Sanctity of Life Sunday

Sanctity of Life Sunday

This coming Sunday, January 18, 2026, is Sanctity of Life Sunday—a day in which we, as Christians, once again pause to think about the thousands of babies who are plucked from the womb on a daily basis in our country. This issue strikes very close to home for me, since I once assisted in abortions in a U.S. Navy operating room—until I was born again. Please allow me to share my story with you.

As a Navy hospital corpsman and operating room technician, I was assigned to work in OB/Gyn surgery at Portsmouth Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. Abortion was one of the procedures we performed. Many times, I was assigned to set up the instruments, which included the suction curettage machine, the instrument used to suction developing fetuses from the wombs of young mothers-to-be.

At that time, I was not serving the Lord and was simply following the orders given to me for that day’s procedures. After these procedures, it was my responsibility to empty the “Products of Conception” from the collection jar on the machine. These were placed in bottles of formalin and sent to the lab for analysis. Every effort was made not to call the POC a fetus or a baby. However, while cleaning the machine, I noticed tiny human hands and feet, along with mutilated rib cages. This was not an unidentifiable mass of tissue; it was the shredded remains of a human baby.

Although I did not yet have the moral underpinnings to fully process what I was witnessing, I continued to follow orders—even though something deep within me was crying, “Foul!” The missing part of the equation came when I surrendered my life to Christ in January 1972, in the Chief of Surgery’s office in that same hospital. Immediately, I knew that the innocent blood of those babies covered my hands. I sought God’s forgiveness, and then I went to my operating room supervisor and told her that I could no longer take part in these procedures. I also said that I did not want to handle the instrumentation on either side of the procedure. I was then granted a conscientious objection waiver whenever an abortion was scheduled in the O.R.

As a pastor, I took a firm pro-life stand when it came to abortion. Over the years, I have spoken and written much on this topic. Above all, I have proclaimed the forgiveness and freedom that are found in Christ—for those who have chosen abortion, as well as for those who have provided such services.

My fellow Christians, know this: God has called us to be a voice for those who have no voice. I am reminded of this every time I read Proverbs 24:11–12, “Deliver those who are being taken away to death,and those who are staggering to slaughter, oh hold them back.If you say, ‘See, we did not know this,’does He not consider it who weighs the hearts?Does He not know it who keeps your soul?And will He not render to man according to his work?”

God’s heart for the widow, the orphan, and the vulnerable is crystal clear throughout the Scriptures. In this battle for life, we all have a part to play. Our options are these: get involved, volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center if possible, give financially to the organizations that are fighting for the lives of the unborn, and pray. Of these, I believe God would have each of us involved in at least two.

Would you make this a matter of prayer as we begin this new year? Please find a way to help rescue those who “…are staggering to slaughter…”

May we approach this issue not with anger or self-righteousness, but with humility, compassion, and a deep awareness of God’s mercy toward us all. Every one of us stands in need of grace, and it is that same grace that compels us to speak for life, to extend mercy to the broken, and to point others to the healing found in Christ.

Let us remember that no sin is beyond the reach of the cross, no wound too deep for the Great Physician to heal, and no past too heavy for the redeeming power of our Savior. As we bear witness to the sanctity of life, may we do so as ambassadors of truth and love—firm in conviction, yet gentle in spirit.

May the Lord give us hearts that reflect His own, courage to act when He calls, and faith to trust Him with the outcome. And may He use each of us, in ways both seen and unseen, to bring hope, healing, and life in a world so desperately in need of all three.