Thinking Biblically About the Use of Aborted Fetal Cells, Part 1

I said, "I will guard my ways that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle, while the wicked are in my presence." I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, And my sorrow grew worse. My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue: "LORD, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. “Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. "And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” - Psalm 39:1-7

The time has come to call things what they are. The principle of sinful flesh within us and the principalities which organize and direct the anti-christ agenda of this present darkness operate in confusion and deception. It has always been so. That ancient serpent portrayed disobedience as freedom to Eve. What appeared to offer life, in fact, brought death. The methods of the flesh and of our enemy have not changed since then. “Modern” man fancies himself an advanced version of the species, but this is simply another lie. The data referred to in this essay is a small sampling of the casualties of modern secular humanism. Rather than face the prospect of sin and judgment, humanists, in conjunction with the theory of macro evolution, developed the myth of progress. This is essentially the idea that mankind began in a primitive form and has been advancing, sometimes steadily and other times in leaps and bounds, into a more intelligent, more capable humanoid. He envisions himself shedding the barbaric nature of “early man”. This myth percolates into the thinking of church-goers and atheists alike. Abortion singlehandedly destroys the validity of this view. It is child-sacrifice and it proves the words of the teacher in Ecclesiastes 1:9, "That which * has been is that which will be, And that which * has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing * new under the sun."

Much of the world is faced with the prospect of taking an injection in order to keep their job or their social identity or to protect their access to basic necessities.The facts and figures surrounding these injections’ failure as preventatives and therapeutics are enough to cause many people to hesitate. What I find devastating is that most of these people, Christians included, would not hesitate if they felt that the shots were as safe and effective as the marketing claims. I do not point this out in order to establish some moral high ground. This is not an attempt to try to add validity to my position by pointing the finger at others. This is about obedience to the Word of God. We are called to exhort one another in this way: “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." (Jam. 5:19-20) It would be unloving to avoid this topic, when the lives of the unborn and our obedience to our Master are on the line.

The reality is that the development and production of pandemic injections are dependent upon the use of aborted fetal cells. This will be established in the following pages. Marketing moguls smoothly emulate the snake in the garden: “Is it really so bad that a few babies died to produce this drug or vaccine? Take the “fruit”. You will receive health and safety, and isn’t that worth it?” They do the snake one better: “Doesn’t the improved health and safety of you and your children make the sacrifice of those babies a noble thing?” And Christians accept the bargain. God pronounces a curse on those who do this. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Is. 5:20)

I have formulated the thesis of this essay in terms of a syllogism: two premises and a conclusion. By supporting both premises in the body of the piece, I hope you will find the conclusion inevitable. But we be warned, if you do, there is a personal cost associated with the implications of that conclusion.

Premise One is that abortion is murder of children and all murder is sin worthy of capital punishment.

Premise Two is that many modern pharmaceuticals and vaccines developed over at least the last 50 years exist due to the intentional murder of unborn children and the premeditated use of their organs and tissues in research and development.

The Conclusion is that the use of pharmaceuticals and vaccines developed with the use of aborted fetal tissue, regardless of when the abortion took place or what the murdered child is used for, is immoral and forbidden to a Christian.

Support for Premise One

Unborn children are different from born children only in terms of their location, stage of development and level of dependency. These differences do not negate their status as human persons. Killing children at any stage of development is murder. The Psalmist teaches us that the formation of children in the womb is actually done by God, Himself (Psalm 139:13-16). The womb is, therefore, a sacred place. Honestly, the amount of time, energy and ink that has been wasted on the personhood argument is tragic. I have wasted much time in debate over this issue in the past when talking with pro-abortion people. Whether you believe the child in the womb to be a person or not makes no difference to the reality that the womb is not to be violated. Psalm 127:3: “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” It doesn’t say that children are a gift of the LORD only if they are wanted or healthy, or am I reading that wrong?

Abortion is not a different or lesser kind of murder. It is murder. Murder is unequivocally forbidden by God and a clear moral evil. The Word of God articulates this plainly by:

1. Direct Command in Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder.”

2. Implications of the Direct Command in Exodus 21:22-25: “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

   1. Look at the pure justice of God’s law, breathtakingly superior to man’s law.

   2. The law of God establishes the value of the life and limb of an unborn child as being so high that one who accidentally kills them forfeits their own life or limb as a result.

3. Direct instruction as to the origin of man and his nature-Genesis 1:26,27: ‘Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.’

   1. Contrary to the ideology of humanistic scientists, man is not a collocation of atoms dancing to his DNA.

   2. His existence, life and nature are a gift of God and therefore all meaning and value are derived from the Creator. Each person is a unique creation and equally subject to God.

4. Interpretation of the Mosaic Law and correction of rabbinic traditions by Jesus the Christ-Matthew 5:21-22: ‘"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.’

   1. Since abortion is murder, then abortionists and their accomplices are murderers who should be liable to the court. But the Biblical argument is so much more consuming than this.

   2. According to God, who is the Supreme Judge, you are worthy of damnation/eternal capital punishment, for even the sinful attitudes, thoughts and desires that characterize the person who may or may not carry out the physical act of murder.

   3. Before God, sin-guilt weighs equally upon the one who harbors hatred in his heart, as it does upon the one who puts that hatred into action and commits murder.

5. Narrative Illustration-Genesis 4:6-10: 'Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy? If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain talked to his brother Abel; and it happened that when they were in the field Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Then He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.'

   1. YHWH the Judge warned Cain that sin nearly had him and the next thing that happens is that Cain acts upon that sin and kills his brother.

   2. YHWH speaks as a judge, telling Cain that the evidence of his sin is crying out to Him from the ground. It is clear. “Cain, what you’re about to do is sin.”

   3. Cain commits sin by killing Abel. The sin is identified by YHWH with the evidence submitted being the blood of Abel, and Cain’s sentence is pronounced.

If sin-guilt which is sufficient to damn a person comes from anger and hatred which precedes the external act of murder, then on what grounds can the premeditated murder of the most vulnerable children in existence be justified as morally acceptable? Will you blaspheme Christ by offering up to Him the mutilated bodies of thousands of children with the murmured excuse that at least their deaths might have made it possible for you to avoid an illness?

The argument you have most likely heard is that the potential good that can be accomplished with a drug or vaccine is sufficient to overcome the evil done in the murder that supplied the tissues which made it possible to develop said concoction. The typical Christian response is to try and prove the reverse, to undermine the “potential good”, but this misses the point. There is no scale of good and evil by which one can weigh out events and decisions and hope the good side of the scale carries more weight to the point that God is appeased. This is pagan, demon-inspired ideology and it is thoroughly unbiblical. We do not believe and teach that a person can cancel out their own sin-guilt through good works: i.e. erase the sin-guilt of murdering children by producing a drug or injection that is supposed to prevent illness. A Biblical response would be that the goodness of God is an absolute. It is total perfection. Leviticus 19:2 ’“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.’ The NT reinforces this (lest you resort to the “that’s an Old Testament standard” argument): 1 Peter 1:15,16 “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy”’

Man is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). God is the author of creation (Nehemiah 9:6), and as such He has authority over His creation (Isaiah 9:10-13). He alone gives and takes life. See the passages below.

1. Genesis 4:1: “Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”

2. Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”

3. Deuteronomy 39:29: "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand."

4. 1 Samuel 2:6: “The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.”

5. 1 Samuel 1:20,27: “So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him…I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.”

6. 2 Kings 5:7: ‘As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”’

7. Psalm 31:15: “My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me.”

8. Psalm 90:3: ‘You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.”’

God alone also authorizes and delegates the reasons and occasions by which man is allowed to take life. Murder is clearly identified as being distinct from lawful execution (Romans 13:1-7), self-defense (Exodus 22:1-4) and as a necessary part of war (Deut. 20:16) and is a violation of the image of God and His command. It is a violation of an absolute standard. Even if, by committing murder, one could somehow guarantee immunity to all disease and danger and grant immortal physical life, the act of murder, itself, could not be justified, or said to be morally acceptable. It is always wrong for any reason, and no amount of time erases the sin-guilt of murdering children.

Perhaps you’ve heard this one: “Getting the injection is a way to love your neighbor”. What did the scribe who was trying to school Jesus ask him in order to justify himself when Jesus responded to his question about the greatest commandment? He said, “who is my neighbor”? And that is an important question in this case. Is there a concern about your neighbors, the people in your sphere of contact? Of course there is. I say yes, consider how to love them, and while we are at it, let’s consider how to love all of our neighbors, not just the ones we can see or hear. How do we love the children not yet born? By accepting their murders as “necessary”? This will not do.

What about the Holocaust? Yes, it does apply and no, it’s not an extreme connection to make. Think of the Germans in that time, faced with the task of complying with the Reich’s Perfect Solution. It would involve the torture and genocide of a dehumanized and defenseless population of people. They could obey the government and be complicit, or disobey, and the penalty would be imprisonment and torture at best. Execution was the most likely outcome of standing up for what was right. Contrast that with the stakes most of us are facing: job loss and social disapproval for not complying. If you condemn the Germans for going along with the program, then it would follow that you can consider your job and social standing a small price to pay.

Now, let’s widen the scope a bit. This whole discussion is not simply about avoiding the jab. Not getting this injection is only one small piece of a large puzzle. What we are confronted with is the intentional violation of those whom God has made and over whom He alone has authority by the entire industrial pharmaceutical complex. When you come to understand that the pharmaceutical industry exists because of its relationship with the abortion industry, abstaining from using their products is a non-negotiable for Christians. If you partake in the product, then you are tacitly approving of the means. The question of whether or not vaccines and many drugs are “safe and effective” is, contrary to what those who love confusion will claim, easy to address. They are neither, and if you are so inclined you can trace the trail of dead and maimed bodies over the decades who have fallen victim to the effects of the pharmacological concoctions so-called scientists have cooked up over the years. But we must ask the pertinent question: what, precisely, is being offered as the “benefit” of a pharmaceutical or vaccine that is supposed to outweigh the risks or salve the consciences of those who are aware of the dead babies behind the curtain? What is the carrot being dangled? It is more than just possible protection from a virus. The marketing surrounding vaccines and pharmaceuticals communicates the large idea of “health and safety”. I’m sure you’ve seen drug and vaccine commercials, social media ads and billboards. There is always a picture painted of some family overjoyed that their child or elderly relative has been saved from illness and will never have to worry about getting sick. In short, the messaging is, “take this drug or shot, and you’ll be safe. THIS is how you deal with fears and insecurity in life regarding your health”. Staying safe from illness is held up as the ultimate human need and therefore all and any actions taken to achieve that goal are deemed necessary and justified, and many self-identifying Christians follow along. But isn't that really just trusting in the chariots and horses of big pharma, or the political marriages and pseudo-alliances of Planned Parenthood and biotech companies? Where in Scripture are we directed to make physical safety and health in this life our number one priority? If you claim Christ, yet find yourself swayed by the drug companies’ promise of health and safety, I ask you to search the Word and see if this is what you are instructed to care about most.

The Apostle Paul speaks much of practical Christian living. One critical passage is 1 Cor. 5:6-10 “So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil”. What is the message here? I encourage meditation on this text in its context, but right off the top, I see a thread.

Paul says that we walk by faith, not by sight. What we see with our limited senses, understanding and wisdom constantly threatens to overwhelm us. Take the current so-called pandemic as an example. Most public information sources communicate ideas and imagery which present the alleged coronavirus as an imminent danger. Our senses are flooded to the point that the physical threat is huge in our vision and thinking. It “looks” to be a certain way and the temptation is to be pulled along with the emotional tune played by the pipers and walk off into the darkness where Christians find themselves justifying abortion while chasing the illusion of temporary physical safety. But we are not to allow ourselves to live only by what we see. The question of what covid is and to what degree it is actually a danger is not the important question. For a Christian, it is much more important to put Christ and His Word at the forefront of your mind and remember core truths, such as: the transient nature of this life (a vapor or like grass), the reality of inescapable physical death (which is a just consequence of sin), the hope of the Gospel (full reconciliation with God), the promise of eternal life, and in a lower order of importance, considering how to wisely deal with the legitimate danger of disease using resources that God has graciously provided within His creation to do what you can. Faithful stewardship of our bodies matters, but not more than stewarding our souls and certainly not at the expense of other image-bearers. (See Mark 8:36-38) We ought to make pleasing God our highest aim, which is something we aim at by faith. And what is the backdrop of this walk of faith? The knowledge that we are accountable to the Judge of all the earth, who WILL do what is right, not necessarily what will make us feel good. And the blood of the murdered innocent is still crying out to Him from the ground.

There is another argument you have most likely heard from well-meaning Christians. That is the distortion of Romans 13, where they will equate submitting to any and all government mandates with submission to Paul’s instruction in that passage. This has been said to me and I’ve heard it expressed by Christians in a strong Bible-teaching church. While I recognize the need for understanding and gracious spirit when there are differing points of view within the church body, I don’t think there can be legitimately differing points of view on what Romans 13 is teaching. This passage deserves a long and proper exegesis, and for this I will include a link which will do just that at the end of this essay. But for now, [read Romans 13:1-7, then come back to this] let us ask ourselves, can this text be teaching that there will never be a governmental body or governmental representative that will ask or demand that we do something that we will be obligated not to do? Would such a teaching align with the rest of His Word, which teaches that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom? Would it align with the actions of those in the Biblical narrative who found themselves in situations where the authority of the government clashed with the authority of God and they had to choose? Were the Egyptian midwives right or wrong in disobeying Pharaoh’s order to kill all the male Hebrew babies? Should Moses’ mother have submitted and allowed him to be killed? What about Rahab, who defied her city authorities and hid Joshua and Caleb? What would you have done if Nebuchadnezzar had commanded you to fall down and worship the golden statue? Perhaps the response is, “Well of course I wouldn’t obey those people, they are obviously evil and illegitimate rulers and I couldn’t commit idolatry!” So then, it would seem there are times when a government must be disobeyed in order not to disobey God. We see this explicitly in the book of Acts, chapter 5. The ruling body of Israel arrested some of the apostles and commanded them, in no uncertain terms, not to teach about Jesus. Peter’s response? “Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” (Acts 5:29-32)

What has God said? YHWH commanded, “You shall not murder.” What did the serpent question in Eden in Genesis 3, ‘Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say...?”’ Did God really say, “You shall not murder?” You know the answer, so is there a legitimate question from a Biblical standpoint, as to whether or not products gotten by means of murder can be justified for use by a Christian? Is the fact that you did not commit the murder yourself a free pass to participate in the business of proliferating infanticide? From where I stand, the only question is, am I willing to pay the cost of obeying YHWH? (Read Luke 14:25-35 for Jesus’ teaching on this.)

It is my sincere hope this has provided you with an opportunity to think through this issue and deal with the primary concern in all of this, namely, that of obedience to our Lord. This concludes the support for the first premise, but not the whole argument. The next blog post will contain support for the second premise and help to establish a full understanding of the scope of the issue.