Children: A Blessing or a Sacrifice?

By David A. Cox

I once heard Dr. Dobson talk about a trip he took to the Middle East where he saw altars on which people sacrificed their own children many years ago. He went on to talk about how the same perversion continues today with the rejection of children by our culture for the sake of money and affluence. His comparison is accurate.

One of the great perversions of the gentiles that Israel was forbidden to take part in was child sacrifice to Molech. “And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech” (Lev 18:21) The Hebrew word for Molech (‘molek’) means “king”.

I used to wonder “what kind of sick person would do such a horrible thing? Why did God even need to forbid that practice in the Law? Is it not obvious how disgusting it is?” The problem is that those who did such sacrifices thought they were doing what was right – that which was required for blessing or prosperity.

Whether we want to admit it or not, there is actual child sacrifice occurring in our nation as Dr. Dobson pointed out. It’s easy to identify our modern day ‘king Molech’ simply by finding what we sacrifice our children to. A common reason people give for sacrificing a child through abortion or birth control is financial. So we can say that Affluence and the Almighty Dollar is our modern day Molech. We live in the most affluent nation on earth, and so we sacrifice children to the god of money? Is God not stronger or greater than Molech money? The wicked Israelites didn’t think so, are we any different? The Bible says that children are a blessing from the Lord, so do we burn His blessings on the altar of lesser gods?

I am concerned that the Church today is just like Israel when they went chasing after the false gods of the nations around them! Where is our total, complete, absolute trust and dependence on Yahweh, Jehovah-jireh, the One True God who upholds all things by the Word of His power? Is God not God, or are we god? If God is God, then serve Him, trust Him, and depend on Him! Why are we, His people, so quick to adopt the priorities, wisdom, thinking and faithless life of the gentile world around us? Why are we so quick to run after the gods of other nations? Where is our total trust in Him? Where is His power being demonstrated in our life?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Romans 12:1-2

God told the prophet Jeremiah that “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5) When a Christian practices birth control, it is as if he is saying, “I think God might have a child planned for me, but I want nothing to do with ‘it’. My family planning is better than God’s.” Can that person really say he trusts the Lord? Is it not hypocrisy to refuse a child that God already knows about and has planned, while claiming trust in the Lord?

God, in His infinite wisdom, created the human body with amazing detail and intricate design to function in the marriage union that He designed – so that His very image would be represented on the earth for the purpose of His glory. How can we take the knowledge that He has given us, and purposefully alter our bodies contrary to how they were designed? I don’t know any other medical procedure which radically alters the function of the body as contraceptives methods do. Do people have their arms removed because they don’t want to work? What about having your legs removed so you don’t have to walk?

Some people might tell me that “You have no business intruding into my private affairs!” Thus rings the hollow argument which gave us Roe vs. Wade. My question to them would be, “what business do we have intruding into God’s private affairs?” He is the Author of life; we have no business interfering with His created purpose.

The medical world has wondered why breast cancer rates have increased drastically over the past 50+ years. In 2002, The Lancet medical journal released the results of a large worldwide study [Beral V (July 20, 2002) The Lancet 360:187-95] that was conducted on breast cancer which compared demographics such as income level, culture, education, nationality, race, and childbirth. The overwhelming conclusion of the study was that childbirth has the single greatest impact on breast cancer rates. Specifically, the more children a woman has, the younger she begins having children and the longer she nurses her children all give her a drastically lower risk of breast cancer. They believe this is due to estrogen levels: high estrogen levels encourage growth of cancer cells; pregnancy and nursing keep estrogen levels low whereas contraceptives and abortion elevate or interrupt these hormone functions.

Birth control is a recent aberration from the faith of Christianity, yet it is so commonly practiced that it is done without the slightest question. For almost two thousand years, the Christian church has affirmed the blessing of children. It was not until the 1920’s when the high priestess of feminism, Margaret Sanger, began to advocate the ‘necessity’ of contraceptive and birth control methods, that the church began to adopt her perspective. Unlike some people today, Ms. Sanger did not differentiate between abortion and other forms of birth control. To her, abortion was just another form of birth control since they all accomplish the same objective: the prevention of a human life. According to her writings, the reason for birth control was to jettison sexuality from reproduction so that women could become truly liberated. Birth control was necessary to throw off the ‘shackles’ of motherhood in order to achieve the feminist ideal. (She also advocated it amongst certain groups of people to bring about their elimination from society - such as blacks & poor people). Sadly, many American churches not only approved, but began to advocate contraceptive birth control by the 1930s and ’40s and by the ’60s & ’70s it was common practice in the church. The same people, who self-righteously condemn Ms. Sanger over her promotion of abortion, dutifully perform the rest of her Molechian rites when they practice other forms of birth control.

If you want to sacrifice to serve the Lord, stay single. (I Corinthians 7:32) God will never ask you to sacrifice your children for Him or His service. I’ve heard Christians say they have sacrificed their family so that they can ‘serve’ in church ministry or on the mission field. The family is our first ministry, and if we can’t get that straight, how can we have a larger ministry? Think about this: if we are faithful in training our children in faith for the Lord, our ministry effectiveness will be multiplied by the number of children God gives. If we are faithful, the discipleship success rate amongst our children will likely be far greater than of any other group we could seek to evangelize, since parents will have at least 18-20 years of direct mentorship of their children. Our labors will be multiplied, and will long continue after we are gone. No wonder the Psalmist referred to children born in youth as arrows in the hand of a mighty man! (Psalm 127:4)

“Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:

and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man;

so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:

they shall not be ashamed,

but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”

Psalm 127:3-5

There is seldom a day that my wife and I do not look around our little kitchen table at our children and say, “what blessings we would have lost had we…” Our precious children are the greatest source of earthly happiness and satisfaction that my wife and I have received from the Lord. The life, joy, laughter, comedy, and fun that our children have given us are unlike anything we’ve experienced before in life.

“The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold

[i.e. difficulty]; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.”

Proverbs 20:4

Yes, there are times of difficulty, frustration, personal sacrifice and hard work in raising children; but as the saying goes, “no pain, no gain.” The blessings of children far outweigh the difficulty they bring. Being a parent will result in me sacrificing myself for my children, not in me sacrificing my children for myself. Being a parent is actually laying down one’s life for his children. The one who rejects children is sacrificing them for himself.

As Christians, we must by faith believe Scripture that says that “children are a blessing from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward”. We must plow in faith and obedience before God, looking to the spiritual harvest He will accomplish. If you have a family, it must be of faith; because if it is not of faith, it is sin. We must reject the utterly perverse concept that says that “if I sacrifice my child(ren), I will be blessed financially, spiritually, or physically”. We must also reject the perverse concept that a child is our personal “choice”. God is the Author of life, not we ourselves.

“That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:
That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:

That our oxen may be strong to labor; that there be no breaking in, nor going out; that there be no complaining in our streets.
Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.”

Psalm 144:12-15

For more studies on abortion and childbirth are at http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/quotesfromtheexperts.htm#Introduction