We live in America, and so, naturally, that’s where most of our focus lies. We read news about our country, know about the leaders of our country and are concerned about the issues of it. Yet, if we’re serious about the Gospel – Jesus’ call to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19-20) – shouldn’t we be concerned about the morality of other places on the globe as well as morality in our own country?
Specifically, shouldn’t we be concerned about the fact that 336,000,000 babies have been aborted over the last 42 years (as of 2013)? That’s 336 million. The 50 million or so babies aborted in the US during the same time frame disgusts us, and so, what should our reaction be to the multiplied problem in other countries?
To put that huge 336 million figure in perspective, the number of abortions in China over the last 42 years is more than:
- the entire population of the world during the Crusades (AD 1100)
- the combined deaths caused by the Bubonic Plague (100M), the Chinese famine (45M), the 1918 flu pandemic (40M), HIV/AIDS (25M), the Holocaust (13M) and the Civil War (.8M)
- the combined deaths of the 10 deadliest wars in human history
- the combined populations of the United States and Australia
Pretty scary, isn’t it? Now, no one is counting on government to overcome the great evil happening in that country (and the same is true for ours). The only thing that will halt the murder of innocent babies is the Gospel, and the responsibility for getting the Gospel to people who don’t have it lies heavily on the shoulders of the ones who do have the Gospel. That’s us! It’s our job to reach people around the world with God’s message of hope and truth. Only then might we see the staggering numbers from China decrease. They need the Gospel. Today, I hope you’ll take a moment to thank God for missionaries who give their lives to take the Gospel to distant places.