“All Children, Born and Unborn are made in the Holy Image of God."

“All Children, Born and Unborn are made in the Holy Image of God.”

—President Trump

When I heard those words come from the lips of our president a few years ago in a State of the Union address, my heart exploded with joy. How deeply thankful I am for our president to utter such beautiful and profoundly true words.

I have heard other presidents say similar words, but I cannot specifically think of such a purely biblical and truthful theological statement ever spoken from a president. Most of them seemed to be more encased in the political and “proper” words of the moment. In my own remembrance, I cannot recall such moving, personal, and biblical power all compressed with such distinct clarity.

It was the word “holy” that drew my particular attention, especially in its role in the statement itself. As one reads through scripture, the single attribute of the perfect holiness of God cannot escape us. For it is the distinct holiness and awesomeness of his being that overwhelms us. It also separates us from him, for in truth we stand unholy before him in our sin. It is his holiness and his alone that permeates his being and in his mysterious will he chose to create us in his image.

He tells us in 1 Peter 1:16–17 (NET) “like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct, for it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.” He has created us with the communicable attribute that makes our walk of righteousness, with the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit with us, a possibility as we live lives reflecting the holiness to which he calls us. We, of course, will sin, but in his loving patience he walks with us and leads us.

It should fascinate us that God created us in his image, for among the first words of scripture we read “God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27, NET).

In this verse we also find another jewel of God―the Hebrew word bara or “create.” This word used in the Old Testament refers to something only God does and always “describes the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect.”[i]

With that in mind, we are compelled to remember the words of David (Psalm 139):

139:16 Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb.

All the days ordained for me

were recorded in your scroll

before one of them came into existence.

139:17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God!

How vast is their sum total!

139:18 If I tried to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand. (Psalm 139:16–18 NET)

A close reading should stop us in our tracks as a nation, especially those who celebrate the taking of a child’s life in the horrific act of abortion. These verses clarify that from conception God himself was acting in the gradual forming of every single one of us when we were still in our mother’s womb.

He was personally present watching and engaging us in the womb! And not only that, he had already blueprinted our lives in some mysterious way prior to conception. His purpose for us was already in place. This fact overwhelms David the Psalmist for he joyously and passionately declares that the very thoughts that God has for and about him even while in the womb are virtually uncountable in his proclamation “How vast is their total sum!”

When a child is taken in abortion, what happens is well beyond murder. It is directly murdering a being that God created in his image and it is the extortion of all of the plans God himself has for that child. This is why there is a distinction between human and animal life. Only human life is created in God’s image.

They are literally interfering with and bringing to a shocking, torturous halt a being that God watched in the womb and is still watching as the abortionist enters that womb with the weapons of murder. They are ignoring and attempting to “delete” those thoughts God had about the child during its journey in its mother’s womb. Not only are they stopping the heartbeat that God set in motion, by their action they are attempting to take the place of God (as Satan did in his rebellion). They are literally joining a coup against God and by their actions are hoping for the death of God himself.

Abortion is the defining act of rebellion against our holy God.

Our nation needs to repent.

Our nation needs to fall on its face before our holy God and find forgiveness and reconciliation with our Creator.

Our nation must rescue these precious little children that God designed and engaged with while they were in the womb.

It should be the deepest cry of our heart to stop this.

Please, dear, sweet savior God, forgive us, forgive our nation.

O God, Creator of all things, save us, rescue us.

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[i] NET Bible translator note 3 on this verse.

© 2019 by Ben Bounds. All rights reserved.

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We can come to know Christ through confession of our sins and repentance (turning away from sin). Let me encourage you to do this by talking to God through prayer. Here is an idea of how you might do that:

"Dear God, I believe your son Jesus Christ died in my place on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day following his death. I confess my sins, all of them, to you now with a humble heart. I repent of those sins and ask you to empower me with your Holy Spirit in overcoming further sin. Amen”

If you prayed this or a similar prayer committing your life to Christ and becoming one of his followers, let me encourage you to find a good, Bible-believing church. If you live in the Weslaco/Rio Grand Valley area of Texas, let me invite you to the church I attend, Mid-Valley Assembly (www.midvalleyassembly.com).

Begin talking to God in prayer and reading the Bible daily. A good way to begin to read the Bible is to start with the Book of John in the New Testament.

Feel very free in connecting with me if you need any further help in your walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can do this via the above email or facebook page or this web page. _____________________________________________________________________________

Mercy Road Ministries was founded and now led by Ben Bounds. Ben has pastored churches across Texas for over thirty years and is an ordained minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). He holds a BA in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies from Southwestern Assemblies of God College and did graduate theological studies at the BMA Theological Seminary.

Ben's first book, The Divine Chase: Responding to a Pursuing God, was released on 12.08.2017 through Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. It is available in paperback and hardback through your preferred bookseller (Mardels, Barnes and Noble, etc.) and paperback, hardback as well as ebook through online book retailers (www.christianbook.com, www.cokesbury.com, www.amazon.com, www.booksamillion.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, etc.).

Ben is the host of Staying in Bounds, an on-air Bible devotional broadcast multiple times daily on KWJV 103.7 FM Weslaco, TX which can also be heard worldwide online at www.kwjvthestar.com.

Ben and his wife, Linda, together have four adult children and nine grandchildren. They live in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

Ben can be contacted for preaching engagements at benbounds695@gmail.com or 903.441.3279. Ben can also be contacted via his website @ www.benbounds.com, which is also his blog and contains more information about his ministry.

Follow Ben @ https://www.facebook.com/mercyroadministries/ and this website www.benbounds.com.