There Will Be Blood
Where the Death Culture Really Lives
Sermon three from our text, Proverbs 6:16–19:
There are six things the LORD hates—
no, seven things he detests:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.
The heaviness of this series is not lost on me. This is not a series Norman Vincent Peale or Robert Schuler would have tackled, and if either of them ever did, they somehow managed to put a positive spin on it. That cannot have been easy, since Solomon is clearly listing things God hates.
If Peale and Schuler are not in your memory bank, then update it to Joel Osteen.
This series is not Jell-O or pudding. It is not a feel-good series. it is a “look out!” series. I need to make that clear. There are some things bad enough to be called bad, dangerous enough to be called dangerous, and common enough to need a warning label. This is a warning label series. This is an encouragement to “look both ways” before you cross these streets. They lead away from God. They lead to danger.
The Battle for the Words
Before the phrase “controlling the narrative” was something people said or wrote, people were working hard to control the narrative. Very hard.
The first time I became acutely aware of this was in my introduction to the abortion-on-demand debate that resulted from Roe vs Wade.
Those who opposed abortion and labeled it the murder of the innocent called themselves “Pro-Life.” Those who favored abortion rights with few or no restrictions labeled the “pro-lifers” as “Anti-Abortion,” instead.
The connector was easy to find. Connect those who support the rights of the unborn to an “anti-” vibe. Say they are not for something as fundamental a right as life, but instead are “anti.” They are against something, and mostly what they are against is women. Never mind there are as many or more female pro-lifers as male. The point is the narrative.
Abortion and Innocent Blood
At a recent hearing before Congress, Jessica Waters, a pro-abortionist (see what I did there?) was giving testimony when the hearing became a sensation for social media.
The context was a subcommittee hearing over the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances) and the fear of Republicans that it was being used to target pro-life activists.
The conversation became theatre when Representative Brandon Gill of Texas asked Waters, “What’s your favorite type of abortion?” He says, “The first type is called the suction abortion. Do you prefer that method?”
He went on to say to her, “I wouldn’t want to talk about this, either, if I were you, because it is barbaric and evil.”
It is hard to defend the various brutal methods contrived to preserve a woman’s right to terminate a life. It is impossible, in this age of advanced medicine and technology, to pretend the baby feels no distress, no pain, no anything while being ripped apart.”
“Hands that shed innocent blood.”
Is there more innocent blood than that, the blood of the unborn child? Not in humanity, no there is not.
Euthanasia and Innocent Blood
Then, we get into Krevorkian territory, questions of a person’s right to die, or the rights of the State to assist in their dying. They are getting old and costly, more of a deficit than an asset to society. Like an unwanted child, the value of their life is diminished by the inconvenience it causes. So, in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Colombia, Spain, New Zealand, and all six states of Australia, euthanasia is legal.
The argument in favor is based on the extreme cases of human suffering and the wish to die rather than suffer, a thing we can all at least understand, if not appreciate. But then we put the right to kill, not for criminal purposes, but at the request of a person, a family, or an institution into the hands of politicians. Hard to see a positive outcome there.
At both extremes, we find bloody hands. And why?
Key Cases of Alleged Euthanasia Abuse
Aurelia Brouwers (Netherlands, 2018): At 29, she was granted euthanasia based on psychiatric conditions, including depression and borderline personality disorder, rather than a terminal physical disease.
Sexually Abused Woman (Netherlands, 2016): A woman in her twenties was allowed to die by assisted suicide due to severe PTSD resulting from childhood sexual abuse, raising questions about treating psychological trauma with death.
Nathalie Huygens (Belgium, 2023): A woman in her fifties suffering from PTSD following a violent assault and rape was granted euthanasia. Critics argued her suffering stemmed from failed social services and lack of financial coverage for psychiatric care.
Deaf Twins (Belgium): Twins born deaf who were losing their sight were euthanized, raising ethical concerns about euthanizing individuals based on disability rather than pain.
Woman with Anorexia (Belgium): A woman with anorexia was granted euthanasia, causing debate over whether such patients can truly make a voluntary, informed, life-ending decision.
Why This Offends God
First, it is an offence to God because He is the author of life…
…every life, even the one you found inconvenient to your own plans.
Second, as the author of life, it is His prerogative to give and to take and none of our own.
When we decide it is our right to take INNOCENT life (this is the difference in this debate versus the death penalty debate), we say that we know better than God who should have the right to live and which people we should have the right to terminate, if it suits us to do so.
God does not fancy us playing His role. We are not suited to it. We are not omniscient, omnipresent, or omnipotent. We judge from a seat with a limited view.
Death Culture is Alive and Well
Is it just me, or is it telling that the same voices raised to support abortion on demand applaud the murder of people they disagree with? They cheer the death of ideological enemies.
Charlie Kirk
A United States Marine lost his post because he posted on his Social Media, “Another racist man popped.”
An Oregon teacher said his day was “brightened” by Kirk’s death.
He wrote, “Nobody deserves it, but some are asking for it.”
Those were the tamer comments, really. You know that already.
“Death to Everyone I Hate! Especially that Bastard, Donald Trump!”
Then, there are those who cheer every time someone takes a shot at the president. They cheer the effort and mourn the lack of success.
The only death these people are sure to protest is the one whose life is taken under the penalty of death, which is typically only invoked in the case of murder; which is, of course, the taking of innocent life.
Innocence is beside the point when you have blood on your hands and in your eye, and hatred in your heart.
We live in a death culture. We cheer not life, not the affirmation of life, but the death of those we detest, or simply disagree with…or the ones we figure had no business being born in the first place.
We are a kingdom of gods, but we don’t know good from evil.
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
I was shocked and dismayed a number of years ago when I was first hit with Christianity as a “culture of death,” or a “death cult.”
Nietzsche
This argument goes back at least 19th Century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. He argued that Christian morality is a "life-negating" force that causes individuals to become weak and unthinking, essentially fostering a "death-cult" mentality by discouraging the embrace of earthly life.
Kyle Smith (PhD)
In a guest post for Bart Ehrman's blog, Smith referred to Christianity as a "cult of the dead" (or "death cult") in a non-sinister way, focusing on the veneration of martyrs, relics, and saints in historical Christian practice. We are told itSmith wrote this in a non-sinister way. We are also expected to believe that, because we can be philosophical about every attack on Christ or Christ-followers. Other religions? No. Just Christianity. Turn the other cheek. Accept ever criticism in stride. Reflect on your beliefs. That is always the right way to be. So, that is how it is done.
My Own Evaluation
I started thinking.
Songs I have sung since childhood:
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
“There is power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb.”
“There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins.”
I thought wow.
Scriptures I have believed and taught:
Matthew 26:28 (NIV): “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Ephesians 1:7 (ESV): “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
1 John 1:7 (ESV): “...the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Revelation 12:11 (ESV): “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony...”
Hebrews 9:12 (ESV): “...he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
Romans 5:9 (NIV): “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
Wow! Is it really a death culture? I asked myself this. Are we so focused on the hereafter that we downplay the life we now live? Do we celebrate and glorify death, embrace it, long for it?
Jesus is about Life!
If you are obsessed with death in the name of Jesus, you are missing the point of the gospel —and of his sacrifice.
John 10:10: “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.”
John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
John 11:25: “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Jesus is not about death. He is about life. Those who took His life were only able to do so because He is the author of life, and as such, was authorized to give His life for ours. Don’t confuse what Jesus did with what an abortion clinic doctor does, or someone administering a lethal injection to a euthanasia “patient.”
Jesus was not sacrificing your life for His. He was sacrificing His life for yours.
That is a culture of life. That is the hope of humanity. That is the answer to the death culture Satan disguises as “free will.” Everything that disgusting being has told you is a lie, and especially everything he told you about Jesus.
The shortest verse in the bible is John 11:35.
Jesus is witnessing firsthand the pain of death, the agony and confusion of those in its wake. A sister mourns her brother.
John simply writes, “Jesus wept.”
Jesus died for sinners. His Cross is the crossroads between life and death.
He mourned the plight of those who would choose death. The citizens of Jerusalem would shortly chant, sing, and scream for his execution, but this is what He said about them:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you that you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.’” —Matthew 23:37–39
It is our custom by now to end each sermon with a word from a Bible author. This time, I have chosen the Apostle Peter to step to the podium and dismiss us in grace.
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” —2 Peter 3:9
My name is Gene. Some call me “Preacher.” God bless you and yours. Choose life.
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