Adoption's Formidable Enemy

Adoption Is a Battle

When I'm talking to families who are considering adoption or who have been through adoption, spiritual warfare is one of the things that I bring up at the very beginning. Sometimes people are a little bit thrown by that because they don't see the relationship.

Throughout the Bible, you see the forces of this world consistently coming into conflict with children—Pharaoh in Egypt with the Israelite children, Herod with the children in Bethlehem. Why?

Ultimately what we're dealing with is a battle with the principalities of power in the heavenly places.

I think it's because the devil knows that what Jesus said is true, that those who come into the kingdom of God come as little children. There's a visible image of newness of life, of dependence and vulnerability that Jesus has called us to, of relatedness and continuity of generations. Children are always, in every context, going to be warred against.

Fight For the Weak

So, what are we called to do? When we stand up for the vulnerable—for widows and orphans in their distress—we're doing so because we know the reason for the crisis around us isn't just economic (although many times it has economic roots). It's not just as a result of war (although there are many times war is at the root) or any of these sociological factors.

Adopted for Life

Russell Moore

In this practical book, Moore highlights the importance of adoption for all Christians, encouraging readers to lead the way in adoption and orphan advocacy out of our identity as adopted children of God.

Ultimately what we're dealing with is a battle with the principalities of power in the heavenly places. So, when you have a family who is moving toward caring for the vulnerable through adoption, foster care, or orphan care of any kind, they're going to be troubling some things that don't want to be troubled.

You need more than just good preparation for parenting, more than a good support system, more than a safe home. You also need prayer, a church home, and an ongoing sense of the Spirit in walking forward in whatever it is that God has given you with adoption or orphan care.

Russell Moore (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is public theologian at Christianity Today and director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project. He is a widely-sought commentator and the author of several books, including The Kingdom of Christ; Adopted for Life; and Tempted and Tried. Moore blogs regularly at RussellMoore.com and tweets at @drmoore. He and his wife, Maria, have five sons.

10 Things You Should Know about Adoption

Russell Moore

November 19, 2017

Adoption reflects the gospel to a watching world. Learn more about the process and purpose of adoption.

Adoption and Spiritual Warfare

Russell Moore

June 15, 2015

There seems to be an orphan-making urge among us, whether we see it in the slave culture of centuries past or the divorce culture of today. But where does it come from?