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It's Saturday, April 13, 2024.

Today’s edition covers the mostly-unnoticed context of this week’s Arizona Supreme Court abortion ruling, Trump’s abortion position announcement, eternal judgment, and more.

A description of our times: “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey” (Isaiah 59:14-15). — May we have courage to speak the truth and depart from evil, come what may!

Of Christian Concern

THE 1864 ARIZONA ABORTION LAW YOU HAVEN’T HEARD ABOUT

Pro-life activist Cathi Herrod, the Arizona Supreme Court seal, and Pastor Jeff Durbin. (Images: Ballotpedia, Wikipedia, and YouTube)

As widely reported this week, the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a law from 1864—back when Arizona was a territory, not yet a state—that penalizes anyone who provides an abortion. The law, which has been called a “near-total abortion ban,” “is now enforceable,” the court decided.

Less widely reported, however, is the important context that led high-profile Arizona pastor Jeff Durbin to comment, “When everybody is saying right now that this is a near-total abortion ban in the state of Arizona—not true!” Here’s that context.

When the law in question to penalize abortion providers was adopted back in 1864, another law was adopted along with it to penalize the women who solicit abortions. The penalty for abortion providers was set at 2-5 years in state prison, and the penalty for the abortion seekers was set at 1-5 years. Both laws remained on the books—and were ignored during all of Roe v. Wade, which was only overturned in 2022—for over 150 years.

In 2021, abortion abolitionists in Arizona lobbied legislators to propose a bill (HB 2650) that would have nullified Roe v. Wade and added abortion to the homicide code, with penalties for everyone involved equal to the penalties that apply in any other homicide case. Arizona pro-life activist Cathi Herrod convinced state policymakers to reject that bill, which would have abolished abortion, and to instead pass her own bill. Herrod’s bill (SB 1457) did a number of things, one of which was to repeal that 1864 law that penalized women for seeking an abortion.

This and similar occurrences around the nation led Durbin to comment at the time, “The four states just in 2021 that have had legislation for equal protection to abolish or criminalize abortion, the four states’ greatest opposition has been the pro-life industry. The greatest opposition. The pro-life industry is stopping these bills, and the pro-life industry doesn’t want these bills ultimately passed.”

Since then, because of this action by pro-life activists, Arizona law has allowed for any abortion that is self-induced. No woman can be penalized for taking an abortion pill, for example, which has been the most common form of abortion in the United States since 2020.

For this reason, abortion abolitionists argue that the Arizona Supreme Court decision this week is not, in fact, a “near-total abortion ban.”

Also Noteworthy

Screenshot from Trump’s Monday video announcement. (Donald J. Trump / Truth Social)

→ Former President Trump announced Monday that he would not support a federal abortion ban, but would leave the decision to the states. Despite this apparently hands-off approach, he weighed in on Arizona Supreme Court’s Tuesday decision, saying it “went too far” and urging Arizona policymakers to “remedy” it. Watch an in-depth Christian review of Trump’s Monday announcement here.

→ Ukrainian Christians are reportedly being targeted and tortured in the midst of the war with Russia, prompting a Monday letter to U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson from Baptist leaders, urging Johnson to “consider the plight of Christians” as he “consider[s] efforts to support Ukraine.”

→ Most children who experience gender confusion grow out of it, according to a new landmark study from the Netherlands. The report’s abstract states that “Gender non-contentedness” is “relatively common during early adolescence,” “in general decreases with age,” and “appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development.”

→ “Young women are leaving church in unprecedented numbers,” a new report from Survey Center on American Life found. This is a reversal from the past two decades in which men were leading the trend of religious disaffiliation.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content by Christian creators, or of Christian interest.*

Screenshot from Bluegrass Chronicles’s Substack.

→ An IVF Christian Film, Reviewed: Pastor and activist Jon Speed reviews the new Christian film “Someone Like You,” which features in-vitro fertilization (IVF) “as a major plot point.” Read the reason Speed gives for why the film actually “perpetuates” a “moral evil.” (Article)

→ Christianity DEFEATED in 10 Seconds?: Christian YouTuber Nate Sala of Wise Disciple reacts to anti-Christian TikTok videos. One in particular has a twist ending. (Video)

→ Jesus Didn’t Claim To Be God?: Christian YouTuber Brandon McGuire of Daily Dose of Wisdom reviews a segment of a discussion between famed skeptic Bart Ehrman and Christian scholar Peter J Williams, in which they debate whether Jesus claimed to be God. (Video)

→ What To Do About The Man In Red Flats: I (Anthony Langer) crossed paths with a gender-confused man last week, and had some thoughts about how Christians should think about such people, and what it means for our culture. Here’s my latest article in Bluegrass Chronicles. (Article)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

The Bible, Briefly

Milk: Eternal Judgment

The Last Judgment, 17th century icon from Lipie. Historic Museum in Sanok, Poland. (Public Domain)

We’re studying “milk”—the six foundational topics of Christian doctrine (Hebrews 5:12-6:2), which the Bible presents in three pairs.

The final topic that the author of Hebrews lists as foundational to the Christian faith is “eternal judgment” (6:2). The Bible testifies to a coming judgment at the end of time. Here is a list (far from exhaustive) of fast facts about that judgment, which should inspire the lost to fear, and the saved to hope.

WHO

Jesus will do the judging, and He will judge all the nations and every person who ever lived:

• "Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22)

• Jesus Christ “is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42)

• “Christ Jesus . . . is to judge the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1)

• “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10)

• “Before [the Son of Man] will be gathered all the nations” (Matthew 25:32)

WHEN

The judgment will happen “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,” at which time “he will sit on his glorious throne” (Matthew 25:31).

WHY

“Evil may not dwell with [God]” (Psalm 5:5), so “he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32).

FOR WHAT

Each individual will be judged “according to his works” (Romans 2:6; cf. 2 Corinthians 5:10) and the words he spoke (Matthew 12:36-37), whether he forgave others (Matthew 5:14-15; 18:21-35), etc.

HOW

The measure with which someone judges is the measure with which they will be judged (Matthew 7:1-5), and the unrepentant will experience God’s wrath (Romans 2:1-11).

Those who are saved will be saved only by their faith in Christ alone (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9). Some will be saved by the skin of their teeth, “only as through fire,” if they have saving faith but did not build their work for Christ on a firm foundation (1 Corinthians 3:12-15). Those who “abide in him” will “have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming” (1 John 2:28). God will “bring to light” secret sins and motives, and each believer “will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

Those who are condemned will be condemned for their sin and unbelief (John 3:18-20), for which they are “without excuse” because they knew better (Romans 1:18-23). Some will be surprised that they are not accepted by Christ (Matthew 7:21-23), but through faith it is possible to “know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

WHERE

The judgment of sinners will occur before “a great white throne” upon which God sits, and His presence will cause the earth and sky flee to away and, apparently, out of existence (Revelation 20:11).

Believers will also “all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

There are only two final destinations:

1. “The lake of fire” (called “the second death”), where all unforgiven sinners go (Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15;  21:8)

   1. This place of punishment is described as involving fire, worms, weeping, gnashing of teeth, and darkness (Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:48; Luke 13:28; Matthew 8:12; 13:42; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; etc.)

   2. The punishment involves both soul and body (Matthew 10:28), since even unbelievers will be physically resurrected (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15)

   3. There will be different degrees of punishment (Matthew 10:15; 11:22, 24)

2. “A new heaven and a new earth,” where all saints go (Revelation 21:1-7)

   1. In this place of reward, “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4)

There is no purgatory, as the Bible mentions no such thing.

HOW LONG

Both the punishment of unbelievers and the reward of believers are eternal: sinners “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46). The place of the damned is characterized by “eternal fire” (Matthew 18:8), where “the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). In the place of paradise, the servants of God “will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

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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.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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