Recently, a crisis pregnancy center was visited by a churchgoing girl who was disappointed to find out she was pregnant. The center tried to help the girl, who was set to have twins – offering free medical care and services for her and her babies' needs – so that she would choose life for her babies. But the problem was her due date. Rather than miss a cruise for which she had booked tickets, she chose to abort.

Not only are churchgoing women aborting their babies, there are abortionists today who call themselves "Christians." How can that be? Eric Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League is mobilizing prayer warriors to pray for three abortionists who claim to be Christians. One of those just spoke at Mississippi State University on March 1 in a speech called, "Abortion and the Christian Case for Choice." (afanews.com, March 2, 2018).

Anyone can claim to be a Christian, but that doesn't make him so.

The thing about abortion is this: The ancient practice of child sacrifice has resumed in earnest with abortion on demand – only now it's all hidden from our eyes. The babies are no longer sacrificed on the altars of the ancient gods Molech and Baal. Instead, they are sacrificed on the altars of convenience or material benefits.

God said through Moses, "Now choose life, so that you and your children may live."

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In the ancient world, child sacrifice was common. For example, in what used to be Carthage (today's Tunisia), in ancient cemeteries near pagan temples, archaeologists have unearthed bones of babies that were sacrificed. Before the Jewish conquest of the Promised Land, child sacrifice among the Canaanites was commonplace. The "Halley Bible Handbook" notes "Prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth were official murderers of little children."

Perhaps the most notorious ancient god of the Ammonites was Molech. The "Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary" says of Molech that he was worshiped by means of child sacrifice in "gruesome orgies": "At least in some places an image of the god was heated, and the bodies of the slain were placed in its arms."

Moses specifically warned the Israelites against worshiping this demon: "Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord."

But as the Old Testament records, the ancient Hebrews were often rebellious against God and His commands. We read in Psalm 106: "They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did."

One of the worst kings of Judah was Manasseh. In 2 Chronicles 6 we read, "He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger."

There's a link to these child sacrifices and hell. How so? Quoting again from "The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary," it says of the worship of Molech: "Its principle place of worship in and after Manasseh's time was the valley of the son of Hinnom ... a place of such ill repute that 'Gehenna,' i.e., 'the valley of Hinnom' became a type of hell." When Jesus spoke of hell, the Greek word is Gehenna – as in the valley of Hinnom – the place of child sacrifice.

Children are a gift from the Lord. But some people would sacrifice their own children for their personal gods.

When I asked Eric Scheidler on my radio show about the parallel between ancient child sacrifice and modern abortion, he answered: "I think it's extremely pleasing to the devil when an abortion takes place. ... This wickedness happens in the dark. The womb is an invisible place. We don't see the abortion happening. Even those photographs we have [of aborted babies] are very rare. They are hard to come by. This is a hidden evil. It's one that digs its roots so deeply in our society because it happens in secret, and so many people are complicit in it, and it gradually wears away people's sensitivity."

Thankfully, Christ offers His forgiveness – even for abortion. Many women who have aborted, many men who have forced their wives or daughters to abort and many abortionists have repented and come to the Lord and have found forgiveness.

Meanwhile, let's not kid ourselves that one can participate in performing abortions and at the same time walk in good faith with Jesus Christ, the Lord of life. Abortion is the American version of the ancient practice of child sacrifice. Molech would be pleased.