As California’s gruesome Proposition 1 is approved by voters, one pastor in the state is laying the blame at the feet of silent pulpits for neglecting their responsibility before God to speak up.
The passing of the Proposition 1 ballot initiative, goes far beyond simply making abortion a protected right. Proposition 1 will enshrine limitless up till birth abortion into the state’s Constitution. Additionally, due to its broad and vaguely written text, Alliance Defending Freedom warns that Proposition 1 can also be used to target religious freedom, freedom of conscience, and parental rights.
“We are extremely disappointed and saddened that Proposition 1 has passed in California,” Karen England and Gina Gleason, Co-Directors for Stop Prop 1, said in a statement. “Despite the strong support we received, the majority of California voters chose death over life. We will continue to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. It’s not acceptable for California to become America’s graveyard for the unborn.”
Jack Hibbs, the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills and Founder of Real Impact, was not going to let Proposition 1, which he referred to as “the Birth Day Abortion amendment and the most radical legislation attempt in the history of the United States,” slip by without notice.
Hibbs’ team, Real Impact, and Stop Prop 1 conducted special “Happening Now” and townhall events, commissioned a survey, provided resources such as door hangers, and implemented a statewide billboard campaign, all to educate voters oblivious to the horrors of Proposition 1.
The survey commissioned by Real Impact revealed that Proposition 1 was not simply an issue that fell along party lines. The poll showed that 79% of California voters opposed the limitless abortion Proposition 1 allows, believing it to be too extreme. These numbers attest to the fact that Proposition 1’s approval was an avoidable tragedy.
While most pastors claim that the political sphere is outside of their jurisdiction, Pastor Hibbs underscored that by failing to speak up for the unborn they have failed to do their duty as pastors and as the salt of our society (Matthew 5:13-16).
“Perhaps more than anything, the loss of Proposition 1 is a revelation of just how irrelevant the church at-large is in California,” Hibbs asserted. “This reality is due to the lack of pastors understanding what the calling to the pulpit means.”
“We must not only preach the gospel to the lost, but sadly there’s a profound disconnect at making disciples. Jesus said, ‘Let your light so shine before the world,’ and we did not,” he lamented.
In the book of Ezekiel, we read about the watchman whose duty was to be on the wall of the city and warn the people when danger was approaching.
God calls his servant Ezekiel a watchman and warns of the important responsibility that carries: “hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ez. 3:17-18).
If God’s servant did not deliver His Word to the people, he was to blame when a lack of repentance brought God’s judgment. However, “if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul” (Ez. 3:19).
“The California Christian community failed to show up to defend the unborn child,” Jack Hibbs emphasized, “but for the few who did—their consciences are clear before the Lord.”
Previously Pastor Hibbs warned that if Proposition 1 passes, “the Golden State will be drenched in blood,” sadly, the hands of the silent pastors are not unsoiled from this crime.
California was not the only state on Tuesday to pass such a ballot initiative. 77.4% voted in favor of Vermont’s Proposal 5, and 56.7% for Michigan’s Proposal 3, both of which amend their state constitutions to include the “right” to abortion up till birth.
In all three states, “lawmakers are now constitutionally prevented from passing pro-life legislation, unless another amendment overriding the new amendment is ever ratified,” according to LifeSite.
“When you look in the Old Testament when God’s judgment would come upon His people, it’s very interesting that their idolatry often involves the sacrifice of children,” Tony Perkins said in a recent interview with Jack Hibbs. “I think that is a line in which they crossed that God just could not overlook.”
