Pro-life supporters across the world were praying for Charlie Gard, the terminally ill baby who hit the headlines this summer.
The decision to switch off Charlie’s life support was delayed when international experts were given permission to examine the sick baby. The President and Vice President of the USA both expressed their support for the little boy, and the Pope said he had prayed for him and offered a place at the Vatican’s hospital.
American pro-life activists were prominent in the campaign to save Charlie, including Rev Patrick Mahoney who travelled to London to pray for him. He was initially banned from the hospital but later allowed to visit.
After meeting Charlie’s parents and medics at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Bishop of Newcastle Connie Yates told Premier: “This is so complex and it’s so heart-breaking that (all we can do is to) make our prayer that God would grant wisdom and mercy to Charlie Gard’s parents… and to all those who are caught up in having to make such momentous decisions.”
If we believe that God is sovereign over life and death, then he can take the child to be with him at any point, whether on or off life support. If we think we must help God along by withdrawing life support, we are saying that God cannot take (or heal) the child unless we remove care. That implies that man is sovereign over life and death.
From ‘Right to Life?’ in the 21 July 2017 of online magazine Prophecy Today: read more at www.prophecytoday.uk