the mystery cults of classical Greece and Rome, involving years of training and passage through life transforming initiatory rituals."
Raymond Buckland explains what is know as the "Wiccan Rede": "All witches agree on the ethical code, 'An it harm none, do what ye will'; in other words, 'Do what you believe is right, but let no one be harmed by your actions.'"
By the most conservative estimates, there are 200,000 women and men practicing Wicca in the United States alone. The Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, California, claims that Witchcraft and Paganism are the fastest growing religions in the country.
Do Wiccans worship Satan? Although witches claim not to believe in the Christian concept of Satan, they do worship "the European Pagan Horned God, who has been depicted as Pan.... Our Horned God is neither evil nor a source of evil; He is the energy of nature, of plant and animal life, which energy manifests for people in music and dance, intoxication and ecstasy, and all joyous activities, including lovemaking."
What about bloodletting? Although Wiccans deny using animal and human sacrifices in their rituals they do admit that they "pour out libations ... Some female Witches use their own menstrual blood in spells; other witches may prick themselves ... and offer a drop or two of their own blood. But the only blood a Witch has the right to offer is her/his own."
Do modern Wiccans view abortion as child sacrifice? To be fair, we must say that in our research we've received literally hundreds of letters and electronic mail from Wiccans around the world. The vast majority of Wiccans and Pagans deny that they have anything to do with human or animal sacrifice. They also deny that Wicca has anything to do with the abortion industry, nor do they view abortion as the sacrifice of the unborn in their rituals.
But all modern day Wiccans freely admit that the modern religion is traced to ancient Celtic and Northern German people.
In Power of the Witch, spokeswoman for the Witches League for Public Awareness, Laurie Cabot, extols the paganism the ancient Celtic world in which fornication, adultery and homosexuality were "normal." The Mother Goddess cult is presented as "a joyous, playful, sensuous, peace-loving culture."
Cabot describes the permutation of the Mother Goddess into an old crone and the Horned God into a ravenous animal. Cabot's description closely mirrors the transformation of ancient deities from sensual sun gods and fertility goddesses into demons of ritual human sacrifice. Child sacrifice and abortion were practiced and were accepted as facts of everyday life the necessary consummation of rampant sexual immorality.
Although the vast majority deny that they have anything to do with the practice of child sacrifice, Wiccans are hard pressed to explain the emergence of a small minority of witches, such as Ginnette Paris, who writes in The Sacrament of Abortion:
"It is morally acceptable that a woman who gives life may also destroy life ... whoever kills a fetus commits a murder....
"It is not immoral to choose abortion; it is simply another kind of morality, a pagan one....
"Obviously everyone has a right to his or her religious beliefs, but what if mine are pagan?...
[O]ne can occasionally resort to abortion when it is necessary to sacrifice the fetus to a higher cause ...
"Abortion as a sacrifice to Artemis. Abortion as a sacrament for the gift of life to remain pure."
[Ginnette Paris, The Sacrament of Abortion, Spring Publications, P.O. Box 222069, Dallas, TX 75222, 1992, pp.53, 56, 107 & back cover. ]
Is there a connection between the Wiccans and the Aware Woman abortion clinic in Melbourne, Florida?
We found that the post office box of an Aware Woman abortion clinic employee, Veronica Jordan, (P.O. Box 060192, Palm Bay, FL 32906) the same mailing address for the Open Circle the Wiccan newsletter which recruited volunteers to work magic around the property of the abortion clinic.
Why then, if Wicca does not promote abortion as part of their religious belief, does this newsletter recruit "abortion clinic defenders" and rally Wiccans for pro-abortion demonstrations?
And what about Wiccan bumper stickers appearing on cars of abortion clinic workers, such as, "THE GODDESS IS ALIVE AND MAGIC IS AFOOT" and "IN GODDESS WE TRUST"?
There is no doubt that there is a self-conscious identification between the Wiccan religion and so-called "abortion rights."
PART 5
OCCULT ROOTS OF NAZISM AND MARGARET SANGER'S PLANNED PARENTHOOD
Nazi Germany
If you don't believe that the revival of neo-Pagan religions represents a threat to a sophisticated nation, such as America, consider 20th century Nazi Germany one of the most advanced civilizations ever to arise on earth and yet another example of how a revival of neo-Paganism led to human sacrifice.
In The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William L. Shirer points to a sterilization law passed in 1933 as the event which began the persecution of Christians and Jews throughout Germany.
Resolutions were drawn up requiring all pastors to take an oath of allegiance to Hitler and insisting that all churches institute the Aryan paragraph and exclude converted Jews. Pastors who resisted were jailed.
According to Shirer: "Not many Germans lost much sleep over the arrests of a few thousand pastors and priests or over the quarreling of Protestant sects. And even fewer paused to reflect that under the leadership of Rosenberg, Borman and Himmler, who were backed by Hitler, the Nazi regime intended to destroy Christianity in Germany, if it could, and substitute the old paganism of the early tribal Germanic gods and the new paganism of the Nazi extremists. As Bormann, one of the men closest to Hitler, said in 1941, 'National Socialism and Christianity are irreconcilable.'"
The Nazi holocaust becomes even more disturbing when the occult roots of the Third Reich are examined more closely. Many see the origins of the Nazi vision in the teachings of the science of eugenics that only by breeding from the racially pure can the greatness of the Aryan be restored. The formation of the Nazi Praetorian Guard, the S.S., was based on the legal control of human breeding. That only the most valuable members of the society, the full blooded Germans, to have the largest number of children.
The Nazi faith in the destiny of the German/Aryan race is not an invention of Adolf Hitler, nor is it found in the ideology of eugenics. It's origins lie in the teachings of mystics, clairvoyants and secret societies dedicated to the study of the occult.
Since the late 1800s, an increasing fascination with the occult had swept the German aristocracy and educated classes. This became so widespread that one of Germany's highest ranking generals, Erich Lutendorf, believed that the national salvation of Germany lay with reviving the worship of the Norse god, Woden. Lutendorf freely spoke of being in psychic communion with the Nordic "race soul."
When Lutendorf led a political coup in Bavaria, his ally was the then little known political agitator, Adolf Hitler.
Many within Lutendorf's closest circle were members of an occult group known as the "Edda Society." The Edda society believed that by deciphering the ancient Icelandic script known as the "Runes" and studying the secrets found in Norse mythology contained in the "Elder Edda."
The Edda Society believed that they could rediscover the magical heritage of the vanished Aryan god-men. They wrote in widely published periodicals that traces of the blood of the Aryan gods lived on within the German people.
This creed was adopted by this man, Heinrich Himmler, Reichfuhrer of the S.S. As a youth, Himmler avidly read the writings of the German occultists. He was obsessed with astrology, spiritualism and herbalism.
He adopted the mystical doctrine of the Aryan. If the blood of the Aryan race ran most strongly in the German people, he reasoned, then by breeding out the imperfections of inferior races, he could produce a genetically superior master race in which the Aryan psychic power would grow ever stronger.
Himmler used the Aryan requirement for enlisted men in the S.S. only that those of 100 percent German ancestry could enter this elite corp. The S.S. man was subject to a year long rigorous training camp and was required to master a set of doctrines in the S.S. catechism which taught that God is synonymous with their supposed ancestors, the Aryan race.
Q: "Why do we believe in Germany and the Fuhrer?"
A: "Because we believe in God; we believe in Germany which he created and in the Fuhrer whom He has sent to us."
No S.S. man could marry unless his wife's ancestry was approved by the S.S. Race and Resettlement Bureau.
The S.S. man's family was then entitled to wear the coveted badge of the S.S. clan membership a sunflower bearing the "Rune of Fertility."
Within months of Hitler's election as chancellor,
laws were passed by the state regulating the breeding of Germany's civilian
population.
Those suffering from a variety of mental or physical ailments were sterilized.
In 10 years 400,000 Germans were sterilized. Abortion was also made illegal
during this time for those of the "Aryan" race the Germans but was legalized
and encouraged among non-Aryans.
All those civilians wanting to marry were required to submit to a medical exam. Marriage was forbidden to those suffering from diseases thought to be hereditary. Intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews was forbidden. The task of deciding who could marry was entrusted to the Race and Resettlement Bureau. Laws were passed requiring government officials to have children. Childless couples were fined after five years. Grounds for divorce for Germans were broadened to include the inability to bear children. Laws were relaxed making it easier for German women to have children outside of marriage.
Himmler began a chain of breeding centers and maternity homes for his S.S. racial elite. "Nursery gardens" were begun for the breeding of babies of pure German blood. In an initiation ceremony, children were named by being touched on the forehead with an S.S. dagger symbolizing immersion into Himmler's mystical order.
But Heinrich Himmler's vision of creating a master race went far beyond eugenics. He intended to create a religious order steeped in Aryan mysticism and the worship of the Norse gods.
With the help of German mystics and clairvoyants, Himmler made plans to create an S.S. spiritual center a worship temple for his S.S. order. The Castle of Wedelsberg on Germany's eastern border was built in the 1600s on the ruins of an old Saxon fort. The S.S. purchased the site and began reconstruction. Himmler's researchers claimed to have found a written prophecy a legend in which Wedelsberg was to become a stronghold against an onslaught from Asia the final conflict which would bring in the millennial reign of the Third Reich.
To govern the S.S., Himmler appointed a council of 12 of the highest ranking S.S. leaders. The ritual center for the council is the castle of Wedelsberg. In the north tower of the castle is a circular hall surrounded by 12 columns and a swastika mosaic decorating the floor. Here Himmler and his council members communed with the "Aryan race soul."
Wedelsburg was to become a city. The north tower was to be the center of vast circular grounds. Surrounding them is to be built an enormous complex of administrative centers, libraries and research institutes for astrology, astronomy and Teutonic history.
This was the spiritual impetus which brought a revival of human sacrifices coupled with ancient Teutonic rituals to the forefront. The Holocaust was preceded by vast pageants which Hitler used to promote his version of neo-Paganism.
What followed Himmler's mad mysticism was the Nazi holocaust in an attempt to found an Aryan empire through the conquest of "inferior races." In the countries Hitler invaded, a reign of terror was unleashed against teachers, doctors, officials, aristocrats, Catholic priests and other upper-class leaders of the nations. Finally, a law was passed identifying the Jews as "non-persons." Hitler's "final solution" the attempted genocide of the Jews began in full force.
But could such a ridiculous scenario happen in our own country?
Consider the following: Like the successful and educated people of Nazi Germany, the vast majority of Americans have stood silently by and even encouraged the proliferation of this medical holocaust. Like the Germans, we fell victim to a campaign of rhetoric and propaganda that blinded us to the reality of what was taking place.
Like the Germans, our courts have the arrogance to declare an entire class or people as "non-humans."
Like the Germans, once the public was desensitized and the legal sanctions were provided, virtually anything was possible. Crimes against humanity included experimentation on living humans. And even the utilization of body parts for cosmetics and novelty purposes. Point by point, we are seeing today a replay of Nazi Germany's history.
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, is perhaps the best 20th century example of the destructive power of spiritual deception found in occult religion. That she was wallowing in deception can be seen in a quote from a book written by an admirer: "She had tried to dispel depression by sex, travel, Rosicrucianism (a cult), numerology, now she tried a new panacea astrology."
Sanger was a confirmed adulteress who consistently and publicly supported a "woman's right to destroy." She became deeply involved with Havelock Ellis, a modern day false prophet who advocated a variety of bizarre sex practices supposing them to be the keys to spiritual enlightenment and power. For Margaret Sanger and her militantly (even religiously) promiscuous lifestyle, abortion became a necessary backup for contraceptive failure.
The legacy of Planned Parenthood becomes even more ominous when we note the admiration Sanger had for Adolf Hitler and the eugenics policies of Nazi Germany. She became convinced that the "inferior races" were in fact "human weeds" and a "menace to civilization." She yearned for the end of the day of what she termed the Christian reign of benevolence towards the unfit.
Sanger's eugenicist ideology can be clearly seen in the articles published in the Birth Control Review. In 1920, she published her lover Havelock Ellis' favorable review of The Rising Tide of Color Against White World Supremacy by Dr. Lothrop Stoddard. Ellis wrote:
"The diminishing value of our racial stocks is reflected in the folly of our statesmen, heedless that the crisis we approach is of their own creation reckless that if they make possible another white civil war our whole civilization will collapse by the sheer weight of its imbecility."
At first, Sanger's efforts were not directed so overtly racist, but focused on the mentally retarded and those with hereditary diseases. She sought to encourage only the "fit" to have large families. The "fit" as it turned out were the upper class, highly intelligent whites.
Sanger's "Positive Plan of Eugenics" or "Plan for Peace" was to encourage who she saw as "the mentally, morally, and physically fit to marry and reproduce, tot he end of racial improvement if not perfection."
"The best stocks must be encouraged to marry and reproduce; for, as far as the future welfare of society is concerned, nothing can equal the importance of Eugenic marriages" (Birth Control Review, December 1924).
Sanger advocated, among other measures, "A License for Mother's to Have Babies" and "Permits to Become Parents."
By 1939, however, Sanger began what she termed the "Negro Demonstration Project" which was a plan to win the trust and support of blacks in several key southern states in a campaign to introduce birth control into the Black population.
Part of Sanger's strategy was to enlist Black doctors and ministers who would enthusiastically support her Eugenics policies, and act as liaisons between the Planned Parenthood Federation and the Black communities. At one point in her letters, she worries that more sinister intentions might be discerned in her "Demonstration Project."
"We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of the more rebellious members."
The "Negro Project" was successful. Soon Planned Parenthood's birth control clinics were distributing contraceptives to Blacks. Since has been legalized in America, the long-range results of Sanger's "Demonstration Project" have become even more debilitating to Black Americans.
According to a Health and Human Services Administration report:
* Forty-three percent of all abortions are performed on Blacks.
* The sterilization rate among Blacks is 45 percent higher than among whites
* In most Black communities, abortions outnumber live births three to one.
The overall effect has been the actual decrease of the Black population in the United States from 12 percent in 1973 to 8 percent by the 1990s.
Recently, thousands of documents have been made available to the public through collections of Margaret Sanger's never before published writings.
One of the most shocking pieces is this correspondence between one of Sanger's board members, Dr. Charles F. Dight, and her fellow eugenist, Adolf Hitler:
August 1, 1933
Chancellor Adolf Hitler
Berlin, Germany
Honorable Chancellor,
I enclose a clipping from the Minneapolis Journal of Minnesota, United States of America, relating to, and praising your plan to stamp out mental inferiority among the German people.
I trust you will accept my sincere wish that your efforts along that line will be a great success and will advance the eugenics movement in other nations as well as in Germany.
Sincerely.
C.F. Dight
President Minnesota Eugenics Society
Planned Parenthood shared the agenda of Adolf Hitler. Need we say anything more?
Modern Feminism
A more recent example of the spiritual deception that so often leads to the trampling of the sanctity of human life can be found in a newsletter published by the National Abortion Federation. It provides an account of the 1985 national convention. One of the speakers was Carter Heyward, an ordained Episcopal priest who has been active for many years in the feminist movement. This quote was taken from her address: "If women were in charge, abortion would be a sacrament, an occasion of deep and serious and sacred meaning."
That an ordained leader of a church that supposedly represents Jesus to the world could describe child sacrifice as a sacrament or holy rite of the church without facing excommunication is a staggering illustration of the collective deception we are facing as a nation.
Several other examples are found in the December 1985 issue of Ms. magazine the undisputed leader of feminist publications. This particular issue was completely dedicated to exploring the new emerging spirituality in modern feminism. Much space was given to goddess worship or adulation of the various demons associated with child sacrifice (including Isis and Aphrodite). The central article in this issue of Ms. is filled with testimonies showing the gross deception that has already taken captive much of our nation men and women alike.
"The feminist spirituality movement began to emerge in the mid-1970s and has become one of the largest sub-movements within feminism. It's amorphous, blending in a surprisingly smooth amalgam radical feminism, pacifism, witchcraft, Eastern mysticism, goddess worship, animism, psychic healing, and a variety of practices normally associated with 'fortune-telling.' It exists nationwide and takes the form of large, daylong workshops, small meditation groups, and even covens that meet to work spells and do rituals under the full moon. But to the women in feminist spirituality, witchcraft had even a more fundamental meaning. It is a woman's religion, vilified by patriarchal Christianity, and now, finally, reclaimed."
Laurie Cabot, in Power of the Witch, concurs with the rise of feminist activism within Wiccan covens that worship the Goddess Diana:
"In Dianic covens great emphasis is placed on the Goddess and the role of priestesses. Covens and organizations are matrifocal and center around women's issues. The current women's movement has inspired much of the political activism that some covens engage in.... radical feminism, including lesbianism, has found a place in Dianic covens...."
This represents just the tip of the iceberg as we are witnessing an explosion of books, magazines, "how-to" manuals, artwork and the inevitable paraphernalia that accompanies the development of any organized religion.
Today we have given the demons of human sacrifice new names: "Career" "Convenience" "Money" "Lust" "Self." But beyond this, we have come full circle; today's rationalism has given way to a new feminist spirituality that honors these same demons actually calling them by their proper biblical and historical names. Is it just a coincidence that the hottest sub-movement within the feminist movement that began to emerge just after the Roe v. Wade decision is goddess worship? One of the primary deities that is being worshipped is Aphrodite the goddess of child sacrifice.
PART 6
BATTLING JEZEBEL
In one of the few instances where they agree, both Ms. magazine and the Bible label these various permutations of spiritual deception as "witchcraft." Biblically, witchcraft is linked to rebellion specifically, rebellion against God's authority.
This can be heard in the feminist chant: "Not the church, not the state, women must decide our fate!" It is true that the state should have minimal say in deciding anyone's fate male or female. But the state's intrusion into a woman's fate in forbidding abortion is infinitesimally small compared to the abortifiers decision that the unborn child's fate should be death. But the Church, as God's representative in the earth, should assist in deciding the fate of all those who desire to do God's will. The only alternative is to "choose one's own fate" or one's own will. And this is rebellion the foundation of all witchcraft.
When we consider the word "witchcraft," one Bible personality comes to mind Jezebel. In 1 Kings 18:19, Elijah the prophet of God mentions Jezebel along with some of the deities we know about. He asks to see "the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table." Jezebel represents the corrupting influence of witchcraft.
Jesus spoke to the Church of Thyatira about another Jezebel: "But I have one thing against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and she teaches and leads my bond servants astray so that they commit acts of immortality and eat things sacrificed to idols" (Revelation 2:20).
This admonition cuts to the heart of the Church in America. Truly, the Church in America and much of the world has become the modern equivalent of the Church of Thyatira. Jezebel has been tolerated and even ordained.
According to WORLD magazine: "One of the Religious Left's premier organizations is the Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. RCAR is a hard-line supporter of federally funded abortions and the Freedom of Choice Act. RCAR represents groups of liberal Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Brethren, Moravians, Jews, Humanists, and Unitarians" (Steve Beard, WORLD magazine, May 22, 1993).
God's command is that the Church "repent of her deeds" and drive Jezebel out of the Church and from our nation. To help us understand the magnitude of the battle which this represents, the prophet Malachi announces that God will send the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord. 400 years later, Jesus connects John the Baptist with the ministry of Elijah. The distinguishing feature of both Elijah and John's lives was their boldness in confronting wickedness and their command to repent.
Scripture calls this ministry "Preparing the Way of the Lord." In the same way that Elijah confronted the wicked rulers of his time, in the same way that John prepared the way for the advent of Christ, so God's man in the earth, the Church, will prepare the way for a complete reformation of society according to biblical principles and ultimately the return of the Lord.
There are many ways in which the Church has been called to "prepare the way" the most notable being the Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But just as Jezebel was Elijah's greatest challenge, we too, must confront and defeat the forces of witchcraft that have manifested through abortion. And just as Elijah was almost defeated by Jezebel and John was killed by the witchcraft of Herod's wife, we must also realize that this battle is a deadly one. There can be no victory without the radical commitment to fight witchcraft.
Spiritual Warfare
The spiritual pattern that led us to America's abortion holocaust is thus summarized: the demons gained a foothold in the earth through the incestuous acts of Lot's daughters. Their descendents, the Ammonites, became possessed and worshipped this spirit (identified variously as Asherah, Ashteroth, Molech or Baal) through child sacrifice. The gods and goddesses of fertility were worshipped throughout the ancient pagan world as a part of a widespread "Mother Earth" cult. In seventeenth-century France, the goddess resurfaced as Ashteroth. Witchcraft, as an organized religion, was revived in Europe and America beginning in the 1950s and 1960s. And finally, goddess worship has resurfaced in a new 20th century feminist spirituality. And its no coincidence that abortion today's form of child sacrifice came right along with it.
It is important today to note the historic rationale of those who in ancient times offered up their own children to idols that the sacrifice of blood rejuvenated and strengthened the deity to whom it was dedicated at the same time binding him to the offerer of the sacrifice. In other words, when they sacrificed their children to an idol, they became spiritual slaves to the demon it represented. Even more frightening was the effect upon the spirit greater power was released through the outpouring of innocent blood.
This principle is borne out in scripture. In 2 Kings 3:26,27, one of the descendents of Lot's daughters, the King of Moab, was about to face certain defeat at the hands of the Israelites. To prevent this from happening, he offered up his oldest son as a sacrifice. The fact that it was a burnt offering tells us that it was undoubtedly made to Baal, Molech or Ashteroth. What is sobering is that it worked: the Moabites defeated the Israelites.
The spiritual heritage of the Moabites and the Ammonites is passed down to our own day through abortion. Today the church is fighting against those same spiritual forces for the very survival of our nation. Without all out spiritual warfare, what are our chances of victory when the demons' lust is being gorged on the blood of not just one, but over one million children killed each year?
The land that God chose to bring His people into after their long captivity in Egypt was filled with nations that practiced child sacrifice. And what was his commandment to Israel?
"When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then shall you drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. And destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places" (Joshua 33:51,52).
This scripture provides a model for our response to child sacrifice in our era. The Old Testament is not just a collection of stories, but provides temporal examples of what we must accomplish in the spiritual realm. In the same way, for example, that the people of God, Israel, followed a man named Joshua into the promised land, so the Church, spiritual Israel, follows a man named Joshua, or Yeshua (Jesus), into the land of promise. Everything that the Israelites underwent has a direct New Covenant application. In this passage, God commands His people, past and present, to destroy all idolatry.
How do we accomplish this in light of the New Covenant? Should we, like the ancient Israel, begin to attack the individuals responsible for the idolatry? Of course not. "Our battle is not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12).
In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given in the way that we experience Him today. Man had neither the anointing nor the authority to confront the demonic powers directly. In order to defeat the forces of wickedness, there was no recourse except to destroy the people through whom those forces acted.
But with the coming of Jesus, the whole scenario changed. For the first time we see a man directly confronting the spiritual forces of darkness. In Luke 11:20, Jesus even defines this as one of the primary signs that the kingdom of God has come into this world: "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." At last God's people could direct their efforts to the real problem: the spiritual realm. Instead of destroying his human adversaries, they could begin to love them and work for their salvation.
Jesus expects His Church to manifest the same authority and power as He did during His life on earth as a man. In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said: "All power and authority has been given to me in heaven and earth." He commanded His disciples to go into all the world wrenching it from the control of Satan and his forces. In John 14:12, Jesus said: "He who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to the Father." In Mark 16:17, He said: "And these signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons." In Luke 7:28, He makes a clear distinction between the realms of power of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, when He said that of all the Old Covenant prophets, there was none more powerful than John the Baptist, but that now, even the least Christian (this includes even you and me) is greater in power and authority than John.
Immediately after Joshua led Israel into the promised land, they zealously began to obey God's commandment. Often their obedience necessitated the obliteration of entire cities. In the same way, God wants us to be just as committed, just as ruthless as Joshua and his armies in destroying the forces of idolatry on the world. Only now, we are to direct our attention to the real enemy the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.
Disobedience of God's People
What ultimately happened to the Israelites? The book of Judges recounts their initial steps to apostasy. Instead of totally destroying and driving out the Canaanites, they began to enslave them. The result of their disobedience is seen in one of the most tragic passages of scripture: "They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord commanded them, but they mingled with the nations [the unbelieving heathen world] and they learned their practices and served their idols which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to devils" (Psalms 106:34-37; Judges 1:28).
Through abortion, we have followed precisely the same slippery slope to destruction. In fact, we are already there. Ezekiel 16:20 gives us even further evidence of our guilt today. "Moreover, you took you sons and daughters which you bore unto me and you sacrificed them to idols to be devoured."
What does the Bible mean by "sons and daughter which you have bore unto me"? The Bible gives us the key. Exodus 13:2 says: "Sanctify unto Me every first born, the first offspring of every womb of the sons of Israel, both of man and beast. It belongs to me." The firstborn was traditionally considered "born unto the Lord." History and archaeology has shown us that child sacrifice, as with the example of the King of Moab, centered on the first born child. Is it simple irony or coincidence that the majority of children that will face the abortionist's knife in this country are also first born "set apart for the Lord"?
"You slaughtered my children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. And besides all your abominations and harlotries, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood" (Ezekiel 16:21,22).
We would all do well especially those who are pro-abortion to remember that we were once naked, bare and dependent on others older than ourselves for the chance to live.
The Israelites chose for the site of their sacrificial rituals, a place called the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. This valley, which still goes by that name today, is right outside of Jerusalem. The Valley of the Son of Hinnom translates into Greek as "Gehenna" which also the word for hell. It is significant to note that Jesus himself introduced and used this word one that was fully recognized by the common people of His day as the name of a valley where child sacrifice took place. He used this word to describe the eternal habitation of Satan himself.
In light of this, Jesus' words in Matthew 16:18 become a stirring cry to action for His church to fight abortion: "And upon this rock, I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Gates are not offensive weapons but defensive. The gates of hell are erected to protect Satan's kingdom and to keep the Church out. Jesus' use of the word Gehenna clearly substantiates that there is no greater manifestation of hell on earth than the sacrifice of children.
Today, walls both spiritual and natural have been erected to protect this so-called "right." Jesus Christ has called and anointed us to tear down those walls and proclaim deliverance to the captives to "rescue those who are being taken away to the slaughter" (Proverbs 24:11 TLB).
History tells us that neo-Paganism has experienced sporadic revivals, but also that the Church has had great success in openly confronting witchcraft and the practice of child sacrifice. But whenever the Church has compromised with pagan culture, she herself has become paganized eventually committing the same practices that she was commissioned to destroy. Pagan cultures that have worshipped false gods and practiced human sacrifice the Canaanites; the Carthaginians; the Celtic and Nordic people; the Aztecs; and Nazi Germany faced immanent destruction.
This scenario is being replayed today. We now have laws that make it a federal felony for Christians to peacefully blockade an abortion clinic and are on the verge of making "mercy killing" legal. We are facing the immanent paganization of our culture and the inevitable judgment of God.
CONCLUSION
America is turning towards pagan religion only because the Church has become culturally irrelevant and is not having an impact on our society. Christians are losing the battle for the same reason that the pagans are gaining a foothold.
Most modern Christians are ignorant of the historical precedent for revival even in the face of militant paganism. The average Christian is content to meet on Sunday to worship God, yet is not politically active and will not contribute in such a way as to Christianize our nation. With pagan immorality being codified at the highest levels of government, there is a great need for the Church to fulfill her prophetic role in resistance to idolatry. (Proverbs 28:4)
But it is still possible for God's people to turn the tide towards righteousness! So that we don't succumb to defeatism, let's consider the dark hour that Israel was in when she was in bondage to slavery in Egypt. In that day, thousands of baby boys were slaughtered by Pharaoh in an attempt to stamp out the prophetic deliverer who was about to come on the scene. Although Satan tried to do away with Moses, his life was spared and he grew to be a man within the Pharaoh's own courts! Later Moses delivered Israel out of bondage. In Elijah's day, the prophets of Baal sacrificed thousands of the first born on altars in defiance of God's law. Yet Elijah slew the prophets of Baal and God later raised up a company of 7000 young men who defeated King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. Then just before Jesus was born, the wicked King Herod learned through astrologers that another King was about to be born in Jerusalem. Yet the baby Jesus' life was spared so that he might grow to be a man offer the final sacrifice the only one that is able to cleanse us from our sins and deliver us from all unrighteousness.
We have to ask ourselves: Is history repeating itself today? Although the hour is dark for America, does God have a prophetic generation today who are destined to go forth in the spirit and power of Elijah to confront wickedness and change our nation?
If the Bible is true, then we can only answer: "YES!"
Practically, there are many ways in which you can begin to resist modern paganism.
1. Recognize that abortion is a spiritual issue. Abortion is the sacrifice of human preborn infants on the altar of convenience by those with a pagan worldview. Abortion is not just a political or social issue; it's a spiritual issue. Witchcraft is the spiritual force behind the politics of abortion.
2. Engage in spiritual warfare against demonic forces behind child sacrifice. There are many forms that this can take, but spiritual warfare is most effective when you appear physically at the abortuary nearest to your home. It is important for the Church in America to go to the places where the killing is taking place and intercede on behalf of the unborn. Prayer for the mercy of God to spare the unborn and put an end to abortion in our nation must be accompanied by real activism on the part of the Church. Jesus said: "The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church" (Matthew 16:18).
3. Evangelism. Many abortion advocates are not secularists, but are deeply spiritual people. They are drawn to the spiritual power of occult practices. Some of the most meaningful evangelistic outreaches occur before the very gates of hell the abortion clinics of America. Two of the most notable examples in recent years are Norma McCorvey, the Roe of Roe v. Wade, and Dr. Bernard Nathanson, a former abortion doctor, both of whom were reached through the evangelistic witness of pro-life activists. God can pour out his grace on those practicing human sacrifice, but they must repent. Pray that God will touch that deep spiritual impulse in abortionists to seek reconciliation with their loving Father.
4. Become politically and socially involved. Don't be fooled by the modern prevailing notion that God is not involved in politics. Isaiah described the role of Jesus Christ in governing the affairs of men: "And the government shall be upon His shoulders" (Isaiah 9:6). This government includes individual, family and church self-government, but this verse also applies to civil government. Civil government is not "secular" or evil, but should be occupied by Christians who rule by the moral law of God.
5. Give generously to ministries that are committed to reforming our society. There are many organizations that are committed to fighting the war against abortion. But reformation must happen at the grass roots level among committed individuals.
"Those who forsake the law praise the wicked;
But such as keep the law contend with them."
Proverbs 28:4
For a list of media resources and information on how you can resist the flood of evil in our country, write:
Media House International
P.O. Box 362173
Melbourne, FL 32936-2173
