Since Feb 14th 2009 many of my Saturday mornings have been filled with crying out. Tripping down a broken sidewalk on Market Street, I have wrestled a dull mind (it starts at 7am) to plead with mothers not to have abortions. A common theme that (hopefully) makes its way from my mouth to their ears amidst all the shouting and confusion is that they must stop and consider what God wants. At this, many women have laughed in my face, called me crazy and other choice names, and mocked my “simplicity” for believing in a God who I cannot see.
I rarely have time to respond to their jeers, and thus I write my response here. God may not be physically visible in front of abortion clinics, but this does not mean that he is absent or unaware. In fact, he is so present, so aware that he actually inspired Scripture thousands of years ago that speaks precisely to the atrocities that occur on Market Street. This unsimple God used the pen of a wise king thousands of years ago to write advice to his son that these women need to hear:
My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason”… My son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” Proverbs 1:10-11, 15-16, 20-22
A concerned father, guided by the very heart of God, explained to his son that there are those who ambush the innocent without reason. Along with this warning, he was hopeful explaining that the voice of wisdom cries out in the streets to those who have bloody hands. Wisdom, revelation, and the mind of God are accessible, heard in markets and at the head of noisy streets.
Today, there are many young girls whose parents are failing to give them such wisdom but instead are encouraging their daughters to have abortions. Their parents are sometimes with them as they go in for the procedure. And they mock too not knowing (or unwilling to acknowledge) that it is their actions that are foolish. It is to them that wisdom cries out “How long, O simple ones will you love being simple?”
But thankfully, even when their parents have failed, many of these girls still have wisdom available to them. God’s perspective on the value of every human life is cried out in love in front of many abortion clinics. The fact that their child’s heart is beating is being shared on the noisy streets. The opportunity to turn from living for self at the expense of another’s life and turn to a forgiving God is being offered. The awesome wonder of God knitting together their baby is being explained. God is present where Christians are present and God is shouting out his wisdom and knowledge on the streets. The problem is not in the “simplicity” of the message. The problem is that scoffers are delighting in their scoffing and fools are hating knowledge.
So, To those Pursuing Abortion, Will you Listen?
- Instead of seeking the company of abortion escorts who will rush you into the door of a clinic so you can pay someone to shed the blood of your baby…
Listen to the voice of wisdom: If sinners entice you, do not consent.
- Instead of living like there is no God…
Listen to the voice of wisdom: There is a God who made you and this God considers you and every person, born or unborn, valuable because he made people like him. He takes it personally when human life is destroyed.
- Instead of choosing simplicity and an empty life without God…
Listen to the voice of wisdom: Do not blindly accept simplistic slogans like “Trust Women”, but instead believe in the God who is outside of time, outside of culture, eternal in the Heavens.
- Instead of hating knowledge…hating it when people tell you facts about fetal development…putting in your headphones so you will not have to hear the truth…
Listen to the voice of wisdom: At conception, your child’s DNA was determined and was completely unique—different from all the millions of people in the world. Toward the end of the third week of your pregnancy, your baby’s heart was beating. About a month after fertilization, your baby’s hands begin to form. By the sixth week, his or her brain emits impulses.
Will you listen to these facts or will you hate that they are being shared with you?
Listen to wisdom, and God promises,
“If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.”
- Proverbs 1:23
Thunder Over Louisville, along with many other downtown events, creates an interesting atmosphere on Market Street every year. Parking on Market is not allowed, and many lots are roped off in order to sell parking spots during the all-day event. This means that clients and their companions can come from any direction and at anytime. This morning was no different, however it did appear that most of the clients went in towards the beginning of the morning and not towards the end.
Here are some highlights of our morning:
Praises:
-At least one woman who had an appointment at EMW decided to stay at A Woman’s Choice! Keep her in your prayers.
-One sister reported that for at least 2 clients she was able to speak to them without any escorts following or talking to them. The escorts didn’t even approach the client. We do not always know why this happens, but we praise the Lord for any uninterrupted conversations!
-The gospel was boldly and lovingly proclaimed by our brothers and sisters in Christ!
Prayers:
-12 Women went into the clinic this morning to end their child’s life. While this is considered a “lower” number, we grieve the deaths of these children and ask that you would pray for the mothers now, as they wait in the waiting room or go back for their procedure.
-The escorts. As always, the escorts continue to be one of the most challenging obstacles in this ministry. We were saddened to see a group of giggling escorts posing and waving in front of the clinic while having their picture taken this morning. Pray that the escort’s would be open to talking to us genuinely instead of ignoring us or mocking. Pray that they would consider checking out Immanuel.
Some announcements:
(next) Saturday, April 28th is the Mini-Marathon. Read Street Closings here. Dr. Bizer’s has confirmed that we can park in their lot as long as we leave before 9:00 and have our vests.
Saturday, May 5th: Clinic CLOSED! The clinic historically closes for the Kentucky Derby. If this changes, we will let you know. Otherwise, we rejoice that there will be no innocent lives taken this day.
Thankful for you all.
Last week, Together for the Gospel held a conference in downtown Louisville. One person who was here in town for the event wrote today about walking past the abortion clinic, EMW, one morning on the way to conference.
One morning, as I walked by that clinic, passing directly in front of it, I saw that three or four people were just outside, holding signs and passing out pamphlets. I was taken aback; here in Ontario it has long since been declared illegal to protest outside a clinic. Yet there they were, quietly and peacefully protesting.
Standing a little bit apart from those people were two men and a woman, each wearing an orange vest emblazoned with “Escort.” These three people were escorting young women from the parking lot to the clinic, walking them past the protestors, all of whom were behaving peacefully; two were seated on the sidewalk praying, the others were calling to the women and saying, “Please don’t kill your baby. You don’t have to do this!” One young woman walked by them—she couldn’t have been older than sixteen or seventeen—with her mother beside her, her head down. She quietly took a pamphlet and disappeared inside. The people on the sidewalk kept praying. A moment later another woman, perhaps in her twenties or thirties, passed by the protestors and went inside as well.
All of that unraveled in the few seconds it took for me to pass by—a very powerful few seconds. I was shocked and gravely disappointed—shocked again, shocked anew, that we allow this to happen, that our society not only allows this to happen, but is actually complicit in this genocide. And I was so gravely disappointed in myself, so ashamed. I felt no animosity toward those young women. They were doing only what they have been instructed to do, what parents and friends and guidance counselors and maybe even pastors have told them is the happiest outcome. “It’s just like having a tumor removed. It’s just a small surgery; it will be over before you know it. It’s better this way.”
That little girl who went in there was a sinner behaving like a sinner, an unbeliever acting out of unbelief, desperate to rid herself of the evidence of her sin or perhaps the evidence of a sin committed against her. She was wrong, of course, and will have to give an account for what she has done; but I harbor no ill-will for her. It is me I was disgusted with and me I was ashamed of. Disgusted that I could watch that and not do something, ashamed that I have no idea what to do and that I have done so little. I don’t even know what I ought to do. Cry out to God and ask him to intervene? Demand answers from God as to how he can allow this to go on? What do you do, how do you react, when you see someone about to commit murder? I, we, do nothing. We feel disturbed, we feel bad, we feel guilty and ashamed, and we walk away. This atrocity has been going on all around me all of my life and I do so very little about it. I stopped for a moment, felt revulsion, and then went on my way and ate breakfast.
The entire post is worth reading and I’m thankful to Tim Challies for writing honestly about his experience last week. Our society is allowing the legal murder of children and yet we are so often silent about it – even though we profess to be pro-life.
Don’t stop fighting for these children. We’d love to see you on Saturday mornings (or any morning you can make it) to speak truth to these women and to pray for them and their unborn children.
I have been removed from the sidewalks for a good amount of time. Every now and then I will appear. I have heard so many futile arguments as to why women have to right or choice to murder their child. Some arguments have been more futile and chilling than others. Although I have been removed from direct contact with the sidewalks and people who oppose life and ultimately God. I have come in contact with people outside of the sidewalk with similar feelings to abortion, the arguments are all the same and all for the same reasons. People hate the God who created them. More and more am I convinced daily that people would rather govern themselves, break their own moral standards, face the immediate consequences from their sin and remain in denial of the consequence to come.
All things are full of weariness;
a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.
There is no remembrance of former things,
nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to be
among those who come after.
(Ecclesiastes 1:8-11 ESV)
The arguments continue to repeat themselves, each one thinking they have come upon some new and better argument to convince people that MURDER is okay. Sadly, even though the arguments are somewhat altered and worded differently, it has already been said. The eye is not satisfied and the ear is not filled with hearing. People love crafty, cool, trendy, ear tickling lies.
I do not have much else to say but I love people and I want every one to come to true knowledge found in Jesus through faith and repentance.
For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
(1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 ESV)
I just listened to this song and video and wanted to share it as well. The second verse of the song pertains to this blog. However, the song in general is probably applicable to everyone. If you are not big on rap music, listen anyway and turn your listening ears on.
