Thursday, February 21, 2013

Abortion Abolition: What’s The Right Approach?

Every other Thursday at Planned Parenthood San Luis Obispo CA, the abortionist and their murderous cronies perform surgical abortions.  This particular abortion mill opens at 7am.  From 7 am to 7:15 am the abortion mill workers begin filing in.  They are more often than not, dressed in medical garb.  Most of them are also always carrying or wearing a long, clean, white medical lab coat.  These are individuals who are doing all they can to come to work and appear as though they are working a normal job.  However, as you and I know, the “work” they do isn’t normal at all. Clinical? Yes.  Legal? Yes [for the time being].  NormalNO.

Sometimes these workers are eating breakfast on the run as they enter the abortuary. I’ve seen them come to “work” carrying celebratory birthday materials and foods (presumably for party festivities within the abortuary).  I’ve seen them go into the abortuary carrying something as common as a dozen eggs (presumably to share with co-workers).  I’ve seen them walk down the sidewalk toward the abortion mill, smiling, laughing and walking with the most casual, nonchalant stride - as if they were walking someplace to get an ice-cream.  Knowing what these abortion workers do day in and day out makes these very common things sickening.  It says one thing about these abortion workers.  It speaks of their hard-heartedness.  They are indeed cold-blooded killers.  So what’s the “right approach” when dealing with these people? 

Several years ago, when I first became active in the abortion abolition effort, I started by simply praying, observing, and listening as I stood in front of this abortuary.   Because of the lack of Christians involved in this kind of ministry, more often than not it was the Roman Catholic sidewalk counselors who would engage these abortion workers.  One of the common things I heard these counselors say to the abortion workers when they would enter the abortuary is, [with a soft tone] “We’re continuing to pray for you that you would choose to use your talents to save life and not end it.”  It is very common to hear these non-Christian counselors say this kind of thing.

IMAGINE!  You’re standing on a sidewalk, when a man you don’t know walks past you with an axe in his hand.  As he walks past you, you notice he’s smiling and moving closer toward an unsuspecting three-year-old child who’s sitting down on the sidewalk with his back to the man.  As the man get’s closer, you begin to understand the evil intentions of this man.  He’s going to murder the three-year-old child with the axe!  What’s the right approach?  Is the right approach to very softly say, “Sir, I’m going to continue to pray for you that you would choose to use your talents to save life and not end it”?  Does that seem like the right approach? 

Then there are the countless moms and dads and their friends and family who support them in murdering their unborn children.  They begin filling the parking lot at 7:30 am.  Most of them too are just as hard-hearted as the abortion workers described above.  One daddy who I met this past week in front of the abortuary is a man named Johnny.  You can watch my encounter with Johnny in the video to follow.  He’s a student who drove his wife/girlfriend there to murder their child.  After getting his wife/girlfriend settled in the abortion mill, he came back out to his car to get a text book and some beef jerky.  It appeared to me that he thought he would get some studying done and have a snack while he waited for the dismemberment, decapitating, crushing, bloody murder of his child.  I pleaded with Johnny!  I showed graphic photos of aborted babies.  I shared GOD’s Word with Johnny, speaking of sin, righteousness, and judgment.  After some time with Johnny, he seemed unmoved and cold.  As he started back toward the abortion mill, I pleaded with him to show courage, be a man and go in there and save his child from death.  He responded with, “I think it took a lot of courage for me to come here today.”

All of that to say this – In my limited experience, I’ve never met ONE PERSON involved in the murder of unborn children who was tender-hearted.  Not one!  These are proud, self-righteous, self-serving, wicked, evil, hard-hearted people.  They are just like I used to be before the kindness and mercy of GOD broke my hard heart.  What’s the right approach in dealing with these people?

I met another young man named Jay outside the abortuary that same day.  You can watch the lengthy encounter I had with Jay in the video to follow.  He too was the father of a child who would later be murdered.  He was not only the daddy of the unborn baby but he also provided the transportation to the abortuary for his girlfriend Michelle.  He said that he was against the abortion.  He also told me that his girlfriend forged his name on some papers in order to get the abortion.  For a short period of time, there was a San Luis Obispo PD sergeant who was there and I encouraged Jay to tell the officer about the alleged forgery.  I was hoping this would buy more time to plead with her.  However, Jay wouldn’t do it!  I spent well over an hour with Jay – pleading with him, sharing the Word of God with him, speaking of sin, righteousness and judgment.  In the end, while it seemed to me that Jay was open about “listening” to GOD’s warnings and even the good news, he was hard-hearted about doing God’s Word and utterly refused to repent or even lift a finger to save the life of his unborn child.

I’ve purposed myself to do all that I can to be there in front of this abortuary on these surgical abortion days.  However, due to my work, the time I’ve spent there has been limited.  Because of this, my experience level is also limited.  Each time I’ve had the opportunity to go, I’ve personally struggled with the “right approach.”

However, the one thing I am confident in is no matter what the “approach” is it must be rooted in proclaiming the Word of God.  It must be gospel-centered.  It must be Christ-exalting.  And it must include a firm and urgent plea to repentance from murder and faith toward Jesus Christ.

I’ve learned a lot by making, watching and listening to these videos.  There are times in each of these videos where I think I blew it.  One time in particular I literally pointed my finger at a man as I was rebuking him for choosing to murder his child.  In the heat of the moment it seemed natural.  However, after watching it and listening to the words I was saying at the same time, I’m going to do my best to refrain from literal finger-pointing.  Have you ever finger pointed?

There is another aspect to this kind of ministry that I struggle with.  That is, making the assumption that each woman entering the mill is there for an abortion.  As I said, the day that I purpose to go is always a surgical abortion day.  Other indicators that these women are getting abortions are the “comfortable” clothes they wear and the day bag they often carry into the clinic with them.  There is really no reason that I can think of why women would be going into this small clinic other than to get a surgical abortion.  I may be wrong, but this is my assumption that I operate on when I see people approaching the mill.  So when I speak to these people, I speak to them with the firmness and urgency that this murderous situation demands.  Am I accusatory?  Without specific knowledge of each individual’s situation going into the abortuary, isn’t being accusatory almost inevitable?  What’s the right approach?

These videos are NOT a “HOW TO” on abortion abolition activity.  I’m still learning – that means I’m making mistakes.  I’ve published these videos for several reasons.  One reason is so that my Pastor and the church of which I am a member can get an idea how I’m engaging in this ministry – trusting that they will hold me accountable and provide prayer support and the guidance that I need.  Secondly I hope these videos will be an encouragement to you my dear Brother and Sister in Christ.  Thirdly, I’m hoping that my Brothers and Sisters in Christ who’ve been at it for a while will watch these videos and offer me some constructive criticism – I really need it. 

My ultimate aim is to love GOD and love my neighbor through being a herald of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the streets and participating regularly in abortion abolition activity to the glory of GOD alone.

SDG!



Monday, October 31, 2011

180 Movie - Project Heart Changer - Cal Poly SLO

Is a twenty-three minute video really necessary to document Project Heart Changer at Cal Poly State University? Maybe not. Many people won’t watch the entire video – I understand. But after going through the almost four hours of footage I had, I couldn’t bring myself to exclude these clips. Even though it’s kind of long and sometimes the audio isn’t all that great, these clips capture the faces of individual human beings.

The shoulder-mounted camera captured excellent footage of the student’s and faculty’s faces as they accepted and/or rejected the 180 Movie DVD’s. As I edited the footage, I was struck by a few things.

First, some of these young people are the future leaders of our country. Some of theme won’t be. Many are future stay-at-home moms. There also may be successful or not so successful business men amongst the faces of these individual human beings. These are people who are alive. My point? Each of them has hopes and dreams for the future. Again – they are living the life that GOD has so graciously given to those of us who breathe.

Secondly, please think for just a moment of the 1.2 to 1.3 million human being each year in America who will never have the opportunity to see their mother face to face. Think of those aborted millions who will never catch a ball thrown to them by their daddy. What about the fifty-seven million children killed in our country since 1973, little faces that we’ll never see, because they were unwanted – murdered in a country where it’s “legal” and accepted.

So as you watch as much of the video as you choose to watch, look into the faces of these human beings and think of the millions of faces you’ll never see because of abortion. I pray that you’re heart will be burdened to the degree that it shakes you from inactivity about the issue.

The means that GOD has used to stir my heart about the abortion issue is 180 Movie. If you’ve not seen this shocking documentary, please take the time to watch it for free today. Also share it with others.

And finally, when you look into the faces of these young individuals, remember this - each and every one of them, no matter how young or old they are - will one day die. At a time of GOD’s appointing (Heb 9:27). The thought of these people standing in judgment without the righteousness of Christ is a horrible thought indeed. It overwhelms me! One thing for sure, GOD will punish those who have lied, stolen, used His Name in vein, looked with lust (committing adultery in the heart), those who deny His existence – those who have broken His Law – the Ten Commandments. All have sinned!

These people are in a desperate position. The Just Judge of the entire Universe will do right and cast them into the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone for all of eternity!

Please Christian! Let this, in part, be a motivation to reach out to people with the gospel. Speak to them about the fact that they will die, stand before GOD and be judge by Him, by the standard of His moral Law. Reason with them about the reasonableness of Hell, the righteousness of GOD and the sinfulness of man – their personal sin against GOD.

But let the Person of Christ and His finished work - His glory - be your prime motivation. Because of His grace toward us, don’t be derelict in your duty to care for your neighbor (the millions of unborn babies). Don’t sit back in inactivity and do nothing to rescue the little children whose lives are on the line every day. May CHRIST and His glorious gospel be the central motive for coming to the aid of the unborn and reaching out to those who are lost, dying and Hell bound.


This video documents Project Heart Changer at Cal Poly State University. We had a wonderful time interacting with the students and faculty while distributing the one-thousand 180 Movie DVD's that Living Waters provided us for the outreach. We had many 1-2-1 conversations with the students about where they'll spend eternity. I had several conversations with students about abortion, pro-life, and pro-choice positions. I love the collage campus for this reason. Most of the students are open to this kind of conversation.





One of those students was a young man I met named Devon. He's a freshman at Cal Poly studying business. He's also an atheist. We had a quick intellectual ‘sword-fight’ about each other's world-view.

Because this video was already long enough, I really only present my world-view here. Devon did make his respective points but, because of the length of the video already, and because it’s my video, I chose to primarily present the Christian world-view – the right one.

The Christian worldview makes sense of life's experience. While the atheistic/evolutionary-worldview fails to provide what's known as the preconditions of intelligibility. That sounds smart uh? Me - not so much. I'm a bag-o-hammers and I'm really just learning how to use this ultimate proof for God's existence. Here it is in a nutshell – ‘Without GOD you couldn’t know anything at all.’

This is one of the first times I had the opportunity to present this argument. I was quite excited so say the least. I must admit – I was so excited that I'm ashamed to say that I talked over my new friend. Devon didn't get to respond very much. Sorry Devon! He was a good sport and I hope we'll get the chance to meet again soon.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

180 Movie Clarity 2

Last week I attempted to apply some of the 180 Movie tactics by putting Janie and Adrian through a few of the Holocaust scenarios. The scenarios Ray gave us in 180 have the ability to bring such clarity to the abortion issue.

During our discussion Janie and Adrian opened up and shared some of their personal abortion experiences with me. I wasn’t prepared for that at all. The effect their short stories had on me was quite profound. As they shared their experiences, my heart became very grieved. Adrian shared something with me that was very difficult to hear. But I believe that the Holy Spirit allowed me to hear their shameful acts that I might experience a greater degree of compassion for these two young people.

For the unregenerate person, so many of life’s choices are disappointing and regrettable. I think you’ll be able to sense the disappointment and shame in Adrian and Janie’s tone.

This is another good reason to use abortion as a spring board for the Law and Gospel. 57 million babies have been “legally” killed in our country since 1973. Not only are these babies being killed, but for each one of them, how many other lives are ripped apart because of that one abortion?

There are mothers, fathers, siblings, extended family, friends and the myriads of individuals who participated in the abortion through their council and/or support. I read somewhere that the estimates are around 200 million individuals in the US who have been affected by abortion. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau there are approximately 312 million people living in the U.S.

That means that over 60% of the people in our country have been affected by abortion. It would seem to me that Christians would have compassion on these post-abortive individuals. It should be the Christians who understand what it is to be forgiven by a gracious GOD and because of His mercies, we, out of gratitude, would endeavor to bring about true healing for these 200 million people in our country. They are your next door neighbors!

So how do we promote the spiritual healing of these people? Convert them to be pro-life and religious? Absolutely not! As Ray demonstrates in the 180 Movie, we must press people up to the standard of GOD’s moral law to help them see they’re sin is exceedingly sinful before a Holy GOD and they are on their way to Hell. At that point we do our best to express the deep mercy, grace, and love of GOD for sinners in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Christian – 60% of our country has been affected by abortion. If you endeavor to talk to people about it, you’ll find out what I’m finding out – people are willing to share their experiences with you. Get out of your comfort zone, be obedient to Christ and proclaim the Law and Gospel to these hurting people.



It is true – the Bible is filled with examples of GOD’s people turning away from Him to idols – “a way that seems right to man.” The way that seems right to man always results in disappointment, shame, grief, and ultimately death and Hell. But GOD’s Word is also filled with stories of His great patience, mercy, grace, and love toward His people.

In Isaiah 54:1 God likens His unfaithful people to a barren woman. His people were to be a blessing to the nations but they failed miserably and instead became as a woman without a husband. The Holy Spirit calls it, “the reproach of your widowhood.” To be barren and without a husband in their society brought great reproach, disgrace, and shame to a woman and her family.

However, in spite of the fact these unbelieving, disobedient people turned away from the One True GOD to idols, He says this,

“Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame;
For you will forget the shame of your youth,
And will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore.
For your Maker is your husband,
The Lord of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth.
For the Lord has called you
Like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Like a youthful wife when you were refused,”
Says your God.
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
But with great mercies I will gather you.
With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
Isaiah 54:4-8 (NKJV)


Christian, shouldn't we be heralding this GOOD NEWS? In spite of the fact that men and woman have sinned against GOD by breaking His moral law, GOD offers terms of peace. In spite of the fact that men and woman have brought great shame upon themselves through the act of abortion or assisting someone in the act, there is forgiveness of sins and right standing before GOD through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. Love them, by telling them, with your mouth!

For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to
shame.” Romans 10:11 (NKJV)


Monday, October 17, 2011

180 Movie Clerity 2 Teaser

I met Janie and Adrian on the Pismo Beach pier last night. We had a twenty minute conversation about the Holocaust, abortion, sin, righteousness, judgment, eternal life, and Jesus Christ.

Did Janie and Adrian change their mind about abortion? How did they respond to the call to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ? Watch these short clips and let them wet your appetite to come back to watch the full twenty minute encounter to follow.




Visit 180movie.com today!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

180 Movie Clerity

Last Sunday afternoon I had the privilege of seeing a young lady named Lauren make up her mind about how she felt about abortion. At the beginning of our encounter she indicated she was neither pro-life nor pro-choice – but undecided.

This video documents my first day out evangelizing where I endeavored to incorporate some of the tactics I learned from the 180 Movie. I also incorporated a series of small business card-sized photos depicting graphic Holocaust seines and aborted babies. To be honest, I was very uncomfortable because I’m still far from being an expert at defending my pro-life position. While it’s true there’s NO justification for any pro-choice argument, I’m still uneasy at the thought of entering into debate because I’m still learning how to give an answer to their arguments.

However, the parallel between the Holocaust and abortion (and slavery for that matter) is undeniable. And in the case with Lauren, it didn’t seem to matter that I didn’t have all my pro-life argumentation down pat.

This is just a thought and you tell me if I’m nuts. Is it possible that when helping a person see that the Holocaust of the 1940’s isn't much different than abortion, the person’s conscience is what’s being addressed and therefore the pro-choice arguments that are typically brought up are minimized in a conversation? Kind of like what we see when we use the Law in evangelism. Often times many of the typical arguments are circumvented because the person’s conscience is what’s being addressed as opposed to their intellect.

In the 180 Movie, when Ray Comfort tells the person being interviewed to finish his sentence, ”It’s ok to kill an innocent human being in the womb when..,” in a sense, he’s holding up the Mirror of the Law - specifically the Sixth Commandment to their conscience and asking them to tell him what they see. Remember God’s Word says, “Now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:19

It seems to me, this is what Ray’s question is getting at. The human conscience knows that it’s wrong to murder. And what do we see in the 180 Movie when Ray asks this question? Silence! This is what I experienced with Lauren as well. Silence, immediately followed by a confession of what they know is good and right. They say “Never…!”

“But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers…” 1 Timothy 1:8-9

The 180 Movie Clarity – The effectiveness of the 180 Movie and the clarity that it brings to the abortion issue is due to the fact that God’s Law is at work on the human conscience. When we employ the Holocaust/abortion parallel in talking about abortion, in a sense, we’re using the Sixth Commandment to bring about the knowledge of sin. It’s as God’s Word says, “the law is good, if a man use it lawfully…”?

Let me know what you think of my assessment.



Visit www.180movie.com

Monday, September 26, 2011

180 MOVIE

If you are viewing my blog, you probably support adoption like our family does.

This past month, I viewed an amazing documentary. I am excited to say it's available for the general public to view. Please take 30 minutes to sit down and watch this. I promise you 180Movie will be life-changing and you'll want to share it with everyone you know. It may cause your friends and family to make a 180 in their beliefs about abortion.

After watching it, I hope you'll post your comments here about who you shared it with. Share it with people you know that are not pro-life. Like the people in this documentary, they may do a 180 from being pro-choice to an unwavering pro-life view. To find out more about this amazing documentary, visit the 180 Movie."

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Preaching Christ Through an Open Window at Planned Parenthood

This was a day when ten to twelve young women were at Planned Parenthood for abortions. There was an open window in the waiting room where they and their supporters were seated - waiting to kill their babies. I took the opportunity to preach the Law and Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to them through this open window. To GOD alone be the glory!

visit 180movie.com