Carey offered to care for the widows and bring up the children alive. But he did not only make offers to the people. William Carey went from village to village and from house to house, preaching the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ His Son. Carey knew that the hope for India was not in England nor in laws, as good as they might be. The hope for India was in Jesus Christ alone who was freely offered to the Indian people for their salvation. So Carey preached the gospel, and the gospel changed hearts in India.

I recently read a book about William Carey. His life as a missionary to India in the late 1700s and early 1800s was full of unimaginable challenge and loss. He had griefs in his family. Two children died as infants in England. His five-year-old son died of dysentery in India. Carey’s first wife Dolly died of fever. His second wife, Charlotte, also died in India. Carey had griefs in the mission. Several missionaries died of disease. One missionary died of a mosquito born illness just twenty-two days after arriving in India. Many years of translation work and vast amounts of printing equipment were destroyed by a fire. For some years he feared that the East Indian Company would deport him. His greatest grief though was the state of Indian souls given over to the many idols of Hinduism.

On one occasion, Carey met the Hindu practice of Sati. A widow burned herself alive on her husbands funeral pyre while observers celebrated. He pleaded with her not to do it, but she went ahead with it anyway. Another time he observed many people gathered by a river. To his horror they threw eight newborn babies into the river as human sacrifices to their gods. Crocodiles ate some before they drowned. The Kali temple in Calcutta offered a human sacrifice every day. Kali was said to have an insatiable appetite for blood.[1] All Hindu idols at the time required blood sacrifice of some type.

Over time India evolved and outlawed the murder practices. The stories of pagan rituals 200 years ago are distant history. How thankful we are never to have such atrocities committed in the United States. What an enviable system of law we have that protects our citizens and exports peace around the world!

Not here!

Some years ago, I heard of a celebrity openly discussing her abortion. She talked about how grief stricken she had been, but it was clearly the right thing for her to do. Her flippancy about the act led me to investigate how widespread abortion was in the United States. I imagined it would be difficult to find reliable data. The right would elevate the number. The left would suppress it. To my surprise pro-life organizations were not highlighting abortion’s breadth, but the research arm of Planned Parenthood was. Guttmacher still advertises their 2017 article highlighting 23.7% of American women will have had an abortion by age 45. If four 50-year-old women are in a room, statistically one would likely have had an abortion.

My first visit outside an abortion mill was more than four years ago. There are days I leave thinking that Guttmacher’s percentage was too low. With few exceptions, abortion mills are situated in major metro areas calling out to men and women for their children. The abortion idol is never satisfied. Her appetite for blood is like that of Kali’s – insatiable. Joining one in four American women who offer their children as sacrifices are countless men, boyfriends, husbands, and “baby daddies.” Mothers bring their daughters to offer their children. Fathers do the same. Grandparents bring their grandchildren to make the sacrifice of a great-grandchild. Friends come to support. Pregnant women line up, one after the other, carrying their offering in their womb. Some cry out one thing, “pro choice.” Others cry out something else, “freedom,” “legal,” “fetus deletus.” Unless they relent at the last moment, the end is the same. The children are poisoned, ripped apart, and otherwise murdered. They are killed and discarded by the mother, father, and the hired killer. This is not 1802 India. This is 2025 America.

Hopeless?

William Carey was one foreigner in one town in the vast country of India. At the time there were no phones, railways, cars, or planes. If Carey’s letters reached England, a response would take more than six months. He wept at the state of the souls in India. But he did not only weep. He went to the English governor to outlaw the practice of child sacrifice and burning widows alive. But he did not only go to the governor. He offered to care for the widows and bring up the children alive. But he did not only make offers to the people. William Carey went from village to village and from house to house, preaching the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ His Son. Carey knew that the hope for India was not in England nor in laws, as good as they might be. The hope for India was in Jesus Christ alone who was freely offered to the Indian people for their salvation. So Carey preached the gospel, and the gospel changed hearts in India.

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