JUSTIN, Tex. (BNC) by Joe Slater — Cecil the lion is dead. A Minnesota dentist lured the 13-year-old black-maned African lion out of a national park in Zimbabwe back in late June, shot and wounded him with a crossbow, and finally finished him off with a rifle on July 1. Then he skinned the big cat and took his head as a trophy.

Whether one favors or opposes big-game hunting in general, this case sparks justifiable disgust and outrage. The dentist himself has apologized. His website, Facebook page, and phone have been flooded with negative comments and even threats. At least one congressperson is calling for him to be investigated.

Zimbabwe authorities want to prosecute him. A petition has been started asking that the U.S. government extradite him to Zimbabwe to stand trial.

Meanwhile, a pro-life group has publicized its undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials bargaining to sell various body parts of aborted human babies. One video shows an abortionist calmly eating a salad and drinking a glass of wine while describing how to kill an unborn child by crushing various parts of its body without damaging the other parts that might be sold.

Ghastly, did you say? Ghoulish? Yes, indeed! And one Planned Parenthood official has apologized — not for what the organization does, but for the cavalier way in which the salad-eating, wine-drinking abortionist talked about it!

And, yes, disgust and outrage came quickly — but not in the way you might think. Official government outrage is being directed toward the makers of the undercover videos, not toward the baby-parts merchants of death at Planned Parenthood. Both the California Attorney General and the United States Attorney General are investigating the film-makers. You may rest assured that neither will investigate Planned Parenthood.

The primary, God-ordained duty of civil government is to protect those who do what is right and punish those who do wrong (Romans 13:3, 4). Perhaps the authorities in Zimbabwe will hold the Minnesota dentist accountable for his crime. If so, that is as it should be.

We can only wish that the baby-butchers at Planned Parenthood would face legal consequences for their barbarism.

Human life ranks higher than that of animals, even if the animal is a noble 13-year-old celebrity lion.

Where is the outrage that thousands of tiny humans are being summarily slaughtered every day, some of them being carved up and sold? Unfortunately, civil government often fails to do what God ordained it to do.

Our job is to warn, to pray, to present a godly example, and to work in every way we can to influence people toward God and his righteousness.

Joe works with the Justin, Tex., congregation as a gospel preacher. This article was published 30 July on the church website and reposted here with his kind permission.

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