Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Cities4Life Training Session

Have you been thinking about getting involved in pro-life ministry?  Wondering if you might go out to stand in the gap for dying babies at an abortion clinic?  If you are interested in stepping up and doing something, but want to have some training first (and if you are in the area), I've got some exciting news! Cities4Life is holding a training session this weekend (June 28&29) to equip you so you can begin.  If you are not in the area, then you can look and see if there is a Cities4Life chapter in your city, and there isn't, then you can look into starting one. (If you are interested in starting C4L in your city, click here.)

In this training, Cities4Life will explain: how we minister at abortion clinics (which will include info about signs, speaking on the microphone, literature and stopping cars, and family ministry), how to share the gospel with women or men with whom we are able to talk (includes on the mic and one to one), and then some role play for practice with abortion minded moms, dads and friends.  C4L will also send out tons of resources for you to look through which will be helpful when ministering out at an abortion clinic, helpful when speaking about abortion to people you know, and helpful to abortive or abortion-minded people.  So pretty much, this training and the resources that will follow, will cover just about everything, even putting it into practice!

The first half of the training session is going to be held at Word of Grace Community Church in Fort Mill, SC.  For more info on the address and such, as well as how to sign up, click here.  That starts at 7:00pm on Friday and will end at 9:00pm.

The second half of training is going to be on Latrobe Dr. in front of the largest and busiest abortion clinic in Charlotte, NC.  This will start at 10:00am on Saturday, and will end at 12:00pm.  You're supposed to come to both the sessions.

And the good thing is, these training sessions are FREE!  All you have to do is register and show up!  If you are in the area, I strongly encourage you to participate this Friday and Saturday.  Hope to see you there!

~Theresa

Monday, June 24, 2013

What Will You Say?

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--
And there was no one left to speak for me." - Martin Niemoller, anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor


  Christians will say that abortion is murder and that it is sinful, but what do the majority of us do to supposedly "fight" abortion? We might share some pro-life pictures and articles on Facebook, and if we are questioned about our opinion on abortion, we will say that we're pro-life. Those are good things, but that is not what fighting abortion looks like. Being of the opinion that abortion is wrong is not going to change the fact that babies are being murdered!



During the holocaust, there were so many Christians who knew perfectly well what was happening to the Jews, but chose to ignore it. I guarantee that there were many who, when the war was over, felt guilt over their apathy towards the Jews. What could they say they had done? Nothing, really...other than they thought what the Nazis had done was wrong. Think about how ridiculous that sounds! But you need to examine yourself, Christian. There is a holocaust ravaging this world today; what will you say when it is one day, God willing, finally over? That you knew babies were being murdered daily, just minutes from your home, but you did nothing about it? More importantly, consider what you will be able to say to God Almighty on judgement day concerning His commands to love your neighbor, and to hold back those who stumbled to the slaughter. What will you say? What reason will you give for your silence?


 Do not be deceived into thinking that abortion is not our modern day holocaust; that this is somehow "not as bad" as the Jewish holocaust or that you don't need to concern yourself with it. Do not remain indifferent towards your unborn neighbors!

This.is.no.different.


 We cannot be passive about this. This is murder, this is slaughter, this is wickedness...and it happens thousands of times a day in the United States alone, in cities that have hundreds of churches. Babies are dying every minute of every day at the hands of abortionists, in the shadow of our steeples, abandoned and unloved by their own parents...where is the church?!

If you are part of the church of Jesus Christ, you are not only qualified to fight this battle- you are commanded to throughout scripture.

Rescue those being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will He not repay man according to his work? ~ Proverbs 24:11-12

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. ~ Proverbs 31:8-9

Repent of your disregard for the unborn, prepare yourself, and pray...pray a lot. Then GO. Go to your local abortion clinic, open your mouth, defend these babies, and share the gospel with the lost; don't continue to shy away from something that may make you or others uncomfortable. God will use you for incredible things, if you will only allow Him to!


~Kaitlin

Friday, June 14, 2013

Faith Aloud

Several days ago, my mom sent me a link to a "pro-choice" blog.  Ok, not only "pro-choice" but "christian pro-choice" blog.  As I was reading through it I was not shocked, but saddened and upset by how misguided these people were. The name of the organization is "Faith Aloud" (seems fine and good, no?) but the name of their blog is "The Moral and Ethical Voice of Reproductive Justice." Hmmm. Reproductive Justice? Sound a little fishy? Yup.

In this blog, they post about how they think abortion is ok...and not only just ok in the world's eyes, but ok in Christ's eyes!  They believe that we should lovingly accept that it's reproductive justice for a mom to brutally murder her child, for whatever reason.  That it's all about the woman's choice, because good women have abortions.  And they believe that pastors should NEVER call these women murderers, and should actually admire them for what they've done. They are quite deceived.  I'm used to seeing things like this now, but I'm pretty sure there are some of you reading this blog that are not used to it, and I just want to show you how easily deceived the world can be.

I went to their website as well as their youtube channel, and they actually make short videos that many abortion mills show to women.  Watch this one.  

 Does that not make you feel sick to your stomach?  Do you find yourself making a mental list of scriptures they conveniently didn't use?  In another video and on their site, they also pray to the "divine feminine presence" which I find very odd, considering they call themselves Christians.

I have to agree, they are definitely Faith Aloud, but not at all the faith you and I are.  Not the faith of the Living God.  They have made for themselves a false god-one that suits their desires.  A god that says that you can kill your kids and have no consequences-no eternal punishment.  A mushy god where everything is lovey-lovey, no pain or shame.  And it saddens me to see this happening because Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." God declared in the ten commandments "You shall have no other gods before me." We need to stop and check our hearts and make sure we are not setting up any false gods ourselves.  I don't like to see people headed down the wide road to destruction.  And I don't think you do either.  I believe it's time to stop letting wolves in sheeps' clothing get the best of the people around us.  There is only one God, and one way to heaven, and He's told us to get up and out and live the true faith aloud.  So do.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

~Theresa

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Abortion Clinics: What We Do

Many people, some Christians included, think of pro-life "activists" or "protestors" as screaming, judgemental, hateful, clinic-bombing maniacs. That is a blanket statement, and I can pretty much guarantee that the vast majority of us do what we do in a loving and God-honoring manner.  We seek to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8), to expose the unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11), to rescue those being taken away to death, and to hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. (Proverbs 24:11) We give abortion-minded mothers and fathers the truth, and sometimes the truth HURTS. Does that mean we are hateful or condemning? Of course not! We give them the truth in love.


We use a sound system to preach the gospel and reach out to men and women, so that they can hear us even from inside the building. This way we don't have to yell to be heard. Women have come out of this clinic and told us that they were in the back, laying on the table when they decided that they couldn't go through with the murder of their child. Why? Because they could hear simple, gentle Christians pleading with them to have mercy on their precious babies!





We also hold signs, and some of them are graphic, as you can see. Most women will turn their heads, hide their faces from us, or get very angry when they see these; that is because they don't want to see what they already know deep down is the reality of their "choice". BUT, women have also told us that they chose life solely because of these pictures. It isn't that we enjoy these sanguinary images; we hate to look at them. But they are simply another way of exposing evil, and have helped save many lives!



Theresa and her sister Caroline holding the Malachi sign.

Adults and teenagers/older children attempt to stop cars. No, we don't run up to people's cars, screaming and pounding on their windows. We offer them pro-life literature and if they stop to take it, we attempt to counsel them.






 And last but not least, we are a people of prayer. We spend much of our time at these places of death praying for the mothers and fathers; that their hearts would be softened towards their children and that their eyes would be opened to the truth; that they would let their children live, and flee from this wicked place!






1,721 babies have been spared from abortion here in Charlotte since October of 2008, simply because a few dozen Christians have obeyed God's command to love their neighbor! But pro-life missionaries are still desperately needed all over the country; take a leap of faith, and GO! The Lord will use you in ways and for things you never thought possible.


"An abortion clinic is not a place of protest; it is simply another mission field." - David Benham


~Kaitlin






Sunday, June 2, 2013

Abortion and Ectopic Pregnancy...What do you think???

Well I've been thinking about ectopic pregnancy and abortion a lot lately.  Before we started this blog it crossed my mind briefly, but I don't really remember thinking much about it. I've now had to think about it a lot, and I want you to think about it as well.

A week or so ago I was at a conference and there was a speaker there teaching about pro-life foundations and how to have a good debate and such.  This speaker said he believed abortion was necessary, and morally acceptable if the pregnancy was ectopic.  I had jotted down some good notes on his lesson, but when I heard this I couldn't concentrate on anything else (in his session or any other).  Out of the whole conference, this was the one BIG thought I came out with. Is abortion ok if you're having an ectopic pregnancy?

For those of you who don't know what an ectopic pregnancy is, let my try and explain.  Ectopic means "out of place", so an ectopic pregnancy is when your baby is not in the womb where it should be.  Instead of settling in the uterus, it accidentally implants in the fallopian tube (path of travel to the uterus) and begins to grow and develop there.  The problem is, that because it's a tube and not an expandable uterus, the baby will grow too large for the tube and then it will rupture and the mom will bleed internally until she dies.  The baby will die also.  Not all ectopic pregnancies cause the tube to rupture though.  Studies have shown that more than 60% of ectopic pregnancies end in a natural miscarriage.  This is normal and does not harm the mother at all.
   
Anyways, with this being said, I had to ask myself, does scripture say it is ok to murder your child if your life is in danger?  It is still just as much human as a baby growing inside the womb, just as much human as myself.  Would it be Biblically acceptable for us to take that life and end it?  If it's wrong according to the Bible to kill an innocent human being, then it's wrong to kill an innocent human being.  And since the baby in an ectopic pregnancy is an innocent human being, wouldn't that mean it is wrong to kill him/her?
   
This morning I got to thinking about this topic some more, and I recalled something I had seen in the clip, 180. I remember one part when Ray gave this analogy in comparison to the value of human life and abortion.  He said, suppose you are in Germany in a Nazi camp during WW2.  There is a large pit filled with dead and dying Jews.  The officer commands you to drive a bulldozer forward and bury them alive.  If you don't, they'll kill you and do it anyway. Would you do it?  And of course my answer would be, "No!  Kill people to save my life, when they not doing anything wrong?  That would still be murder!" This is my example for ectopic pregnancy.  Would it be ok to kill the baby, that is doing nothing wrong, to save your life?  The baby is going to die anyway, right?  How can I say "no" to the first example and "yes" to the second?  But, even if I do say yes to the latter, do I have scripture to back myself up?  I cannot find a verse(s) that say that God makes exceptions for murder in certain scenarios.  I find where he states that murder is wrong, and that he will punish those who shed innocent blood, but none for it ever being ok.
 
Another thing I thought about was playing God. Would it be ok to take matters of life and death into my own hands and play God?  I believe God is the giver and taker of life.  I believe that if it's His will that someone die of cancer or in a car accident when they're 8-that's His will.  He gave him/her life, He can take it.  I also believe that abortion is murder.  I believe it's selfish and that it's wrong.  So then shouldn't I believe that to kill an innocent child because I don't want to die yet is wrong?  If He decides I have come to the end of my numbered days, He is in control and can take my life.  Just because I don't want to die yet, or I don't want to die a certain way should not mean I can slaughter my son or daughter to avoid it.  If I didn't believe this to be true there would be a loop hole in my stance, correct?
   
But, then we've got intent.  I've read many articles now on whether or not it's ok because of the intent of the procedure. That it's not the same as abortion because the intent is to save the life of the mother, not kill the baby. And that sounds nice.  But then I thought, wait a minute, what is abortion intended to do?  We can say it's intended to enable a girl to go to school, or intended to ease emotional pain of rape, or intended to save the life of the mother, but are those things the true intent of an abortion? I don't think so.  Those reasons might be a side effect. Abortion is intended for one reason.  It's intended to terminate a pregnancy.  To end the life a living human being, made in the image of God.  It's intent is not anything else.  No matter what reason I could give, I cannot deny that the intent of abortion is to kill a baby.  So, if the procedure is to "remove the pregnancy" so that the mother will "get better", and the pregnancy (a.k.a. baby) is still alive, then the intent of the procedure is to abort.  To kill the baby.

If I say that it's never ok to have an abortion, even if you'll die without one, then I'm thinking this...  people (even people I know) will say "Theresa!  You mean you'd rather have your mom die and leave little children behind? And her husband?  She would never get to see ya'll get married, or graduate, or anything! Are you saying she should sacrifice being the mother of all her other family members for this one that is going to die anyway?" And I'm thinking that it sounds really harsh, that I would be for all of those sad things.  But what is worse?  Dying and leaving your family, ministry, and life behind because God says your time is up, or killing your child so you can continue your life on earth, only to have the eternal punishment of his/her murder later?

All of this thinking brings me to my conclusion.  I've decided in my heart that abortion is murder and is never ok or excusable.  I believe that abortion in the case of ectopic pregnancy is really no different than abortion in the case of anything else.  I believe that abortion in the case of ectopic pregnancy is wrong.  What have you decided?  I challenge you to think and pray about it, and then tell us what you think by commenting on this post. (Please be polite when sharing your opinion, opposing comments will not be deleted but inappropriate comments will.)

For further reading, here are some interesting links:
http://www.personhoodinitiative.com/successful-ectopic-pregnancies.html

http://www.personhoodinitiative.com/ectopic-personhood.html

http://www.lifenews.com/2008/06/02/int-770/

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/w_ParentingResource/baby-born-deformed-misdiagnosed-ectopic-pregnancy/story?id=15421441#.UavqGbXD-M-

~Theresa