Fifth Time Line – THE CHURCH

 “To comprehend the history of a thing is to unlock the mysteries of its present,

and more, to disclose the profundities of its future.”  (Hilaire Belloc)

TIME LINE: THE CHURCH   Last year Doug from Auckland commented in an email to me:   “In terms of murdering the young, I want to learn the pre-cursors to this stronghold becoming established – who/what opened the door and why? I am being led to recognise the link between acceptance of birth control – ‘new life avoidance’ – and abortion as being extensions of one another.  I am seeing the links between church councils deciding FOR birth control as a response to the fears of over population, rather than adhering to the confidence in God’s word to reproduce and steward the resources of the earth.  As fear takes the lead then other fear-based responses – abortion as one extreme – can be legitimised as ‘proper’ responses to the ‘problem’.”   In the early 1900s a number of activists began working to make the means of birth control available and widely accepted among the general public. Up until this time within Christianity, there was virtually universal, fundamental rejection of birth control, contraception and abortion.  The reformers e.g. Wesley, were absolute on all these issues.   1930 Lambeth Conference of the Church of England (Anglican Church), adopted Resolutions 15 + 16 stating: “Where there is clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, the method must be decided on Christian principles.  The primary and obvious method is complete abstinence from intercourse (as far as may be necessary) in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Nevertheless in those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles.  The Conference records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of contraception control from motives of selfishness, luxury or mere convenience…..The Conference further records its abhorrence of the sinful practice of abortion.”    It seems that this could have opened the door to contraception and birth control for the first time in all of biblical history. (Doug re this: The Great Depression was happening, maybe a decision made as a result of fear.)   Soon afterward, Pope Pius XI reiterated the Catholic opposition to artificial contraception but allowed for periodic abstinence within marriage.   Virtually all other Christian churches followed the path initiated by the Anglican Church.  The use of contraception within marriage was reviewed and approved in:   1931 Congregational Christian churches 1946 Protestant Episcopal Church 1947 Evangelical and Reformed Church 1954 Lutheran Church 1956 Methodist Church 1958 Lambeth Conference, contraception was further recommended and encouraged for all Christian         couples. 1959 United Presbyterian Church (USA) 1959 World Council of Churches 1961 The Council of Churches in the USA (made up of most, although not all of the protestant         denominations) totally embraced the same recommendation.

1961 it was not even legal in USA for a doctor to prescribe contraception, or for a pharmacist to          dispense it. 1964 it became legal to prescribe and dispense contraception in USA (3 years after the church         embraced it). Contraception: contra=against; ception=fruitfulness.   Within 18 months both prayer and the 10 Commandments were taken out of the public schools in USA, and the first major drug epidemic started.  Divorce, then around 5%, began to increase.  These are a few of the ripple-on consequences and effects.   1966 Joseph Fletcher, a former Episcopal priest, founder of situational ethics, wrote a book called,          “Situational Ethics: The New Morality”. In later life he became an atheist and denied God          altogether.  He was president of the Euthanasia Soc of America (later called The Society for          the Right to Die), a member of American Eugenics Society, and the Assoc for Voluntary          Sterilization.  His philosophies interjected into school systems.  He taught there are no maxims,          no absolutes. 1968 Pope Paul VI reiterated the Catholic stand against artificial contraception but allowed for the         use of natural family planning within marriage for sufficiently serious reasons.  This was widely         criticized and rejected by many Catholics, including clergy. 1973 legalization of abortion in USA.  (1977 in NZ)   2009 Christians are engaging in pre-marital sex, getting pregnant out of wedlock, having abortions,         getting divorced – often at the same rate as non-Christians.  The ripple-on consequences and         effects are now tsunami-sized!  No-one could have foreseen the repercussions of this time line.   “The first generation to believe the contraceptive lie is now entering the rest homes of America.  God’s plan for them was to have their own children take care of them in their old age, but Uncle Sam looks at them sitting in their wheel chairs, staring at the ceiling all day long, and says it would be kinder to put those people out of their misery by killing them via euthanasia and assisted suicide.” (www.life.org)   PRAYER POINTS:   v      The real battlefield is the church.  The real battle is recognising the battle we are in; the division in the Body of Christ regarding birth control, abortion, etc; how Christians have embraced the prevailing worldview and make their decisions according to that rather than the Biblical view.   Using the following outline, humble yourself, pray and repent at 3 levels: for yourself and your family on behalf of your congregation, your spiritual home/family, for pastors and leaders. on behalf of the whole Body of Christ.  You can do this because you are a member.   v      Heavenly Father, I confess that we have embraced the prevailing world view of the need for contraception, birth control and abortion, with all the fear, unbelief, lies and deception behind it.  We have fallen for the lie and eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  We have defied God’s moral laws, interrupted the divine order and played being god.  Our thinking has become muddied and selfish, and we have erred towards sex for pleasure at the expense of sex for procreation.  We have not trusted you God for our future.  We have not recognized the magnitude of the battle, and in our ignorance, how far we have drifted from your holy Word and the Biblical worldview.  We have not recognized the widespread division in the Body of Christ.   We are sorry that we, as your children, have fallen so far.  We have become silent, not speaking up for righteousness, justice and truth, fearing persecution and ridicule.  We have been fearful. The whole issue has loomed so big.  Father, forgive us our sins.  We repent.    We ask that you forgive our forefathers who made decisions that were contrary to your Word.  As Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they did not know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)   Today we separate ourselves from the sins of our forefathers and all the consequences and effects of their ungodly decisions, praying that the blood of Jesus would wash us white as snow.

Today we pull off all the veils that are clouding our minds and therefore our beliefs, decisions and lifestyles, and once again we declare that we will not “conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but we will be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  Then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom 12:2)   We pull out the roots of rebellion, defiance and wilfulness; roots of selfishness, fear, and unbelief in our own lives.  We put down roots of obedience, righteousness, humility and unselfishness.  We choose to embrace the fear of the Lord.  We declare that we are permanently free from all ungodly decisions, consequences and effects, made by our spiritual forefathers down through the years, especially since 1930; we are free to fully embrace Biblical truth.   Today we desire to turn back to your ways, your divine pattern and instructions, your divine truth. Let us once again hear your heartbeat so we come back into right alignment; once again tackling the hard topics you mean The Church to engage in; once again becoming one voice in NZ for righteousness, justice, truth, purity and life, leading the way forward as a united spiritual army, under the headship of Jesus and by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.   At present we are like the two blind men sitting beside the roadside. We cry out like they did:  “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!  We want our sight.”  (Matt 20:29-34)  Cause us to stand up and follow you on the Highway of Holiness, and to lead the way, not only in NZ, but throughout the world in returning to the mandate laid out in the Bible.    Today we “lift up a banner for the distant nations, and whistle for those at the ends of the earth” to come and journey on the Highway of Holiness.  (Is 5:26)   v      Pray for wisdom.  NIV note Proverbs 3:19-20 “To live by wisdom is to imitate the Lord and conform to the divinely appointed creation order.”       You could use the following scriptures: Prov 1:1-7 Prov 2:1-15 Prov 8:1-36   v      Truth is built up line upon line.  Declare aloud Ps 119 over the Body of Christ.   v      Pray for the spiritual fathers of this nation, the archbishops, bishops, apostles and pastors, as they lead, as they speak out, as they engage with the media.   “The United States Federal Council of Churches – FCC, (now the National Council of Churches - NCC) had been waiting eagerly for someone else to take the lead in ‘modernizing’ the Christian’s stand on birth prevention.  In March 1931, it endorsed ‘the careful and restrained use of contraceptives by married people’, while at the same time conceding that ‘serious evils, such as extramarital sex relations, may be increased by general knowledge of contraceptives’.   Interestingly, even the secular press ridiculed the FCC’s position.  The Washington Post, 22 March 1931, editorialized: ‘Carried to its logical conclusion, the committee’s report, if carried into effect, would sound the death-knell of marriage as a holy institution by establishing degrading practices which would encourage indiscriminate immorality.  The suggestion that the use of legalized contraceptives would be ‘careful and restrained’ is preposterous.’   Of course, the expansion of approval of contraception from just the ‘hard cases’ to all cases continued unabated down its smooth and obstacle-free road. The NCC proclaimed on 23 Feb 1961: ‘Most of the Protestant churches hold contraception and periodic abstinence to be morally right when the motives are right….Protestant Christians are agreed in condemning abortion or any method which destroys human life, except when the health or life of the mother is at stake’. At the end of the 20th century almost all of the mainline Protestant denominations accept not only contraception, but abortion for almost all reasons.  However, a bright ray of hope is shining, as more and more Christians of every denomination see the connections between contraception, abortion, sexual promiscuity and family problems.”                          (From “The Facts of Life” by Brian Clowes)

May God’s face shine upon you.   Sue Rowe, Ph (07) 847 5648, 140 Newcastle Rd, Hamilton 3200