A significant reason that pro-abortion, pro-sodomy, pro-feminism, anti-family, anti-freedom, anti-Bible, and anti-Christian people are in power is this: we Christians have given up our heritage.  Mankind is inherently sinful and ungodly people will naturally fill the void left open by those who should have filled it.  The Bible reveals the heritage we have given up as a nation and culture in the following verse:

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. – Psalms 127:3

Of 28 translations I found that over half use heritage, around a third use gift, and the rest use inheritance to describe children.  In the second part of the verse most translations use reward and two use real blessing and generous legacy to describe offspring.  These words do not describe the attitude of Christians towards children and fruitfulness in our 21st century society.

This heritage from God is important beyond the mere pleasure of having children.  The following word picture illustrates how significant this heritage is:

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. – Psalms 127:4

Only a very foolish warrior would go into battle with only a few arrows!  An army with ranged weapons would decimate another without.  The next verse continues to connect plentiful progeny with power:

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. – Psalms 127:5

I found nearly two-thirds of Bible translations use happy and the rest use blessed to describe the father of a large family.  Two translations skip the quiver full metaphor and straightforwardly say many children.  To our detriment we sinners often instinctively try to reinterpret what the scripture clearly says to fit what we want it to say.

It is probably not immediately obvious to present day readers how the second part of the verse connects large families with power.  Because our modern cities no longer have walls or gates it will take a little research to apply the wisdom and meaning of the text to our era.  Below is a list of possible correlations between Ancient City Gates and modern politics:

Without a doubt the dominant correlation from ancient city gates is to our modern-day judicial system:

You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. – Deut. 16:18

Often Bible translations will even use the word court instead of gate, such as:

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. – Psalms 127:5 TNIV

How different our culture would be if Christians were not being put to shame in court!

In the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery page 321 reads: “Legal activity was common in the gate area.  Already in the Mosaic law the city gate was designated as the place of legal tribunal (e.g., Deut 21:19; 22:15; 25:7).”  And so we understand that ‘elders sitting in the gate’ directly corresponds to ‘judges presiding in courtrooms’ in modern times.

Below are more examples which show that gates in the Bible are often interchangeable with modern-day courtrooms.  The connection is so strong that often a third or more of the translations will simply use the word court instead of gate to bring it into our modern-day language so we can more easily understand.

Is it wise to draw such a significant conclusion based on a single verse?  Is God really trying to tell us something?  The Bible even says that “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established. – 2 Corinthians 13:1”  which is good advice for many situations. Thankfully God ever true to His word repeats this association between large families and gates in two other verses to reduce confusion or misunderstanding on our parts.  The first instance is during God’s blessing to Abraham:

blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. – Genesis 22:17

And the second instance is during the blessing to Rebekah:

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: “Our sister, may you become The mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess The gates of those who hate them.” – Genesis 24:60

The two verses above speak in a context the size of nations, not just a single family.  Together these three verses are a clarion call for Christians to give up their love affair with birth control and start loving children, for the sake of both our families and our nation.

While there are hundreds of verses that affirm children are blessings I found it interesting to discover two more verses that passively connect gates with children, the first being:

For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you. – Psalms 147:13

The second verse with a passive connection is inversely stated in a negative way:

And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return from their ways. – Jeremiah 15:7

What are “their ways” in the verse above?  I’m sure a long list could be made, but on the subject at hand, where are the hearts of married Christian couples in present-day society?  I hesitate even to call them fathers or parents since “Childfree” is becoming so popular.   Are their hearts given to fun, entertainment, sports, movies, vacations, or career?  Does the following verse tell us one place our hearts should be?

And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. – Malachi 4:6

In our culture are the hearts of fathers married Christian couples turned to children?  Or are there many other so-called “blessings” they are pursuing instead of children?  I am afraid it may already be too late to avoid the curse mentioned above.  Wherever we turn our gaze it seems that evil plagues our land and the ungodly rule over us.  Yet the Bible gives us hope, especially in the following verse:

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

This verse says that God is not so concerned with the actions of the ungodly. He does not fear them and could in a heartbeat easily remove them from power.  His concern is with the actions and attitudes of “my people, which are called by my name”.  Christians are obviously called by His name.  I wish it were obvious to Christians that profaning the blessing of children is among the list of wicked ways that His people need to turn from, but it seems our current church culture has been completely indoctrinated by the world and wants to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to what the inspired word of God clearly communicates.

For years I thought the first two verses in Psalms 127 did not belong with the rest of the chapter, but realizing how important offspring are to political power sheds light on the connection.   The first verse says:

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. – Psalms 127:1

Are we letting the Lord build the house when we do not let Him build our families?  Are we letting the Lord guard the city the way He wants to guard it?  Our labor is in vain and our watchmen stand guard in vain when we reject the heritage, the rewards, and the blessings from the Lord.

Cartoon from: http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/01/friday-funnies-you-can-keep-your-health

Here is a summary of our thoughts on birth control.  If you are just curious about the comparison to getting hit by a car/truck, that part is at the bottom of this post.

Biblical Points Against Birth Control:

1. The Bible declares that children are a blessing (Psalms 127:5 ESV, Genesis 9:1, Leviticus 26:9, Deuteronomy 7:13; 28:4, etc).  We should always desire God’s blessing (Psalms 67, etc)
2. No where in the Bible is birth control permitted or allowed.
3. Birth control is explicitly condemned in the example of Onan practicing coitus interruptus (Genesis 38:10).
4. Birth control is implicitly condemned in the example of Esau profaning a blessing (Hebrews 12:16).
5. The Bible ties dominion, control over enemies, and legal success in courts to bountiful offspring (Genesis 1:28, 22:17, 24:60, Psalms 127:4-5 NIRV).
6. The Bible implies birth control is bad because it states the opposite (fruitfulness) is good (Genesis 17:6,16, 28:3, 49:25, Psalms 127:3, 128:3, 1 Timothy 5:14, etc).
7. The Bible implies birth control (barrenness by choice) is bad because barrenness is bad (Exodus 23:26, Deuteronomy 7:14, Psalms 109:13, Psalms 113:9, Hosea 9:14, etc).
8. Jesus implies godly people will normally want children except in times of extreme persecution (Luke 23:27-31).
9. God is sovereign over opening and closing the womb (Genesis 20:18, 16:2, 21:1, 25:21, 29:31, 30:2,22, Psalm 139:16, etc) and doesn’t need our help.
10. The Bible declares one of the purposes of marriage is procreation.  Birth control thwarts or limits that purpose (Malachi 2:15).
11. God says a reason He hates divorce (Malachi 2:16 NKJV) is that it covers our clothes in blood and gore, which in the context of the previous verse indicates future generations. Birth control has the same effect.
12. The Bible warns against leaving the “natural use” of gender opposite sexual relations (Romans 1:26-27).  Breaking or limiting the reproductive system is also against the natural use as God created it.  Leaving the natural use of other bodily systems (respiratory, digestive, muscular, etc) brings obvious results like death, gluttony, drug abuse, muscle atrophy, cancer, etc.
13. Fertility Awareness Methods of birth control (aka Natural Family Planning) violate the Bible’s prohibition against abstinence in marriage (1 Corinthians 7:5).
14. Birth control puts the user thereof “in the place of God” (Genesis 30:2).

Extra-Biblical Points Against Birth Control:

1. Is was once illegal to import “any drug or medicine, or any article whatever, for the prevention of conception” in the United States (Revised Statutes of the 43rd Congress SEC. 2491, 1873).
2. Acceptance of birth control has encouraged “indiscriminate immorality” and “sound[ed] the death knell of marriage” (The Washington Post, March 22, 1931)
3. It damages marriage and morality, degrades women, gives immoral governments a dangerous weapon, and gives man dominion which should be long to God  (Pope Paul VI, Humanae Vitae)
4. Onanism (coitus interruptus) and birth control in general has been condemned as a “kind of murder“, a “horrible thing“, a “great abuse“, “wickedness“, “self-pollution“, “vile actions“, and those who practice it “swinish monsters” by Luther, Calvin, Poole, Henry, Mather,  Wesley, and many other respected and influential men.
5. “Contraception Increases Rates of Divorce, Suicide, and Sexual Dysfunction” (Dominic Pedulla MD).
6. Birth control increases and supports abortion, from cultural and peer pressure not to have children, increased extra-marital intercourse, condom and barrier failures, the morning after abortion pill, and abortion-causing (abortifacient) hormonal products (aka “the pill”), etc.  When conception prevention fails birth prevention is a natural temptation. (Peter Baklinski, lifesitenews.com)
7. Birth control increases and supports obscenity (pornography) and abortion. (Anthony Comstock).
8. Birth control increases and supports homosexual marriage by divorcing pleasure from procreation (The Baby War).
9. Students of history say that once a population’s birth rate falls below replacement level the economy never recovers as a smaller population base struggles to support the larger populations that came before (Demographic Winter).
10. Birth control increases women’s health issues.  “More statistics are constantly coming to hand to prove that the more a mother breastfeeds, the less likelihood she has of getting breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or even fibroids and endometriosis…which is known as the ‘career woman’s disease'” (Nancy Campbell, Be Fruitful & Multiply, p. 107)

Yet Another Summary

This was originally a comment I wrote in response to a post on another blog.  My wonderful wife said it was Good, so I thought I should re-post it here.

We gave our fertility and future to God eleven years ago and have no regrets.

I like that you connect God hating divorce in Malachi 2:16 with the purpose for marriage in Malachi 2:15. But verse 16 says:

“For the Lord God of Israel says
That He hates divorce,
For it covers one’s garment with violence”

For me this brings up an image of a soldier covered in blood and gore after killing many enemies in a battle. It makes little sense the violence is against the wife as divorce in itself is painful but not violent and the wife is only one person so it does not fit the image of covering one’s garment. I think the violence is against the purpose of marriage as you identified above: the children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and the generations to follow.

I believe our country is such a mess because Christians gave up our heritage. The gates of a city in old times directly correspond in many ways to political power in our society. Elders judged in the gates, commerce was controlled there, taxes levied there, gates provided for defense, etc. The blessing to Abraham (Genesis 22:17), the blessing to Rebekah (Genesis 24:60), and Psalms 127:5 all connect large families to control of the city gates.

In my mind NFP, barrier methods, abortifacients like the pill, and even abortion are all different shades of the same color. They all have the same end result (no children) even if the means are different. They all are actions that reveal our attitude of not wanting children or not trusting God. Is not wanting children profaning a blessing like Esau profaned his birthright blessing?

Let’s not forget Onan “the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him”.

There are many more verses to consider, a list from one study I did:

Be fruitful and multiply: Genesis 1:28; 9:1,7; 35:11;
Children a blessing from God: Genesis 4:1; 17:6,16,20; 26:4,24; 28:3; 33:5; 48:4,9; 49:25; Exodus 23:26; Deuteronomy 7:13-14; 28:4,11,63; 30:9; 1 Samuel 1:21; 1 Chronicles 25:5; 26:5; Psalms 127:3-5; 128:3-4; Isaiah 8:18; Malachi 2:14-16; Malachi 4:6; Matthew 18:5,10; Mark 10:14; Luke 1:25; Luke 23:29; 1 Timothy 2:15;
God in control of womb: Genesis 16:2; 20:17-18; 21:1-2; 25:21; 29:31,33; 30:2,6,17,22-23; Job 10:8; Psalms 139:13-16; Jeremiah 1:5; Hosea 9:14; Hebrews 7:10;
Lack of children a curse: Deuteronomy 28:18; Job 15:34; 2 Samuel 6:23

P.S. For those that wish to play Devil’s Advocate the main point is that God should be in control. Making as many babies as possible through test tubes or avoiding breastfeeding to speed up the return of ovulation would be wrong in the opposite direction.

One of the comments a woman wrote on that blog still baffles us:

I don’t understand these arguments. I have my tubes tied. My husband and I have always said, if we are meant to have a baby, we’re pretty sure God can get around it. if we look both ways before crossing the street are we also taking power from God and putting it on us? We don’t want to be hit by a car, so we look. If we are supposed to be hit for some reason, then we will be no matter how much looking we do. But, no one advocates not being careful. We don’t want a baby. We’ve done what we can to make sure that doesn’t happen. I don’t think our marriage has suffered in anyway. I’ve told him, if he wants a baby I will get it reversed, but, he’s said he’s happy to just wait and see if God feels like “fixing” this, because he’s happy and I’m happy. I honestly don’t understand the argument that God can’t/won’t go around birth control.

Does she really believe God would have blessed us with our large family anyway if we had been saying “no” and using birth control all this time?  I believe it was Albert Einstein that said insanity was “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  Anyway, my response was:

Of course God can, but he is not in the business of overriding people’s will whatever they choose to do good or bad right or wrong he gives us the choice.

Being hit by a truck is always a bad thing. Being given another child by God is a good thing, at least according to the Bible they are a blessing. I was never excited about children either, but after having children I am still amazed at the love God put in my heart for them. I wouldn’t trade any of them for anything.

Don’t like Abortion? You should watch this movie.

Don’t like Homosexual Marriage? You should watch this movie.

Are you a Christian? You should watch this movie.

We just finished watching it with our three oldest children ages 12-16.

It is streaming Free from their site at http://bywhatstandardmedia.com

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	We did listen to bad advice in the beginning.  The two silhouettes represent the two the Lord might have given us had we not said “no” to Him.  Unfortunately that advice came not only from the ungodly, but from Christian parents, aunts, uncles, doctors, all of them Christians. Their advice was to use “the” pill which to our dismay we later learned is an abortifacient i.e. it causes abortions.
	It makes my stomach sick to think that parents choose to abort 92% of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome. No, if we had listened to modern thoughts and opinions our baby boy, our sweet loving vibrant fun best behaved baby would definitely not be here.
	At this point in our lives the medical establishment has a term for my wife because she is older than 35 and has had 7 children: The phrase is “elderly great grand multipara”. I only found 2 results when searching the internet for that phrase.  No, if we has listened to the doctor’s scare tactics our sweet beautiful baby girl would be missing.  My wife had also worked hard and lost a lot of weight, but thankfully she did not use the fear of gaining it back to say no to God.
	With 6 children we had filled up our 8 passenger van.  No room even for Grandma.  Many people use the excuse of vehicle space to deny another blessing from God.  We opted to get a 15-passenger van.  If we had used that excuse our loving affectionate happy fourth little girl would have never existed.  Also just before her conception my employer told me that I was getting laid off at the end of the year.  Finances are common reason people refuse God’s blessings.  I am glad we choose to trust in God’s Providence as He has been more than faithful.
	Many people choose not to have any more after a hard birth.  That would have been our third girl.  Also, our 3 youngest girls are too close together, at least according to our current culture (3 births in 39 months).  They are best friends now and I think they will be throughout life.
	Before our third son my wife had two miscarriages, and after the second she hemorrhaged which resulted in an ambulance ride to the hospital.  We received much well-meaning advice from friends and family to use birth control, if not to stop permanently to at least take a break and space our children out even further.  The situation scared us to death but we clung to believing the Bible that children are a blessing and left control with God.  A month after the second miscarriage our third son was given to us.
	Three is the largest number of children to stay political correct and culturally accepted in today’s society.  Even three can get odd looks and only crazy people have more than three.  I did not think we would have more children.  But God used the Above Rubies ministry to influence my wife, then my wife to influence me and though I was stubborn I could not get past the Bible saying children were a blessing.  It was at this point we decided to give control of our fertility to God and trust him to also provide all that we needed financially, mentally, emotionally, logistically, etc.
	I don’t know how many times various people informed us that with one boy and one girl we now had the “Perfect” family.  And of course after informing us of that indisputable fact the “Are you going to stop?” interrogation began.   Also our house has only three bedrooms which many parents would consider a good reason to stop so no one gets crowded.
	We sure are glad we live in the land of the free because if we lived in China this might have been the size of our family.  Our country has become the home of not-so-brave though as fecundophobia drives birth rates to record lows in our country, below even replacement levels.  Students of history predict we will now enter a demographic winter as a shrinking population base struggles to support the larger generations that came before it.
	Many couples are choosing to live Childfree (childless by choice) these days.  We sure can understand this temptation because having just one child took away our “freedom”, and I for one was not even sure I really wanted children.  I certainly did not want them when I was young.  Makes me think of this quote which ends telling us a child is a “much more beautiful, wonderful, amusing and astonishing thing than any of the stale stories or jingling jazz tunes turned out by the machines.” Children are a blessing we were ignorant of until we had our first.
	At this point you might think we are proud of ourselves.  We are not.  Who knows how many conceptions the abortifacient pill claimed in the beginning and I believe we are probably missing two in our family because of our choice to not trust God until after our third child.  From that point on we have done nothing except let God be God and trust in His Word.  As A. W. Pink says in A Fourfold Salvation “our repentance and faith…possess no merits whatever”.  We hope sharing our story will encourage others to put their faith and hope in our Creator who is faithful and true and desires to bless His children with children.

Statistics calculated using 2012 Census data tables F and H.

When our pastor gets disgusted with this or that modern behavior in the church or culture he often preaches from the pulpit that “You didn’t see anyone doing this or that 50 or 100 years ago!”  That inspired me to go on a quest to find out the answer to this question:  What have church leaders throughout history said about birth control?  It surprised and pleased me greatly to find the many quotes listed below.

I think it is sage advice from my pastor to listen to these words of wisdom from these pastors, preachers, leaders, churches, and even governments of the past.  They were speaking from outside and before our current immoral and ungodly culture that we are so familiar with and desensitized to because we are living in the midst of it. Read more ›