The Unconfessed Holocaust

Ezekiel 20:21-44

I

mmigrants to Canada numbered 174,000 last year. Elinor Caplan, our federal Immigration Minister, recently announced that Canada intends to accept up to 225,000 newcomers this year. One of the major arguments advanced for increasing immigration numbers is that we need to increase the number of new Canadians in order to fund the legalised Ponzi scheme we know as Canada Pension Plan which Baby Boomers who are now approaching retirement age will shortly be receiving. Another major argument for increasing immigration quotas is to permit Canada to sustain economic growth.

What is often overlooked in these arguments is the fact that nationally we kill upwards of 70,000 children by abortion each year. That means that the immigration rate could easily be reduced by 70,000 people per year. That figure represents one-third of the proposed immigration rate for the year 2000. Simply by ceasing to kill the unborn we would reduce the need for immigration and secure our future.

Consider also the fact that disproportionate numbers of those immigrating to Canada during the decade of the nineties were of Asian origin. This trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Many of these recent immigrants indicate that they fled China because of its official policy of one child per family. In practical terms this means that these recent immigrants are likely to eschew aborting their young as do the native born residents of Canada.

The practical impact of this anomaly is an increasingly darkened complexion for the nation, ensuring that within a relatively short period of time Canadian culture could well be significantly altered through adoption of eastern religious/moral concepts. Ultimately, such transitions will have an impact on Canadian social institutions for better or for worse. Perhaps such a cultural transition is inevitable, but one cannot help but lament the contradictory messages from government insisting on the need for greater population even as we slaughter those most naturally sympathetic to and supportive of our culture which was developed over the previous centuries underlying our heritage.

In 1995 70,549 infants were ripped from their mother’s wombs and disposed of through incineration or burial with other hospital waste. That rate of abortion has been sustained throughout the remainder of the decade just past, so that in the past ten years over 710,000 Canadians were deprived of life without due process and without public outcry at the continuing massacre. These children were sacrificed to the aspirations of parents and grandparents who have bought into a dream of greed and ease. The sacrifice of innocents in Canada is not unlike the sacrifice of infants to the god Molech during the days when Ezekiel prophesied. The number of infants slaughtered in proportion to the populace of the land is greater than the slaughter of people classified as subhuman by the Nazi hierarchy during the dark days of the Third Reich.

What I find to be more disturbing than the slaughter of the unborn is the silence of the church. The paucity of outcry by godly individuals should give every Christian pause and bring us to our knees before the Living God. I suggest that a day of affliction of our souls is mandated by the evidence of this unconfessed holocaust in our nation. A day to confess our sin of silence, a day in which we humble ourselves before our God, a day for the affliction of our souls is demanded by the knowledge that throughout our land this slaughter continues unabated. Yet I do not anticipate that I shall soon witness that day.

It is Holocaust Sunday … a day throughout North America when churches are asked to remember the death of the innocent. It is a day in which Christians are asked to seek the face of God asking that He show mercy to those who have been merciless in rejecting His gift of children. It is a day in which all Christians should hang their heads in shame at the thought that we have quietly participated in the adopting the worldview which despises children and exalts self. In order to explore the enormity of our sin I suggest that we weigh the words of the Prophet Ezekiel and apply them to our own day and to our own world that we may be compelled to seek mercy from our God.

God’s View of Children — God loves children. It is not without significance that Jesus was sought out by parents with little children. You will recall the incident recorded of Jesus when babies [Luke 18:15] were brought to Him in order that He might place His hands on them and pray for them. The disciples thought they were honouring the Master when they rebuked the parents and attempted to stop the parade of children. Jesus, however, rebuked His disciples. Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these [Matthew 9:13,14; Luke 18:16]. Then, He blessed them.

When the Saviour wished to teach His disciples the way to receive eternal life He took a little child and had him stand among the disciples. Taking the child in His arms, Jesus said, Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My Name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me does not welcome Me but the One who sent Me [Mark 9:36,37].

Entering the city as His Passion drew near, Jesus was confronted by the religious leaders who were indignant that children were shouting in the Temple Area. Those children were joyously shouting Hosanna to the Son of David. To the exasperated Jewish leaders Jesus responded: Have you never read,

“‘From the lips of children and infants

you have ordained praise’?”

[Matthew 21:16,17]

I recall an incident early in my time with the Valemount congregation when a soured saint turned and snarled because the children were too loud. My sole regret is that I didn’t then rebuke her for her failure to rejoice in that which pleases God … the presence of children laughing and rejoicing in His presence.

When the disciples returned, rejoicing in the power they exercised over evil spirits, Jesus rejoiced with them. Notice in particular His statement of joy. I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure [Luke 10:21]. Dear people, God loves children! That should be abundantly clear to any Christian. The church which does not go out of its way to welcome children is a church which is dying regardless of how many people occupy the pews and pass through the doors.

Such a brief excursus of the response of Jesus to the presence of children must only begin to touch the view of God toward infants as expressed in His Word. Rebuking Judah and Israel through Ezekiel’s allegory in chapter 16, the Lord makes a startling statement. Listen to His charge against Israel. You took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough? You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols [Ezekiel 16:20,21].

The charge begins that the sons and daughters were born to God and sacrificed to idols. Note the twenty-first verse: You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. God views children as belonging to Him, as should be apparent from remembering the 127th Psalm. You will remember the latter part of that Psalm in particular.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD,

children a reward from him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are sons born in one’s youth.

Blessed is the man

whose quiver is full of them.

[Psalm 127:3-5a]

In the first benediction pronounced on our first parents, the blessing was children. Remember the words which are recorded in Genesis 1:28? God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number.” The presence of children is evidence of God’s blessing. This is the reason I said that the presence of children in a church is evidence of God’s blessing. Consider carefully and weigh the impact of the obverse of that statement. The absence of children is evidence that God has ceased to bless a congregation.

One other passage which speaks pointedly to the issue of God’s view of children is that written by the Prophet Malachi in Malachi 2:13-15. You will recall the context in which God speaks. He is speaking against divorce and the casual view of marriage. Though divorce is a grave social evil today, note the impact arising from broken homes which especially touches the heart of God. Latchkey kids touch the heart of God!

Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

Focus on the fifteenth verse. A couple united in holy matrimony, a couple in Christ, belongs to Him. Why should this be true? Because He was seeking godly offspring. God seeks godly offspring through Christian couples. I am speaking candidly and pastorally when I say that Christians should anticipate having children because this is the will of God for you in your marriage. Consequently, this is one reason divorce is so abhorrent to God. A divorced couple has no prospect of having children and those children raised in the home of a single parent are disadvantaged in their walk with God.

God esteems children, giving them as a gift … even as His heritage. That which God gives is good and is to be received as good by those to whom He gives. To reject God’s gift is the same as saying that His gift is not good. To adopt such a position is tantamount to rejecting God Himself as evil. According to what we have seen we approach blasphemy in rejecting children. Let the church weigh carefully this fact before it refuses to welcome children. Let each Christian weigh this truth most carefully.

Contemporary View of Children — Increasingly do we observe a strange day in which children are viewed as a threat to happiness, to wealth and to freedom. An increasing number of young couples consider children to be an encumbrance, a restriction on happiness and personal freedom. That such a view of children as a burden is prevalent within our society is evident through contemporary language. Even the language of saints within the sacred precincts of the churches of Christ, is tainted with venom.

We joke about children, but the tenor of our voices is too vicious to simply laugh off our remarks as mere jokes. We speak of “kids” and too often find that we cannot hide the sneer in our voices. Even when we avoid speaking dimly of children in our midst, the fact that we make no provision for their presence reveals that we do not value their presence among us.

When we fail to reach out to children, specifically making provision for their presence with us, we are as much as saying that children are an inconvenience and a source of vexation. When we find ourselves irritated by the prattle of childish voices we are giving tacit admission that we see children as more trouble than they are worth. When we fail to anticipate that visitors will frequently have children with them and fail to prepare to reach those children with the message of Christ’s grace, we are denying the accuracy of Jesus’ assessment of those same children.

I am startled by the increasing number of young couples today who wed with no intention of ever having children. Careers and travel and personal ambition seem somehow more important than does fulfilling the plan of God which arises quite naturally within the context of marriage. However, we have learned the secrets of God and we are masters of our own destinies and we can control our lives to an extent thought impossible only a generation past. We no longer need to think that we are dependent upon God; we ourselves will determine where and when and if children will grace our home. Consequently even within the church we are no longer convinced that children are a reward from God, much less than sons are His heritage.

Thus, though we ourselves may never speak harshly against children, if we tolerate an attitude which expresses resentment toward children we are guilty of despising God’s gracious gift. Though we may never disparage children, if we permit others to dismiss children and fail to speak up for the righteous view, we are as guilty of insulting God’s grace as are those modern idolaters. The situations we tolerate and the attitude we consent to reign in our presence foster a social atmosphere which will either welcome children or will permit them to be slaughtered as though they were vermin.

Sacrifice of the Innocents — The people of Ezekiel’s day said they caused their infants to pass through the fire. The thought of infant sacrifice was so horrific to the Jewish mind that they could not bring themselves to say what was really happening. A mother would bring her child to the Phoenician priest to offer her child to Molech. The god was in effect a huge furnace crafted in the crude form of a man. Hollow arms were outstretched from the body of the idol. The idol itself was crafted with a hollow interior where a fire was kindled and allowed to burn hotly. The flames would lick upward, heating the metal arms to white heat. As drummers pounded out a deafening tattoo and as priestesses loudly lamented the infant was placed on the glowing arms of the idol where the little body was seared and the child quickly died from the shock of heat and pain. Instead of saying that they sacrificed their children, the Jews said they passed through the fire.

Why do people today choose to kill their unborn infants? What excuses are given for ripping the infants from the womb of their mothers? Mothers say a child will hinder them in pursuit of their dreams. Perhaps they cannot have the man they think they want or perhaps they will find their careers threatened. A child demands a lot of a mother. Fathers feel themselves threatened by the financial responsibilities which attend the presence of children. Perhaps they fear that they will not be able to do all they want with the woman they love. Consequently, in the final analysis children are sacrificed to the gods of wealth and pleasure, the same gods of power and fertility worshipped long ago.

I find it intriguing to study historical anthropology, noting the gods which vied with the Living God for supremacy in Israel during the days of the Divided Kingdom. Though multiple gods and goddesses were worshipped among the nations surrounding Israel (Chemosh, Molech, Rephan, Ashtoreth, Tammuz, and the Queen of Heaven), two gods identified by the generic titles of Baal and Asherah seem to have made the greatest inroads among the people over the longest period of time. Baal was the god of power and might, whereas Asherah represented fertility and sexual pleasure.

We do not openly worship idols in this day, but we do sacrifice to the same gods worshipped long ago. The drive for personal wealth leads many mothers and many fathers to sacrifice their children. As surely as though their children were sacrificed to Baal, when personal wealth and security induce a parent to insist that the unborn child be slaughtered, that parent is as guilty as any mother in Israel who sacrificed her child to Baal. When the desire for personal pleasure, a refusal to accept the responsibility attending the presence of children, leads a parent to insist that an unborn child be slaughtered in utero, that parent is as guilty of idolatry as an Israelite parent who sacrificed a child to Asherah. Whether the child dies in the fiery embrace of an idol or whether the child dies through being violently torn apart is immaterial, that parent is guilty of idolatry since self is exalted and the gift of God is despised. By that criterion, over 70,000 Canadians worship the gods of power and pleasure through human sacrifice each year as they reveal their loathing for the gracious gift of life which God gives.

We do not burn our babies in the fire, but we do rip them from the security of the womb and tear their bodies apart with sterile instruments. We do not watch our infants writhe on white hot metal arms as they are fried in their own fat, but we do watch them dodge the executioner’s needle until at last they are cornered and the cruel instrument pierces their fragile bodies. We are not so crass as to watch our babies burn before our eyes, but instead we pull them partway from the womb, pierce their heads and suck out their brains. Our children do not die to the accompaniment of drums and loud chants, but rather they die to the humming of suction machines and the accompaniment of the cash registers marking our growing wealth with a monotonous ca-ching! Ca-ching! Ca-ching!

We have for twenty years sanctioned this holocaust. By this date late in the Age of Grace our nation is responsible for the sacrifice of millions of innocent children. We have cooked them in the womb, poisoned them, dissected them, ripped and torn them, pierced and crushed their skulls, and used the science of biochemistry to expel them as though they were so much unwanted garbage. Our nation is not more compassionate because we can at last say that every child is a wanted child, but instead we have more child abuse, more violent crime, more bitter harvest than we could ever have imagined. Those children who were born during this period see themselves as survivors and they despise the older generation which lived solely for its own selfish ends.

Truly we have sown the wind and we are about to reap the whirlwind. God Himself cannot continue to ignore our rebellion. God cannot continue to turn His head from our arrogance and from our idolatry. Those very children who have been born are today beginning to receive the vote, and do you think that they will look with approval on calls to care for those of us who today are young adults and who are in middle age? Do you not rather suspect that we have taught them by precept and example that man has the power over his fellow creatures, and just as we destroyed their siblings in the womb they have the right to slaughter us on geriatric beds rather than provide for us in our old age?

Sacrifice of Innocence — God was gracious to Israel. He warned them repeatedly, but He withheld His hand for the sake of His own Name. He would not profane His Name in the sight of the nations surrounding Israel. What would He do? In verses twenty-five and twenty-six God speaks of what He did first. He surrendered them to statutes and laws which were destructive. He permitted them to defile themselves, hoping that they would be horrified as they realised what they had done.

Parliament passes more and more laws in every session. The greater the number of our laws the less freedoms we enjoy. The more we multiply laws, the greater the degree of our lawlessness. Do you really imagine that hate tribunals and civil rights tribunals make for a more civilised land than what was enjoyed by our fathers and by our grandfathers? Do you really think that we have greater freedoms than did our mothers and our grandmothers? We are just beginning to see the leading edge of the Baby Boomers approach retirement age, and they are beginning to worry about who will care for them. The first murmuring of discontent among the youthful taxpayers indicate that a revolt against the unpaid bills of their seniors is brewing. I suggest to you that the very punishment God spoke against Israel is apparent to anyone who is the least perceptive.

God through Ezekiel again warned Israel that He would not permit them to inquire of Him [verse 31]. God would withdraw from them. Though they would be ever so religious, He would no longer hear their cries. I suggest to you that the people of this day are more religious than ever before, but they refuse to search for the truth known to their forebears. We censure the Christian who dares speak as though salvation were by faith in Christ and only by faith in Christ, but we congratulate ourselves for the breath of our tolerance because we defend the right of Muslims to hate us because we believe nothing. Today we believe that every religion is equally valid, and we approve the Archbishop of Westminster when he treats the Faith of Christ the Lord as though it were one of any number of valid approaches to the Lord God of Heaven and earth.

The United Church of Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Lutherans and the Presbyterians … and quite enough Baptists to sicken this preacher … have concluded that one need but have one’s own private faith and try as hard as one can to please God and that will somehow suffice. Yet within those same churches are many good people who long for a sure voice which will say, “This is the way. Walk in it.” They seek to hear a word from God, but there is no guidance and the sorrowful cry is proved true: the hungry sheep look up and are not fed. The dearth of biblical preaching and the paucity of biblical preachers serve as mute but effective evidence that God has likely already begun the judgement process against our nation. How long will it be until the judgement is complete? How long until God washes His hands of this nation and says “Let them go. They have despised me and they have rejected my gifts. Let them receive justice.”

But the children rebelled against me. Here is the heart of the issue. Herein lies the crux of God’s complaint against His own people. Our nation has exalted and enthroned self. We worship at the church of the exalted self and marvel at our lack of contentment. Perhaps if we only pursue our own desires more ardently, with greater vigour, then we will be fulfilled. I spoke with a man in our town on Friday afternoon. When he asked my reason for being in town I told him that I pastored the Baptist church. This led to a conversation in which I was privileged to present the Gospel to him.

He allowed that he sent his children to a Sunday School in our town, but even that act was repugnant to him. The church they attended sanctions yoga classes in the place of worship, promotes the advancement of sodomites and advocates tolerance of grossest perversion as evidence that it is religious. He spoke of his disgust with that particular church and made the comment, “There is no longer any guilt. Nothing matters to them.”

I urged him to come join us in worship. I told him that we have some standards and that we insist that the standard by which man is to abide is eternally fixed in heaven. With that he dismissed me. “I worship at the Church of Maligne Lake during the summer and I worship at the Church of Self throughout the winter,” was his dismissive comment. He spoke the truth for far more of our neighbours than we care admit.

The only hope that Canada will escape divine judgement for the unconfessed holocaust lies in the response of the Church of the Firstborn. Have we become so insensible to the attitudes of this world that we no longer see how compromised we are? Have we become so tolerant of evil that we no longer care whether there is a distinction between us and those of this perishing world? Long years ago, when Ezekiel prophesied, God spoke through His prophet to say, I looked for a man among [the people] who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it [Ezekiel 22:30]. No doubt God yet looks for such people.

Dear people, minorities, not majorities, make history. A handful of disciples in Jerusalem gathered in prayer following the Resurrection of our Lord and became the precursor to revival. A small band of missionaries travelling throughout the Roman Empire sent the Roman Eagle screaming from her nest and turned that ancient world upside down. A weary band of itinerating Methodist preachers revived England sparing her the fate of the bloody French Revolution. A motley band of Baptist preachers who supported themselves by farming spread the Word of God throughout the American frontier and ensured that a missionary haven would be provided for generations. God has always looked for a few men and women who serve none but Him and fear nothing but sin to stand before a wicked world calling it to repentance. While others may speak more eloquently and while others may address greater numbers, could it be that God would have this church speak to this town in this day calling the people to repentance?

The tragedy of Ezekiel’s day is the conclusion of God’s search. But I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done [Ezekiel 22:30b,31]. If we fail to change our attitude we will assuredly fail to change the attitude of the world around us. If we fail to change the attitude of the world around us the sin will mount higher still until God Himself must pour out His wrath on us, consuming us in His fiery anger and bringing down on our heads all that we have done and all that we have permitted to be done during our rebellion against grace. However, I am persuaded better of you who listen today, believing that you can change your own attitudes and thus touch another life.

I urge you to first examine your own attitude toward the children of our town. Do not tell me you care about them and that you value them if you are unwilling to reach out to teach them of the grace of Christ our Lord. If you are of the opinion that we will have a means of outreach to them after they have come, they shall never come. Your attitude reveals despite toward God’s gracious gift of life. If you will change your attitude, there is hope that we can touch a jaded world with the love of God in Christ. If your attitude remains focused on your own ease and self-content, you need not expect that much will ever change in your world.

Again, examine whether you are silent when those about you speak of the need to tolerate the slaughter of the unborn or when they speak of children as a burden. Are you willing to enter into verbal defence of the biblical position that children are a gift from the love of God? Begin to stand for that which honours God and that which glorifies Him. Don’t wait until later but stand for Him today. I suggest that the day for radical Christianity has long since arrived and the decision confronting us is whether we will live with a radical abandon to serve the King of Glory or whether we will seek our own ease.

I cannot in conscience urge you to join some noisy march or another, but I do urge you to weigh your voice in society. Pray for godly leaders in Parliament and in the Legislative Assembly of our province. Vote for those who seek to honour God and not simply for those who promise much and deliver little. Let your voice be heard. Above all, speak up for the voiceless in society warning those who condone the sacrifice of the innocent that the cost may be higher than we can bear. Let all this be done to the glory of Christ our Lord. Amen.