Abortion and God's Forgiveness

"Will God forgive me if I have an abortion?" It's a question many women have. I didn't realize how common a question it is until I wrote about this subject last time. Perhaps you are thinking about an abortion or already had one and are wondering about this. If so, please keep reading, and I think you'll find your answer.

If you are asking this question, you already know that God views abortion as a sin--as murder in fact. So the question is, what is God's criteria for forgiveness of a sin? Or more simply: What do I need to do to be forgiven?

In a word, Repent. To repent is to change your mind about your actions so completely that you change your actions. Part of that is being sorry for what you've done. Not just sorry for the circumstances that you feel forced you into doing it, but sorry that you did it, regardless of the circumstances.

Some people will think about a sin (abortion or something else), decide that they will repent the next day, and go ahead and do it. Perhaps the next day they tell God, "I shouldn't have done that. Please forgive me." And they think every time they want to commit that sin they can do it, and then just smooth things over with God. That isn't repentance. And God does not forgive someone who hasn't truly repented.

So if you are thinking about having an abortion, you will either come to deeply regret it, or you will never be forgiven. That mixture of relief and guilt you may feel is not repentance. You have not repented until you come to the place where, if you were in the same situation, you would not commit the sin that you did.

If you already had an abortion and you are sorry that you ever did it, and you wish you could undo it, and you have committed that you will never do it again--in other words, if you have repented of the sin--you are ready to find God's forgiveness and healing.

But let me warn you. God doesn't want to forgive just one sin and still have to punish you for all of the others. He wants to forgive you for all of them. And for that, you have to be willing to give up all of your sins. You don't come to the bargaining table with God. You have to surrender everything.

Imagine God as a king with subjects. Someone has led an insurrection against him, and he is going to punish the rebels. If a rebel comes to him and says, "I'm sorry about one crime I committed, but I'm not sorry about all of the rest," the king won't have much mercy on him. But perhaps the rebel comes to him and says, "I'm ashamed of everything I did. I can't make it up to you. I have nothing to give you to repay the damages. But I submit to you now, and I'll do anything you tell me now." Then the king forgives him, and adopts him as his own child, and gives him an inheritance in his kingdom.

God wants complete repentance and a complete submission to Him. In return, He forgives completely. He never brings your rebellion up to you again. He chooses to forget it, and treats you as if you had never rebelled. He gives you peace instead of guilt. He heals your broken heart. He assures you of His love for you. He gives you help to do what you ought to do when you feel like giving up. He promises that He will never leave you. He adopts you as His child and gives you a supportive family of His other children. He guarantees that no power or circumstance, including death itself, can ever rob you of your relationship as His child.

Some people try to prove their repentance by punishing themselves. They think that if they cause enough pain to themselves, God will be more likely to forgive them. They may cut themselves or develop an eating disorder. That's trying to pay for our own sin and satisfy God on our terms. Rather than submitting to God and accepting His free forgiveness, that's telling God you don't need Him. It's a sign of continued rebellion.

Whatever your situation, just submit to God and obey Him. Enjoy His forgiveness, and allow Him to heal you.


Wesley Wilson is the President of Let Her Live, a nonprofit dedicated to saving babies by showing the beauty and value of life to women considering abortion. Please learn more about the Let Her Live pro-life billboard campaign. Donations are tax deductible.

Will God Forgive Me If I Abort?

Recently a pro-life counselor and I spoke with a young unmarried couple contemplating abortion. I'll call them Jen and Larry. They both professed Christianity, but didn't appear to understand what being a Christian means. At some point we mentioned God's forgiveness, and Jen asked too eagerly, "Does God forgive an abortion?"

That question requires more than a one-word answer, because either "Yes" or "No" would be misleading, with possibly fatal consequences. I tried to explain that sin, including the sin of abortion, is very serious--not something to be planned, committed, and forgiven automatically. But I also wanted her to understand that God can forgive someone who has truly repented of an abortion.

I have tried to think of a clearer biblical answer. Here's another attempt. Question: "Will God forgive me if I have this abortion?"

Answer: No, not in your present spiritual condition. Not with that attitude. God's forgiveness is not automatic. It comes only when our sorrow for our sin is real enough that we would not do it again if we could do it over. If you have this abortion, you may or may not ever find forgiveness. God will only forgive you after you have come to the point that you deeply regret this abortion. You will first have to realize that you have violated one of the most sacred laws of the God who made you, and that nothing you can do can ever make up for it.

While that may not be the best answer, any answer must address the common "Grandpa in the sky" view of God that makes God's forgiveness a common and expected thing. This popular "cultural Christianity" takes the sacrifice of Christ for granted. It turns the sinner's only hope of mercy into an insurance plan for continued sin, and tramples under foot the mercies of God. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid."

As Christians we must be careful to let sinners know that forgiveness is available, but we must also guard them against presuming upon His mercy and continuing in sin.

Update: Jen later scheduled an ultrasound, and after seeing her baby, she told a counselor that she would keep the baby.

Wesley Wilson is the President of Let Her Live, a nonprofit dedicated to saving babies by showing the beauty and value of life to women considering abortion. Please learn more about the Let Her Live pro-life billboard campaign. Donations are tax deductible.

The Cry of the Aborted

Thanks to Randy Murphy for sharing this poem and artwork with us.


















We can speculate on what the dead unborn would say, but we know from Scripture that the blood of the innocent does cry out to God. We learn that first from the murder of Abel.

I suspect the cry of the souls of the unborn would be similar to the cry of the souls of the martyrs recorded in Revelation 6:9-10: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"

May God have mercy on our land and bring our nation to repentance quickly.


Wesley Wilson

Wesley Wilson is the President of Let Her Live, a nonprofit dedicated to saving babies by showing the beauty and value of life to women considering abortion. Please learn more about the Let Her Live pro-life billboard campaign. Donations are tax deductible.

The Work of His Hands

The secularists love to lower human life to the level of animal life. Their unshakable faith in evolutionary theories and their love affair with abortion accompany the debasement of human life. To them, humans are the most advanced animal, but still just an animal.

The Bible records, however, that after God had created everything else by speaking, He "formed man of the dust of the ground." We picture Him carefully shaping the clay with His hands, and then leaning close over the lifeless sculpture. Then God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Later God removed one of that man's ribs and formed it into the first woman. More than any other of God's creatures, we humans are the work of His hands.

When Jesus was on earth He spoke about the worth of that living soul. He said, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Those were no idle words, for Jesus had come to give His life to pay the sin-debt for every human.

The psalmist wondered at God's interest in mankind: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?"

The author of Hebrews quoted from this Psalm when he wrote about the incarnation, explaining that humans are unique in that God, literally, "does not take hold of angels." "For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendant of Abraham." (NASB) That is, Jesus did not suffer and die for angels, but for us.

So Jesus spread His arms on the cross, allowing Roman soldiers to pound spikes through His hands. The nail-pierced hands of Jesus remind us of the great finished work of redemption. He gave His life as a perfect sacrifice once for all of us--for me and for you.

Those who have accepted Christ's pardon for sins by turning from sin to God are doubly the work of His hands. The apostle Paul wrote: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

Human life is sacred. It will continue forever after death in either the bliss of heaven or the pain of hell.

Let's give God thanks this Good Friday that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

A Question of Morality

We live in strange times.

This past week Coach Tony Dungy of the 2007 Superbowl Champion Indianapolis Colts spoke to a family group promoting marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Also last week former Vice-president Al Gore testified before the Senate on global warming. He refused to take a pledge to curtail some of his private jet use or to lower the use of energy to what the average American uses. One of his four homes uses several thousand dollars worth of energy per month. However, in his book and Oscar-winning documentary, he urges average Americans to cut back on their energy use.

One of these men was praised as a great moral leader. The other was attacked. Which was praised?

Vice-president Al Gore.

In spite of Gore's using twenty times the energy of the average American, Gore's praisers in the Senate could not gush enough about his moral leadership.

When Tony Dungy gently and kindly advocated "families the Lord's way," some homosexual groups lied about what he said. They claimed he attacked them, though he made very clear that he was demeaning no one.

"Morality" used to mean living a good life. It meant hard work, sincerity, honesty, kindness, using decent language, caring for one's family, compassion on the poor and weak, revering God, and not having sex outside of marriage.

Now many in the media and politics would change the meaning of morality. They want you to believe that it's moral to recycle, but it's not moral to say sex should be reserved for marriage. It's moral to take the bus, but it's not moral to show an ultrasound of her baby to a woman considering abortion. It's moral to protest against war with tyrants like Saddam or Al-Qaeda, but it's not moral to protest the war on the unborn.

Why is this?

Morality makes claims on us. It requires us to do what's right rather than what's easy. It requires character of us and sometimes self-denial.

The elites, those with power, celebrity or money, have never been good at self-denial. Whether you go back to the pharaohs, the kings of the Old Testament, the empires of Europe or today's Hollywood and governmental elite, self-denial has never been their strong suit. What applies to others should not apply to them. They are better and deserve better than the rest of us lowly peons.

You see morality in the western world has been based on the Ten Commandments. Elitists tend to think of them as restricting their liberties, as those "Thou shalt nots." But not too many years ago most people recognized them as the bulwarks of our law and society.

Each of God's laws protects the weak and innocent. Let's look at two. "Thou shalt not kill" helps people respect the right to life of the elderly man living alone, of the teenage girl out on the street, of the unborn child. The strong who can protect themselves and the wealthy who can pay for protection don't need the sixth commandment the way the poor, the weak, or the innocent do. The strong and wealthy are in a position to provide for themselves better than the rest of us. Most of us depend on society to uphold this standard, God's standard, for our safety. When people ignore God's law, society becomes dangerous. Life becomes negotiable if you have the money or power. The strong and powerful no longer look out for the safety of others unless it's convenient to them. The weak and insignificant suffer most.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery" channels our powerful sexual passions to marriage and keeps them there. How does it benefit us? It bonds a man and a woman together for life, giving each security, intimacy, and love. This provides a father in the home committed to his wife and to his children. Children who have the discipline, guidance, and protection of both parents are less likely to become violent, to engage in drugs or promiscuity. They have a better chance of establishing themselves for a good life.

Some claim that not everyone keeps these laws so they aren't good. Yet don't we know from the evidence of molested children, abandoned lovers, and abused elderly that the more people who follow God's laws the better?

Rather than undermining freedom, morality—God's law God's way—undergirds freedom for the ordinary, the innocent, the poor, and the weak.

Debbie W. Wilson

Debbie W. Wilson is a human rights advocate, speaker, and author of Christy Award-winning thriller Tiger in the Shadows. Her weekly prayer list for the persecuted church can be found on the home page of Bound Together Ministries.

The Value of a Sparrow

"What was that about?" my six-and-a-half-year-old daughter asked.

"Shhh. Let me hear the news," I answered, hoping she would forget.

She didn't. They don't forget the things you wish they would.

After the news ended, she said, "What was that story about the boy?"

I told her that a little boy had been kidnapped and killed by bad men. Neighbors had found his body.

A week or two ago she questioned me about a news story in which a man flew his plane with his eight-year-old daughter in it into his ex-mother-in-law's house in revenge on his ex-wife. These stories about the murders of children are too common.

I try to think back to what my mother told us about similar stories, but I can't remember hearing any. In our little town even a break-in was big bad news. Most people went to bed with their doors unlocked. Children left to play in the neighborhood after breakfast and returned for lunch and supper. If my brother or I got into trouble, my mother knew before we even reached home or definitely within twenty-four hours.

What has happened?

We could credit it to many things: the breakdown of the family, the breakdown of the community, rejection of Judeo/Christian values, the fact that most children no longer learn religious values weekly in a church or synagogue, the absence of mothers in the home during the day, and the increase of pornography.

But we shouldn't leave out the devaluing of life caused by Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion declared the unborn child was not a person under the law. It allowed him or her to be disposed of like a piece of trash. It took away the influence of the child's father in deciding whether that unborn child survives or dies.

Those legal precedents had enormous social consequences. Suddenly the father was less of a father than a sperm donor. The child became a financial burden to the man if he didn't have a commitment to the mother. He had to support the kid without being involved in the decision of whether the child lived or died.

Now many men no longer receive pressure by the community to marry the mother and form a family. They no longer have to grow up, become responsible, and do the right thing. Hence we find many men who are still children at 30, leeching off whichever woman will support them and her offspring.

Because these men no longer have a commitment to their children with the woman whom they made them, many of them felt no real bond with the children they lived with. Instead, in some cases, access to the kids became part of the bargain to keep the man in the home.

As for the children themselves, if they could be disposed of so easily before birth, how precious are they really? They become tools for pleasure, tools for profit with pornography or prostitution, tools for revenge or control.

Child abuse has increased with this devaluation.

Our attitudes toward children have changed in the past forty years. With that change, we changed our actions, but God's attitudes have not changed. He says that "the very hairs of your head are numbered." He says that those who harm one of these little ones would be better off if they had a millstone tied around their necks and were tossed into the river. He sees them as his reward to parents, as examples of His image, as teachers of how to enter heaven.

Christ says, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."

When the toddler is fussy, the teenager is arguing, or the baby isn't planned, it's easy to forget how much God loves each one of them. We need to step back and see them through His eyes, to see their potential, their uniqueness, and their value to God. He cherishes them.

And so should we.

Debbie W. Wilson

Debbie W. Wilson is a human rights advocate, speaker, and author of Christy Award-winning thriller Tiger in the Shadows. Her weekly prayer list for the persecuted church can be found on the home page of Bound Together Ministries.

Nothing is Too Hard for God

Our assistant pastor preached an encouraging message entitled "God Can" last Sunday night from the question of the Israelites in Psalm 78:19: "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" The theme of the sermon was that nothing is too hard for God.

That's an important truth to remember as we fight against abortion. Sometimes we despair of ever seeing abortion on demand become illegal in the majority of our states. But nothing is too hard for God, and He is a God who hates child-killing.

Could it be that we have not because we ask not? How much do we labor in prayer against abortion? Sometimes we neglect prayer because it seems so simple. "Anyone can pray, but I want to do something greater for God." But no one who has practiced the discipline of prayer would say that it is easy. Dedicated, fervent prayer his hard work--perhaps the greatest work we can do. Prayer should not be our only work, but little work for God can be accomplished without it.

The battle is the Lord's, and He gives the victory, but it is not without human participation. People spiritualize the account of David and Goliath and talk about how God can kill the giant in your life. God gave David the victory, but David had to face the giant and put all his strength into throwing that fatal stone. God let the giant blaspheme until a man of courage put his life on the line to stand up for righteousness.

My wife and I talked with a friend recently who observed that man's free will must be very important to God. As much as God hates sin, He allows people to practice it while He draws them to the point of repentance. Rather than forcing His will in our lives, He leads us to voluntarily give our wills to Him.

We have an all-powerful, just, holy God who hates sin and injustice. But instead of eradicating it Himself, He usually waits for men and women to yield themselves and perform the actions that He would have them do. He allows us to do His work. What a privilege!

Instead of placing the truth of His Gospel in every heart and mind, God uses human preachers, missionaries, friends and neighbors. Rather than stopping the slave trade or ending abortion by Divine intervention, he leads His people to work against it for decades and stop it that way. The Church is God's tool of choice. Truly, the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.

The movie Amazing Grace has focused attention on the life of the great man of God and British abolitionist William Wilberforce. I'm a little dismayed when I hear people ask, "Where is our Wilberforce?" Don't look for him. Be the Wilberforce! You may not have his position, but you have influence somewhere. Use it.

Wesley Wilson

God's Message to the Unborn

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord: "The Lord looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death." Psalm 102:18-20.

It struck me as I was reading this verse that the oracle the psalmist is about to write is for the unborn and those not yet conceived. Both of these though, are “a people” in the psalmist’s eyes.

It also makes clear for all future generations to see that the Lord is a God of justice and mercy. He heard the groans of the prisoners in America some 150 years ago and He freed them. From His sanctuary on high He hears the groans of the brick kiln slaves in India, the child sex slaves in brothels in Cambodia, the Africans in Sudan enslaved by Muslims, and many others around the world. But He is using groups like International Justice Mission to free them.

Right now He sees from heaven the most innocent among us being condemned to death every day in the abortion mills. But even as you read this, He is also using crisis pregnancy centers, hotlines, clinic protesters, National Right to Life, and many others to release the condemned.

Our God is a God of compassion. Let us be His instruments of justice and mercy.

Felicia Wilson