Comfortable Christianity

"In front of every abortion clinic, there needs to be a sign that reads, 'Here by permission of the church.' " -Francis Schaeffer



If you were walking down the street one day and saw a woman holding a gun to her toddler's head, what would you do? What if it was twenty of thirty women doing the same thing, about to kill their children right in front of you? Would you do anything? Of course you would! You would yell for them to stop, you would plead with them not to kill their children...you would be horror-stricken.
 

 

 If you drove past an abortion clinic every day on your way to work, what would you do? Chances are you would keep driving, turning a blind eye and carrying on with your day. But why? Why are we so outraged and devastated when children are murdered in school shootings, and yet so tolerant of the fact that 3,500 unborn babies were thrown away like garbage today?


 Maybe you consider yourself to be pro-life...that's great! But if you believe that abortion is murder, why does it not then disturb you the way the murder of born children does? If it did, you would probably be doing something about it. By something, I mean much more than voting pro-life or making donations to crisis pregnancy centers. I'm not saying those things are wrong, they're good too, but we could and should be doing what we as Christians are commanded to do in Proverbs 24 - "Rescue those being taken away to death;hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter."


Christians always seem to avoid talking about abortion, and if they do talk about it, they don't talk about doing something about it. Abortion is like a huge elephant in the room, not just standing there silently, but kicking and screaming and tearing people apart.  I don't understand why we continuously close our eyes and act like it's not happening, other than because we don't want to offend anyone or make anyone uncomfortable. During the holocaust in Germany, churches near the train tracks sang hymns very loudly when they knew the cargo train of wailing Jews was soon to come.  They didn't want to "offend" their church members, or have their congregation haunted by those desperate cries, so they drowned them out. And sadly, because of the fact that many women in our churches have had abortions, everyone is singing hymns at the top of their lungs so as not to see or hear about it.  We can shut our eyes and sing as loud as we want, but there will always be a rabid elephant in the middle of the room until Christians get serious about abolishing abortion and bringing the gospel to abortion clinics. Of course we have to be loving towards abortion-minded women, but most of the time they will take offense no matter how loving you are. The gospel tends to offend people more often than not.


 I'm not saying it's easy to stand in front of an abortion clinic and watch parents prance inside to murder their kids. In fact, it's exhausting at times, and it's not always comfortable either. I am definitely not comfortable walking up to a stranger's car and trying to explain to them why it's wrong to give someone a few hundred dollars to rip their baby to pieces. It's not comfortable or easy when you're cussed out, mocked and flipped off. But like I've said over and over again, Christians are not called to be comfortable. Can we take a minute to think of what Jesus Himself went through for us? He was beaten, spit on, mocked and hung on a cross for sinners like you and me. It wasn't comfortable or easy for Him, but He bore it anyway because He loves us. If He loves us so much that He gave His life for us, we are more than capable of loving our unborn neighbors enough to get out of our comfort zones and protect their innocent lives.


If you have never ministered at an abortion mill, I strongly encourage you to do so. Don't want to go alone? Check out Sidewalks 4 Life to see if there are other sidewalk counselors in your area, and go! Whether you're a people person or not, a great public speaker or more on the reserved side, God will use you however He sees fit, for His glory.


 ~1 Peter 4:10-11
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.



 ~ Kaitlin

Abortion Myths #2 & #3

"Abortion is safe and legal."

"Keep abortion safe and legal" is the cry of many pro-choice people today.  But is it really safe or legal? Absolutely not.  It's never been safe and it never will be. I've heard people say that now that abortion is legal, it's safe.  They say that because it's legal, there are no longer back alley abortionists, so women don't die, or have serious injuries because of abortion.  Did you know that 90% of abortions that were performed before it was legal were done by licensed doctors? If doctors the day before it was legal were so disgusting and dangerous, do you think those same doctors became sweet and safe when abortion was legalized? Any doctor who has been driven by their sinful desires to the extent that they would actually kill little babies-is not a safe person.

Now severe complications are not common, but that's not to say that they don't happen.  Many of the things that have happened to women during an abortion are: death, cervical scarring, hemorrhaging, uterine perforation, accidental damage to other important organs, serious infection (normally because part of the baby was left inside the womb), ovarian cancer, and breast cancer. Because of the ‘protected’ political status of abortion mills, most of these freestanding surgical centers do not face the same safety and cleanliness requirements of, say, your vet.  Laws meant to ‘protect’ women’s safety are only passed for political clout, leaving the fox to watch the hen house.    And if physical risk are not enough, numerous women have emotional issues because of abortion as well.  Many symptoms of Post Abortion Stress Syndrome are: guilt, anxiety, suicide, eating disorders, drug or alcohol abuse, and self-destructive behavior.

So, abortion is not safe for the woman.  But from what I've heard and read, people seem to talk more about how abortion is not safe for the woman, than about how it's not safe for the unborn child. Let me tell you  this,  every abortion kills a living baby.  It cruelly ends a life! And it's not safe!  If you thought that the risks concerning the mother during an abortion were alarming, be alarmed about all the innocent babies being destroyed! If the mother has a chemical abortion, the baby is either starved to death, or has burning convulsions until it dies.  Sometimes the baby is just expelled alive, and squirms around outside the womb until it dies.  The basic surgical abortion consists of twisting and pulling the baby's body apart until the baby is dead.  Scraping the baby out with a curved knife, or puncturing the skull and vacuuming the brains out are also abortion methods.  Abortion is never safe for the baby. No matter how advanced medical technology gets, there is no "safe" way to murder your child.
                                       
But abortion is legal, right?  You're probably thinking, "How can that be a myth?".  It may be legal because the Supreme Court says it is, but there is a court higher than the United States Supreme Court.  It's the court of the Almighty God.  He clearly says that it is not legal to murder. Ex. 20:13 And he says he will punish those who kill the innocent Lev. 24:17.  He doesn't give them jail time, or a fine. He gives them eternity in hell Rev. 21:8.  Do you realize how serious that is? Hell is worse than a perforated uterus, breast cancer, or anorexia.  It's a lake of fire with weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the worm never dies, and you are tormented forever Lk 13:28,mark 9:48,Rev 14:11 God's law says do not murder, therefore, abortion is not legal in the eyes of God.

What “safe and legal” really mean are self-love and self-justification.  We want what we want, when we want it and we want everyone else to approve it and provide for it.  Clearly abortion is neither safe, for mother or child, and it is not legal in God’s courtroom.  But if you are living under deception you are blind to these simple truths.  And besides, bright colored posters that read, “Abortion – Dangerous and Sinful” probably wouldn’t be popular at your local PP rally. 

~Theresa

The Abortion Holocaust

When you hear the word "Holocaust", abortion is more than likely not what surfaces in your mind. You probably think of the mass murder of millions of Jews, concentration camps, and what have you.

The Holocaust was a terrible, wicked thing, and we are not aiming to somehow minimize the horror of what took place during that time. But we are aiming to bring to light the fact that there is another Holocaust taking place today-the Abortion Holocaust.

I'm sure there are some of you that would say abortion can't be compared to the Holocaust, so here are a few things to consider-

  6,000,000 Jews were murdered from 1941-1945. 57,000,000 unborn children have been murdered since abortion became legal in 1973.

The Jews were deemed "inferior" and "sub-human". Many pro-choice people today claim that the unborn child is not a human being, but a "clump of cells", or a "piece of flesh". Some will even admit that it is a child in the womb, but still support, glorify and celebrate abortion. They call it a woman's right or a woman's choice, placing the value of the mother's life over that of her baby's-therefore believing that an unborn human being is "inferior" to their mother.

The majority of Christians remained silent, stood by, and did nothing to bring an end to the Holocaust. And today, the majority of Christians remain silent, stand by, and do nothing to stop the murder of the unborn.

God's heart was grieved over the murder of the Jews. But God's heart is also grieved today over the slaughter of every unborn child made in His image.

 Millions murdered, millions dehumanized, and millions ignored by the church. God was not pleased then,and he is most certainly not pleased now. Do you not think that the murder of His children-the children that He created, that He knew He would create before time existed, that He loves-grieves Him?  Do you not think that this constant murdering, this slaughter, stirs up His wrath?

If not, think again.

There is a good chance that you are offended by the gory picture above...so here's another comparison. The American liberators made sure that German civilians were forced to confront the horrors of the concentration camps. They were made to look at the piles of emaciated bodies...American soldiers even made some dig up the bodies of 800 Jews, and then bury them in individual graves. The terrible things that went on in these camps were exposed, and the German civilians were confronted with the reality of what they had allowed to take place. Abortion needs to be exposed,and people need to be confronted with this reality as well. The fact that this picture offends you should speak volumes.


Oh,and let's not forget...everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.



~Kaitlin

Abortion Myth #1

Abortion Myth #1

"Abortion is excusable in cases of rape."

That’s a myth.  It’s not ok.  It’s never ok to kill an innocent person because of the sin of the father.  In rape the woman is innocent.  But in abortion she is guilty.

     It seems many people, many “Christians” in fact, say that they are “pro-life” but believe that abortion is acceptable if the woman got pregnant because she was raped.  Why?  I’m not sure.  I’m not sure that I understand why it would be ok for someone to kill their kids, period.  But what I’m not understanding here is why rape is a better excuse for an abortion than say, going to school is.  Because abortion is murder no matter what.

     Read here, in Exodus 20:13 where God says “You shall not murder.”  Read it again, closely.  if you need to, read it again in your own bible.  God clearly states here that you shall not murder; He doesn’t say “you shall not murder unless you have been raped.”  If He just says you shall not murder, then can we justify why we think it’s ok to murder because someone was raped? Rape doesn't change what abortion is! Do you think that on judgment day we could say “Well, I hadn’t planned on getting pregnant, it wasn’t my fault! I had been keeping myself pure-I conceived because I was violated.  You’ll let me off for murdering that baby, right?”  Do you really think that we could tell God “I’m sure you understood the pain, and fear, and grief I was going through.  You knew I needed to kill that baby you gave me because I thought that having a baby would just multiply those problems I was going through.”  Do you think that we could actually tell God, the Creator of life, that it wasn’t His will to open the womb, even though He did?  Will our excuse hold any weight in His court, if we have killed a person who was created in His image?! (Genesis 1:27)  Do you think that He cares so little for that baby He made as to just let the woman off for murdering him/her?  I think not.

     Rape is an awful wicked thing.  It’s not fair.  It’s not right.  There is never an excuse for it.  Abortion is an awful wicked thing.  It’s not fair.  It’s not right.  There is never an excuse for it.  Two wrongs won’t make a right.  One wrong won’t make a right. Abortion will only add to the rape victim's grief.

And here is a quick fact: less than 1% of all abortions are because of rape, incest or life of the mother.  Less than 1% for all three of those things combined. You can't pull a door all the way shut if you insist on opening it up a crack. This tiny little crack is what makes abortion accessable,and somehow acceptable,and is part of the reason abortion is available.

~ Theresa

Margaret Sanger ~ "Colored People...Are To Be Exterminated."

Margaret Sanger, founder of the American Birth Control League (which later became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America) , is often hailed as a "women's rights activist" and an iconic figure in the American "reproductive rights" movement.

What many people don't know about her is that she was a blatant racist, saying "Colored people are like human weeds, and are to be exterminated.". She believed in the forced sterilization of whoever she deemed "unfit" (including the sick, the poor, the disabled and the "feeble minded") and claimed that "the greatest sin in the world is bringing children into the world". In her book "Birth Control Review" she clearly states her opinion that certain groups of people "never should have been born", that birth control was meant to "create a race of thoroughbreds" and ensure that society had "more children from the fit,less from the unfit.".


She was not aiming to help women. She was aiming to wipe out anyone and everyone that she considered to be human waste , in order to "improve" the population. “Birth Control is not merely an individual problem; it is not merely a national question, it concerns the whole wide world, the ultimate destiny of the human race. In his last book, Mr. [H.G.] Wells speaks of the meaningless, aimless lives which cram this world of ours, hordes of people who are born, who live, yet who have done absolutely nothing to advance the race one iota. Their lives are hopeless repetitions. All that they have said has been said before; all that they have done has been done better before. Such human weeds clog up the path, drain up the energies and the resources of this little earth. We must clear the way for a better world; we must cultivate our garden.” (part of her contribution to Birth Control:Facts and Responsibilities ) Over 60,000 forced sterilizations on the mentally ill, mentally retarded, the blind and deaf, and others in America were the result of her very negative impact during her lifetime.


 Margaret Sanger was also a listed member of the American Eugenics Society until 1956, which suggested that the government should consider putting birth control chemicals in the food and water supplies in areas of the nation that were predominated by minority groups. Sanger herself suggested making a law that would deny women the right to have children without obtaining a permit from the government (which would only allow one child), and if the permit was approved, the women could receive an antidote to reverse the effects of the unintentionally consumed birth control chemicals.


She was also a guest speaker at a KKK rally in 1926. In her autobiography she writes, "I accepted an invitation to talk to the women's branch of the Ku Klux Klan...I saw through the door dim figures parading with banners and illuminated crosses...I was escorted to the platform, was introduced, and began to speak...In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered." (Margaret Sanger: An Autobiography, P.366) 

Margaret Sanger was much, much more than a "women's rights activist". She was a wicked woman who claimed she had no god and was dead-set on the annihilation of minority races. I am so tired of hearing that Planned Parenthood is about "helping women"-everything above is what this industry is founded on!

My heart breaks over the fact that her plan is still being carried out to this day...51 million children had been murdered by abortion from 1973-2005, and 13.85 million of them were black children. More than 30 % of all abortions are performed on black women. Abortion has become the number one killer of black people in this country-killing more African Americans than every other cause of death COMBINED. Oh, how God's heart must grieve, for all of the unborn children, no matter the color of their skin, who were slaughtered yesterday, today, and will be tomorrow!

~Kaitlin

What Would It Hurt?

To be honest, I really don’t remember much about what happened that very first time I went out to the abortion mill.  My memories from that day are all blurred together into the sentence “I cannot believe this is actually happening!” Since that day,abortion has no longer been just a word for me,it has been a reality.  For me though, since that day abortion has no longer just been a word, it has been a reality.

     If you have ever felt an icky feeling being around someone or someplace that wasn’t good, multiply it by 100.  I remember just feeling, amazed at how heavy, how wicked, how strong! the presence of Satan was out there.  It was a presence of death. Lots of death.  I remember that sick feeling I felt when I watched woman after woman walk into that place.  The blaring gangster rap that played loudly as the babies were dying, like some type of freak funeral song.  There were enough innocent lives ended that day to outnumber us Christians out on the sidewalk. 

     From that day forward I saw a contrast between light and dark like I had never seen before.  There was no mistaking in my mind who was King and who was serpent.  God was showing himself as good, and righteous, and holy, and the devil was showing himself as a lying, thieving, murderous destroyer.  I had heard “spiritual warfare” but I’m telling you I was in it.  I felt the power of Jesus and I felt Satan.  I was in this spiritual battle fighting for the lives of these babies, and the souls of these people.

     The first time I went out to an abortion mill was a time that changed my life.  There was clearly one thing I needed to do-something! Proverbs 31:8-9 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.   Where is your armor?  Are you prepared to speak up for these who cannot speak for themselves?  For their rights?  They are poor, needy and defenseless.  Are you ready to defend them?  I am. 

~Theresa

It was a bitter cold Saturday morning in January of last year,when I stood outside of an abortion clinic for the first time. I prefer to not even call that place of death a "clinic"...we'll call it a mill.

All I could do was stand there on the sidewalk,watching in complete and total shock as car,after car,after car whipped into the parking lot. I've heard many people say it's like a fast food drive-thru. Constant coming and going...women going in,killing their children,coming out drugged up and stumbling to their cars,then leaving as more are coming in. Some were angry,some mocked,some ran inside trying to somehow hide their faces,and others cried as they avoided looking in our direction.

As a man who was talking on the mic explained what happens during an abortion,my throat felt tight and my mind was reeling. Knowing the details somehow made it even more horrifying. I listened with tears in my eyes as he told these women that their baby's arms and legs would be ripped off,their bodies torn to pieces and their skulls crushed. The words overwhelmed,grieved,and distressed don't even begin to explain the way being at this place of darkness makes you feel. You can feel the distinction between the dark and the light,the good and the evil. I am at a loss for words that can fully describe the weight of it all.

A very young couple pulled into the parking lot,parked,and got out of their car. The boy didn't even look old enough to be driving,his girlfriend even younger. They walked silently inside,no emotion whatsoever on their faces,refusing to look at or even acknowledge us. I'm really not sure why that sticks out in my memory the way it does...maybe because she was just so young.

Not long after this,a counselor stopped a car in the road. A teenage girl was in the backseat,looking around with wide,fear-filled eyes. Her mother was in the drivers seat,and as soon as the counselor started to speak,she kept driving. As they walked towards the mill,the mother was going as fast as she could,but her daughter was barely moving. I could see her resting her hands on a very small baby-bump underneath her sweater. She suddenly froze on the sidewalk,and called to her mother,her voice shaking, "Mom...mom! Mom!",still cradling her belly. Several more counselors began calling out to her from the sidewalk,telling her she didn't have to do it. Her mother opened the door,pointed inside,and snapped "Now!". The girl kept going and stared miserably over her shoulder at us until the doors closed.

It is a horrible thing to see...men and women killing their kids,some with a chuckle on their lips as they mock God and skip-yes,skip- inside. Some don't want to do it,but feel that they have to,others will look you right in the eye and say,"I know it's a baby,and I'm going in there to kill it!",and some are being pressured. No matter what their attitude is towards the situation,it's not pleasant to watch. But as Christians,it is our responsibility to "rescue those being taken away to death" and to "hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter" (Proverbs 24:11). Over the past year I have seen so,so many women go into that dreadful place,and it hasn't gotten any easier...it's not fun,comfortable or enjoyable,but Christians are not called to be comfortable! The church needs to take responsibility for their inaction over the past 40 years of legalized abortion,and if your are a part of the church of Jesus Christ,that means you!

I've tried my best to give you a mental picture of what this place is like,but you can't really know until you've been.

If you are a Christian and have never ministered at an abortion mill,I strongly encourage you to go at least once...it will open your eyes.

What would it hurt?

~Kaitlin