Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, written by John Newton, talks of sins forgiven by the grace of God. In his case, horrendous sins that caused restless nights for years. He called those restless nights "20,000 ghosts from the past", African faces on his slave trade ship. The story of Newton's life is well documented and now in a movie called Amazing Grace. Newton found Christ, repented, and became a preacher who wrote many songs, sermons, and papers. Among these accomplishments is Amazing Grace.

John Newton's conversion deeply impressed him and influenced a young man name William Wilberforce. Wilberforce, an influence in Parliament, a man of passion and purpose, captured the dream to abolish the slave trade. He lived to see this happen.

I notice similarities between the inability to pass laws abolishing slavery in England and our inability to pass laws abolishing abortion in America. Both causes try to save lives. And both causes are stopped by the special interests of the countries, to pad pocketbooks and provide a specific lifestyle to the participants. The bottom line in both situations is money and selfish ambition.

In Newton's day, the African native was not considered a human being but a piece of property. They were thought to be less valuable than some of their farm animals. Wilberforce had to prove and make people see that these human beings needed to be treated as God's creation.

Today I hear the same thing. I hear that the unborn baby is not a life, it's a fetus, it's just a piece of tissue that cannot feel, cannot think, cannot breathe, and that it's not a living human being. Thus it is not treated as God's creation. Abortion takes place, the baby dies. The similarities loom at me.

Do I believe that all slavery has ended? No, just look around the world, it still exists. Do I believe that all abortion will end? No, people will still find a way to kill the innocent. But I do believe that when the law to abolish slavery passed many lives were saved. When the law to abolish abortion is passed, many lives will be saved.

All this because a man named John Newton experienced Amazing Grace from Jesus Christ and influenced William Wilberforce, a man who abolished slavery. Where is the Wilberforce who will abolish abortion?