Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

Matthew 2:16-18

Herod knew he had been tricked by the wise men. These men had proven at every step how truly wise they were: When they saw His star, they did not remain in their comfortable homes, but they made the long and dangerous journey to Jerusalem to worship Him. The chief priests and scribes could tell them the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, but they themselves had remained in Jerusalem. A chief priest or scribe should not have been found in Jerusalem. They should have already led the people to Bethlehem to worship, but only these wise men made the journey. They rejoiced with exceedingly great joy to see His star. They fell down and worshiped the infant Ruler. They presented gifts to Him. Herod had told them to bring back word to him. But they were divinely warned in a dream to not return to Herod. The wise men had to choose whether to follow the words of man or the words of God. The Bible contrasts it as what is right in our own eyes or what is right in the eyes of the LORD. Today we call it Humanism or Theism. The wise men chose to follow the words of God.

The Child presented a great inconvenience to Herod: the Child might escape him, the Child might usurp his throne and be king in his place. So Herod sent forth his soldiers. This savage tyrant slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under. He followed in the steps of Pharaoh, and interesting that it was to Egypt the Christ was sent for safety.

And so today, in the name of convenience, the innocents are still slain by tyranny.

It is estimated that the population of Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth was just under 3,000. We can estimate that approximately 220 infants were slain by Herod.

Approximately 6 million Jews were slain by the Nazis during World War II.

Since 1973, over 19 million black American children have been slain by abortion. That's genocide. In a letter to Clarence Gamble on October 19, 1939, Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, said, "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." This letter was in regard to the Negro Project of the Birth Control Federation of America. In the proposal of this project, W.E.B. DuBois, founder of the NAACP, wrote, "The mass of ignorant Negroes still breed carelessly and disastrously, so that the increase among Negroes, even more than the increase among whites, is from that portion of the population least intelligent and fit, and least able to rear their children properly."

But verse 19 has a very important message for Barbara Boxer, Planned Parenthood, Rudy Giuliani and the other Democratic candidates: "Now when Herod was dead..."

You see, as predicted, Christ is triumphant.