Doctor Demands Abortion

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Dina, a 60-year-old grandmother living in the Soviet Union, prayed every morning, “Lord, send me someone who I can tell about You”.

One day after praying, Dina waited at the bus stop in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, capital of the Far East region of Kamchatka. Noticing a pregnant woman, she asked, “Are you expecting?”

Image © Pacific Press

The woman began to weep.

Dina learned that the woman, Lyuda Savostina, was expecting her first son, but the physician had insisted that she have an abortion.

“I already have a little girl, and I have always wanted a boy”, Lyuda said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “But the doctor says that if I try to have this child, he will be stillborn, and I will die”.

Dina comforted the woman and invited her to visit her house church on Sabbath. Lyuda had never attended church and agreed to go.

On Sabbath, Dina and Lyuda joined 12 other church members listening to Pastor Yakov Kulakov preach about God’s faithfulness. Afterward, Lyuda shared her dilemma with the pastor. He encouraged her to trust God, and he prayed for her.

On Monday, Lyuda announced to the doctor that she would keep the baby.

“Have you gone mad?” the doctor said.

When he couldn’t sway Lyuda, he summoned her husband, Vladimir. Later at home, Vladimir scolded Lyuda. “Are you so selfish that you are willing to die and leave your daughter without a mother?” he said.

“I will keep this baby”, Lyuda replied. “I trust in God”.

“Who is this God that you are talking about?” he said. “There is no God!”

The next Sabbath, Lyuda returned to church. And the next Sabbath. Soon she was baptized.

The doctor turned out to be wrong. The baby was born alive, and Lyuda did not die. Little Sergei, however, was sickly and suffered seizures.

One day when Sergei was about a year old, he suffered a severe seizure. His breathing stopped for 10 seconds. Twenty seconds. His lips turned blue.

Lyuda fell onto her knees, crying, “Lord, You gave life to this boy, please don’t take it away!”

Her husband rushed into the room.

“Come here and pray!” Lyuda told him. “We need your faith, too!”

Vladimir sank onto his knees. “Lord, I believe!” he cried.

At that moment, the baby began to breath.

The whole family became Adventist, and the children, now in their 40s, remain faithful church members, said Pastor Kulakov, 66, who retired after 41 years of ministry and lives in Podolsk, south of Moscow.

Why did this family become Adventist? The reason is because an elderly woman prayed every morning, “Lord, send someone who I can lead to You today”, said Pastor Kulakov, pictured left.

“There is power in this prayer”, he said.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

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Further Thought: 

Read Ellen G. White, “The Good Samaritan”, pages 497-505, and “The Least of These My Brethren”, pages 637-641, in The Desire of Ages; “A Great Gulf Fixed”, pages 260-271, “Who Is My Neighbour?” pages 376-389, in Christ’s Object Lessons.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“Christ tears away the wall of partition, the self-love, the dividing prejudice of nationality, and teaches a love for all the human family. He lifts men from the narrow circle that their selfishness prescribes; He abolishes all territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society. He makes no difference between neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. He teaches us to look upon every needy soul as our neighbor and the world as our field”. – Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 42.

“The standard of the golden rule is the true standard of Christianity; anything short of it is a deception. A religion that leads men to place a low estimate upon human beings, whom Christ has esteemed of such value as to give Himself for them; a religion that would lead us to be careless of human needs, sufferings, or rights, is a spurious religion. In slighting the claims of the poor, the suffering, and the sinful, we are proving ourselves traitors to Christ. It is because men take upon themselves the name of Christ, while in life they deny His character, that Christianity has so little power in the world”. – Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pages 136, 137.

Discussion Questions:

Summary: 

Jesus’ teachings set out a different way of living for those who are citizens and agents of the kingdom of God. Building on the foundation of the Old Testament Scriptures, He echoed and broadened the focus on caring for the poor and oppressed, emphasizing that His followers will live as people of compassion and mercy while they wait for His return.

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