A Love Affair with Moloch

...the god who got things done bore the name Moloch, who was perhaps identical with the other deity whom we know as Baal, the Lord. The Romans did not at first quite know what to call him or what to make of him; they had to go back to the grossest myth of Greek or Roman Origins and compare him to Saturn devouring his children. But the worshippers of Moloch were not gross or primitive. They were members of a mature and polished civilization abounding in refinements and luxuries; they were probably far more civilized than the Romans. And Moloch was not a myth; or at any rate his meal was not a myth. These highly civilized people really met together to invoke the blessing of heaven on their empire by throwing hundreds of their infants into a large furnace....

G.K. Chesterton
Everlasting Man

With the shocking Planned Parenthood investigative videos catching the world’s attention, it’s a good time to talk about the roots of this bloody organization. Besides Margaret Sanger, this will also entail us later examining a false deity known as Moloch. When you hear people making statements along the lines of "abortion on demand is a right of all women" or the particularly asinine and foolish whine of "keep your laws off my body," we're hearing echoes of Margaret Sanger's voice, but who was the woman behind the rhetoric?

Much controversy surrounds Sanger, the founder of today’s Planned Parenthood. Born into a large family in 1883, she devoted her life to a variety of causes, but birth control was consistently at the top of her list. It is the relationship and motivation between her causes which appears to be one of the keys in understanding this figure. For example, she was a strong proponent of eugenics and appears to have been a bigot with regards to those of African ancestry. She wrote derisively about the poor and those of African heritage in works such as the Pivot of Civilization. H. G. Wells penned the following within the introduction to this sick book. “We want fewer and better children who can be reared up to their full possibilities in unencumbered homes, and we cannot make the social life and the world-peace we are determined to make, with the ill-bred, ill-trained swarms of inferior citizens that you inflict upon us.”

The Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church in 1930 reversed itself and approved the first uses of contraception for its members. Other Protestant denominations quickly jumped on this bandwagon. Less than a quarter century later, the field of eugenics was reaching its height of popularity. Catholic writers such as G.K. Chesterton warned that this was a dangerous road to travel down, but many began to believe that it was society’s right and duty to improve upon God’s creation. A number of state laws were passed, for example, which required sterilization of those persons who were deemed inferior to the rest of society, “for the greater good”. This desire to exercise increased direction and control upon procreation soon led to even more effective birth control methods such as the pill, which was introduced in the United States in 1965. A year later, abortion, something abhorred by the Church since the First Century, began to be seen as yet another birth control alternative.

What, then, is Sanger’s continuing legacy? As Pope John Paul II characterized this general movement towards moral entropy in 1995, it has become a “culture of death.” The enduring legacy of Margaret Sanger is seen in the fact that (at last check) a quarter of all pregnancies in the United States today ends in abortion. This means that our nation loses 1.31 million unborn persons with each passing year.

We now are presented with an unpleasant picture of the monster that Margaret Sanger was, but what is that connection to the false god Moloch? The image comes into clearer focus after you connect several important dots. One important thing to grasp is the real and present connection of abortion to the Church of Satan. As a recent National Review article explains, It’s something held near and dear to the heart of every Satanist. A simple, yet compelling, visual demonstration of this is seen in the recent Satanic sculpture placed in Detroit. Compare the present sculpture to the image of the false god Moloch, the devourer of children. The likeness is quite hard to dismiss, and the presence of the children seems to further emphasize this disturbing connection.

Zachary King, a former Satanic high wizard who converted to the Catholic Church, has described abortion as something along the lines of a black sacrament, a mockery of Christ’s true sacraments; this is another instance of connecting the dots. In a recent interview, Mr. King recounts chilling activities within Planned Parenthood centers by members of Satan’s church. Participation in gruesome abortions is only the beginning. If we had any doubt as to the truth of his testimony, we need only look at the behavior of Satanists today to see reflections of Zachary King’s warnings. Look, for example, at the recent case (again) in Detroit where Satanists harassed the protestors at a Planned Parenthood by pouring milk over themselves and shouting obscenities Look also at the lawsuits undertaken by Satanists to preserve abortion on demand at all costs. Death, after all, is their king.

I suggest to you that Moloch may be an evil spirit who is worshiped with Satan by these men and women who seek to profane and mock Jesus Christ. As Chesterton points out, however, it’s less important to speculate on Moloch’s present existence than to recognize that “his meal was not a myth.” Tragically, this false god is fed daily on the blood and flesh of our innocent children. If we see abortion as a struggle of good against evil, the significance of our fight is made more strikingly clear. The allure of abortion is also perhaps clarified or better understood. When abortion supporters declare, for instance, that they will not watch the Planned Parenthood exposé videos under any circumstances--as I believe President Obama has said--they are like beguiled lovers: unwilling or unable to see through their mind’s haze to the ugly object of their unwavering devotion. If you’ve ever tried to talk a close friend out of an ill-advised engagement, you should instantly recognize this clouded mental state; it’s a state of denial. They will do anything they can to avoid seeing and acknowledging the truth of the situation.

The culture of death represents a formidable obstacle to be overcome if Christians are to be successful in curtailing the moral and demographic injury inflicted through abortion. Christians should peacefully do what is within their power to make individuals aware of alternatives to and the finality of abortion—finality everywhere, that is, but within the grieving mother’s own heart and mind over the coming years. We’d be wise not to forget the stern warning within Leviticus 18:21. "Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD." Children hold a special place in the heart of God. “Let the little children come to me,” said Jesus. The reader is reminded of God's love and intimate knowledge of the unborn child in passages such as Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 139:15-16. All believers in the true and living God have the duty to present an opposite force for good and life in the world. One cannot accept the holocaust of abortion as a Catholic. Because, as Saint Augustine wrote in Confessions, God “is life itself, immutable.”