It’s Saturday, June 21, 2025.

Today’s edition covers an activist’s pressing pursuit of a shrinking opportunity to establish justice for the preborn, the history of the Hutterites, whether demons are fallen angels, and more.

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)

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Of Christian Concern

A UTAH ACTIVIST’S URGENT NEW STRATEGY TO ABOLISH ABORTION

There's a path to abolish abortion that no one has pursued, but the window of opportunity is closing. That's the contention of Kriss Martenson, director of the anti-abortion ministry Voice for the Voiceless Utah.

Another Avenue to Abolition

The movement to abolish abortion, in contrast to the pro-life movement, regularly pushes for new legislation that would protect preborn humans with the same homicide laws as everyone else. Such a law would immediately criminalize the act of abortion, ending it legally and allowing anyone involved to be penalized as in any other homicide case.

But is there an avenue to abolish abortion immediately that doesn't involve new legislation? If you ask Martenson, there is—and abolitionists need to act fast.

The Background: Three Facts

The key to this untapped strategy lies hidden in Utah case law. Here is the background in three points.

1. Utah Supreme Court Defined Life As Starting From Fertilization: In 2011, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that, in the case of a wrongful death, a minor child is defined as starting from fertilization to 18 years old.

2. Abortion Is An Exception, But IVF Is Not: Utah law makes abortion an exception to this definition, such that it does not count as a wrongful death, but it does not make in-vitro fertilization (IVF) an exception. For context, IVF, despite its reputation as a life-affirming fertility treatment, usually involves the dehumanization and destruction of human embryos—that is, humans in their earliest stage of development.

3. A New IVF Bill Violates the Court Ruling: Overlooking the fact that IVF is not an exception to the 2011 court ruling, legislators in Utah this year unanimously passed S.B. 242, a bill that uses taxpayer dollars to cover the costs of IVF treatments for public employees.

The Case

Given these facts, Martenson and his legal team believe there is a case to be made that can take out both IVF and abortion in one fell swoop. It goes like this.

1. Due to the 2011 Utah Supreme Court ruling and the absence of exceptions for IVF, the destruction of an embryo during IVF is, legally speaking, a wrongful death of a minor child.

2. Since Utah lawmakers have now passed a bill to use public dollars to pay for IVF, taxpayers are now funding wrongful deaths of minor children, as defined by the 2011 ruling. That means every taxpayer in Utah can sign onto a class action lawsuit because the government is using their tax dollars criminally.

Martenson says he has built the argument to demonstrate, through case law, that Utah recognizes a human's right to life from fertilization. Since the case implicates a ruling of the state’s Supreme Court, its success would eliminate lower laws to the contrary, effectively criminalizing not only IVF but abortion, too.

The first step of the 2-step “abolitionist process,” Martenson says, is to “Pass a law giving Equal Protection from fertilization.” Since Utah already has this law, it’s on the second step: “Enforce the law.”

“This is the law that abolitionists have been fighting to get,” he says. “Utah has it. But (legally) they need to be made to uphold the law through the court justice system, just like anyone that breaks the law.” Furthermore, he says, there is potential for the case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court and have a national impact.

The Urgency

Following the passage of S.B. 242, it is rumored that Utah lawmakers have recognized the IVF loophole in the law and are working to close it. One avenue they are likely to pursue is changing the definition of life to start at implantation instead of fertilization. Martenson believes this measure will be introduced during the next legislative session in February 2026, so his time to file the lawsuit is limited.

Martenson has launched a campaign to raise the $50,000 needed to begin the case. The response so far has been underwhelming, perhaps due to a lack of understanding about this golden opportunity. Much of abolitionism is focused on abortion and all but ignores IVF, which many may consider to be too complex an issue. Martenson believes it is a mistake to separate the two.

So, why don’t Utahns fund the lawsuit? Realistically, any abolition effort in Utah cannot be financed within its own state, as Utah has so few Evangelical Christians that it is considered “unreached” by missiological standards, and the Church of Latter-day Saints, which largely has a stranglehold on the state legislature, is in favor of keeping abortion legal.

Martenson emphasizes that donations of $5-10 add up, although larger donations are also necessary. Anyone interested in supporting the cause can do so here.

Also Noteworthy

→ Ohio state representatives Levi Dean (R-Xenia) and Johnathan Newman (R-Troy) filed a bill on Wednesday that would abolish abortion and IVF.

→ The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s ban on transgender treatments for minors, in a decision with national implications.

→ Texas abortion abolitionists protesting a pro-life event this morning were detained by police for allegedly violating a city ordinance by assembling without a permit. In a live Facebook video of the encounter, a police officer claimed that arguing with someone is against the law. “If they want to talk to you, that’s fine, but if it gets into an argument, that’s a city ordinance disorderly conduct.” (minute 55:09 of the video).

→ The Chinese Communist Party now mandates “Protestant churches to alter their worship music to include songs and lyrics praising communism,” reports International Christian Concern.

→ ChatGPT would encourage and instruct a 14-year-old girl to get an abortion without her parents’ knowledge, The Daily Wire discovered in a recent test of the popular AI chatbot. Project 18:15 found that X’s chatbot Grok likewise offers steps for an underage girl to access abortion without her parents’ knowledge, though in an arguably more objective tone.

→ “A group of progressive organizations has filed a lawsuit against a recently passed law in Arkansas that requires public schools to display the Ten Commandments,” reports the Christian Post.

→ Michael Tait, the former Newsboys singer recently accused of (homo)sexual misconduct and substance abuse, confessed in an Instagram post that the “reports…are sadly, largely true”—including “touch[ing] men in an unwanted sensual way.” The public confession reveals that he lived a double life for years but, after leaving the band in January, he received treatment and has since been living “a singular life” of brokenness and dependence on God. He expressed sorrow and shame for his sin and how he hurt people, acceptance of the fact that only God may fully forgive him, and regret that some may be turned off from faith because of his actions.

• Meanwhile, additional allegations have surfaced. Tait is now accused of drugging a woman and watching as she was raped.

Church History Tidbit

The Hutterites

The Hutterites, a communal Anabaptist group, originated in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Founded by Jakob Hutter in 1528 in Tyrol, Austria, they emerged from the Anabaptist movement, emphasizing adult baptism, pacifism, and communal living based on Acts 2:44-47. Facing persecution for their beliefs, Hutterites fled across Europe, settling in Moravia (modern-day Czech Republic) by the 1530s, where they established thriving agricultural communities called Bruderhofs.

After Hutter’s execution in 1536, the group faced cycles of persecution and migration, moving to Slovakia, Hungary, and later Ukraine. By the 1870s, due to religious intolerance and mandatory military service, many Hutterites immigrated to North America, primarily to the United States, with a significant number settling in South Dakota. There, they maintained their communal lifestyle, focusing on agriculture and shared property.

Today, Hutterites live in colonies across the U.S. and Canada, preserving their distinct culture, German dialect, and religious practices while adapting to modern agricultural technology. Their origins reflect a commitment to faith-driven communalism amid centuries of adversity. (150 words)

Written with Grok.

The Bible, Briefly

Are Demons Fallen Angels?

According to the late biblical scholar Michael Heiser, yes and no.*

Defining “Angel”

Heiser taught that the term “angel” has a different meaning in the Old Testament than it does in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, he wrote, “‘angel’ is a functional, not an ontological, term. It is, in effect, a job description.” In other words, “angel” is a role (the role of messenger) that any number of spiritual beings could fulfill. In the New Testament, however, “‘angel’ is a term used predominantly [though not exclusively] to distinguish loyal supernatural beings from evil, rebellious ones.”

Defining “Demon”

How about “demon”? For background, Heiser interpreted Genesis 6:1-4 as teaching that rebellious spirits (“sons of God”) copulated with human women (“daughters of men”) and produced a hybrid race, the Nephilim. The passage, then, is a polemic against ancient Babylonian mythology, which viewed these rebellious spirits (which they called apkallu) favorably. With reference to the historical context provided by ancient extrabiblical sources, Heiser maintained that the bodies of the Nephilim were killed in the Flood, but their disembodied spirits lived on and became known as demons: “demons are consistently cast as disembodied spirits of dead Nephilim and their giant-clan descendants.”

Fallen Angels, Yes and No

So, in one sense, demons can be referred to as fallen angels. For example, Satan is said to have “angels” (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 12:9), that is, other supernatural beings who are in his service, including demons.

However, if by “fallen angels,” one refers to the spirits God created as His servants at the beginning of the world, who later rebelled, then “demons” wouldn’t fit. Instead, in Heiser’s view, “demons” are specifically the illegitimate descendants of some of those “fallen angels.” So, contrary to its colloquial use, the word demon is not a blanket term for all the evil forces in the unseen realm; instead, it’s a classification of one type of these dark beings.

*Heiser, Michael S. Demons: What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness (Lexham Press, 2020), especially chapter 5 and pages 241-242.

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Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

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