After a lifetime as part of the church, over 40 years of life sincerely seeking Jesus and over 30 years of experience in pro-life work, I have witnessed a distinct pattern: Pro-life warriors stand out as powerful followers of Christ who seek to offer this same hope and grace to others.
In an era where progressive Christianity and deconstruction threaten to drag the church across this country into complacency and perhaps oblivion, it is worth examining this premise and if it’s correct, discovering the cause behind this effect.
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Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director who became a pro-life advocate, has a ministry to help abortion industry workers come out of the industry. Johnson and her staff are examples I would count among these pro-life warriors.
Here is their approach in Johnson’s own words:
“When a clinic worker does decide to leave the abortion industry it’s usually because they suddenly realize that they have been living, believing and speaking a lie . . . Hopefully, they find a group of pro-lifers that are ready and willing to help.”
Another example is Fr. William Kosco, pastor of St. Henry Catholic Church in Buckeye, Arizona. In a February 7, 2021, homily, Kosco told the parish members that if they are pro-abortion, while he is tempted to ask them to leave, he immediately thinks, ‘where would you go?’
“Sadly, you would find a parish. Instead, this is your chance to repent, to find salvation,” Kosco stated, assuring members they would find forgiveness and grace. He added, “We will give no quarter here for these (pro-abortion) ideas.”
Kosco’s message started with an account of his own experience traveling to Auschwitz concentration camp many years ago. They were told of the appearance of what looked like snow falling in July 1940 which was the ashes of people who’d been killed in the crematory at the death camp.
Kosco wondered how the people of the town could allow this to go on.
On his group’s trip back from Auschwitz he would see while on a bus a real-life example of people standing by and not caring while another human was assaulted. Kosco and two other men stood up to help, but the incident left him angry to see the remaining bus passengers do nothing.
Kosco said he got off the bus to help because, “it was ‘snowing’ outside, and it isn’t snow.”
Thirty years since then and this pastor feels the same righteous anger toward abortion that he experienced while touring Auschwitz.
“Our bishops have been silent for 60 years,” he stated sorrowfully. "It is snowing outside with the ashes of the innocent unborn, and it isn’t snow.”
Catholic or protestant, Methodist or independent Christian, Baptist, or whatever denomination in Christianity you wish to highlight, being pro-life out loud and on purpose marks you in the world as a troublemaker. Just as Jesus showed Himself to be a troublemaker in the middle of the temple courts overturning the tables of the moneychangers (Matthew 21:12-13).
To be a Jesus follower is to carry hatred in your heart toward your sin. That hate results in a repentant heart that is quick to deal with your sin immediately by going to God to do business.
So why would the pro-life community possibly be more likely (based on my observations) to follow this path?
There are three common elements in Christian pro-life advocates I’ve observed:
1. They are in tune with grace because they have practiced and continue to practice personal repentance.
2. They take the command of Jesus to “GO into the world and serve” to heart.
3. They are whole heartedly invested in truth.
Pastor Matt Chandler from The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, stated, “The Gospel is not just a door to walk through, but it is the whole house.”
In a recent sermon series Chandler emphasized the need for believers to keep hearing the gospel just as Paul preached it to believers over and over in the early church.
“By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:2)
The verses that follow (1 Corinthians 15:3-8) summarize the gospel yet again and the reason Paul continually repeats the facts—of Christ’s death on our behalf for our sins, resurrection to prove He conquered sin and death—because we need to receive it every day.
The course of action that leads to life is to be violent against your own sin - not to “own” it as some do, and then ask others to accept their justifications. But to truly battle against sin from the position of power Christ gives us through His victory on the cross.
Our primary weapon is ongoing practice of confession and repentance. Anything we hold onto and fail to bring to God keeps us from fullness of fellowship with Jesus.
Unfortunately, there are too many churches in the U.S. that are content with just doing good for goodness’ sake. It looks good. It feels good and like the wild grape vine growing over a tree, it looks lush. But because the vine is not 
submitted to the pruning of a gardener, the appearance is deceptive.
A closer look reveals the fruit of this vine, which is so worthless, not even the birds are bothering to eat it. Additionally, the vine is suffocating the tree underneath.
Jesus reveals the secret to the development of good fruit in John 15, which is well worth examining if you are not familiar with this.
To Jesus’ point in the vine parable, unless we remain in Him, we end up like the worthless vine.
Pro-life workers are doing difficult work, in which you can experience ridicule, face the threats from opposition, and worst of all experience times when you invest your heart into speaking truth to individuals who may decide to abort their baby anyway.
But pro-life warriors understand this is God’s calling on their lives and that we are never promised that obedience will be anything other than difficult.
Therefore, abiding in Christ is how you can continue in this work and hold onto hope and joy in every circumstance.
At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 – 7) Jesus speaks to the weighty principles of character and how our actions reveal our heart’s condition.
This passage (Matthew 7:21-23) contains some of the harshest words Jesus ever speaks.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.’”
It does not benefit us to only be performing acts of worship, charity or whatever you think makes you look good - character always matters.
Dr. Matt Harrison has been featured in various Pregnancy Help News articles. In one we see Dr. Harrison's response to opposition outside an abortion clinic.
"The devil knows my weakest point is pride, so my best response is getting on my knees. I can tell they are very scarred individuals with very deep wounds, and I pray they will not propagate the violence against mothers and their babies," stated Harrison.
This man's character, compassion, and awareness of his own need to humble himself before God are all evident.
When I read the account of the woman at the well in John 4, it reminds me of pro-life Christians. By the end of her conversation with Jesus, the woman has fully admitted her sin, received His grace and is so joyful she cannot wait to return to the village to tell everyone.
“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” urged the woman. Her testimony and simple invitation of “come and see” would bring salvation to her village.
Pro-life Christians are broken over their own sin and over our nation’s sin of destroying life which was created by God. If you have not experienced fellowship with this community, and if your church experience has been pedantic, confusing, or even hurtful—I suggest you have not witnessed the kingdom of God.
Come and see!
