Hi everyone.
Off topic from this post but it just happened. Showing pictures from the abortion mill to an unsaved family member can cause a fight. My great aunt is in town and I was going to write this post while she was sitting here next to me. The picture I showed her is the one from the side of this blog of me holding the sign "Life is Beautiful". She also saw the End Abortion Now campaign sign: Murder: Still Legal In The U.S. End The Murder Of Children.
That caused a heated argument on how she believes that Planned Parenthood does a lot of good things. She was saying that if we defund Planned parenthood women will not have access to healthcare. We tried to tell her that from the statistics published, only 5 out of 97 abortion clinics that were asked provided prenatal care. She told us to recheck the stats, because we were wrong. It seems my great aunt is an evolution-believing scientist who does not like to admit that she is wrong. We can give her all the facts but she will not admit that she is wrong.
She brought up the story in Cedar Rapids where a shooter came in and shot multiple people at a Planned Parenthood even though they were not there for abortions. My aunt said that 7 people died. We checked the story and only 3 people died while more injured but the total number was not 7 either. One police officer died and 2 other people. One of the other people was with the patient but was not there for anything regarding her health and it is uncertain what the other lady was there for. I am going to write an essay and do some fact checking and I will send it to her and ask her to consider the facts.
I want to love her but it is hard to have a conversation with her on this because she believes she is right and is passionate and I know that God's Word and the facts are on my side and I am very passionate about this too. Please be praying that I can do this in gentleness and respect.
Okay now on to Memorial Day which was the intended topic of this post. On Memorial Day many people are remembering those who gave their lives to defend our country. I am thankful to the many men and women who have given their lives for our freedom. I am also thankful for the many men and women who are ready at any moment to give their lives for the sake of the citizens of this country. I also remember those who have given their lives for the sake of their great commander Jesus Christ.
We have days to remember those who have given their lives for their country but where are the days when we remember those who have given their lives for the sake of Christ's kingdom? I would li.ke to remember those have given the ultimate sacrifice for the ultimate captain. Many courageous men and women have given their lives in the battle for men's souls but their sacrifice is not honored as much as the men and women who have given their lives for a country that will soon perish. Christ's kingdom is everlasting. We should also honor those who have given their lives for an everlasting cause.
Many try to deny that we are in a battle. But it is a fact that cannot be escaped. If you ever doubt that the Devil is at work in this world and that men and women are in the grasp of Satan, go to the abortion mill. Your mind will be changed. You will see the people who are demon possessed. The battle against the powers of darkness talked about in Ephesians is still true for today. We are soldiers in Christ's army. Men and women are willing to give their lives to save the physical lives of others. Who will give their lives for the eternal life of men's souls? How many people have ever laughed at someone and insulted them because they decided to join the army? And how many people have been laughed at, insulted, mocked, spit upon, tortured, and murdered because they devoted their lives to the battle that rages until Christ returns? How many people are willing to serve a human captain no matter the cost? And how many people are willing to serve a captain who lives forever who has redeemed their souls, NO MATTER THE COST!
Today let us remember those who gave their lives for the sake of Christ. Perpetua, Felicitas Polycarp, the Apostles, Stephen, Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Roger Youdarian, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, Robert J. Thomas, and many, many more. These are a few of the men and women who have paid the ultimate price for their devotion to Christ. They realized that it would cost them their lives, yet they went willingly to their deaths! They counted their own lives as nothing for the sake of making Christ known and giving God the glory that is due Him. Where are their memorials? Where are the parades that are held in their honor? Where are those who follow the example of these great men and women?
Please do not think that I am trying to undermine the sacrifice of those who have died in the military this Memorial Day. I am thankful for their sacrifice but there are those who were soldiers of the cross who deserve our thanks too, and that is what I am trying to point out. A lot of my family has been in the service so I do not want to be seen as undermining what they did. I hope I have made my point without seeming disrespectful.
Later this week we have abortion ministry both Thursday and Friday in Augusta and Portland. If anyone is interested in joining us, on Thursday we will be at the Augusta abortion mill at probably 8:00. We will then go to the capital for a homeschool rally. Sometime after 11:30 we have a meeting with State Representative Dave Miramant. After that we may go to Wiscasset to do ministry with some friends there who are interested in doing evangelism.
I have written to the police departments in both towns regarding the use of amplification. I got a reply from the chief in Augusta and he said that if we are not breaking the ordinances he sent in the email, which do not apply to us, we are fine. So we will most likely be using amplification on Thursday. On Friday we have the regular abortion ministry in Portland.
We have some exciting news regarding abortion ministry in Portland! As of June 11 Daddy will be working 3 days a week and will have every Friday off! He will also still have every Sunday off which means we can still all attend church together but with four days off every week we should be able to do more ministry together.
If you are interested in joining us for any ministry please write to us at Maine4Jesus@gmail.com to find out where we will be soon. Right now the Summer Solstice in Rockland is coming up along with the Fourth of July outreach which we would love to have people join us for here in our home town. In August we have the Lobster Festival also in Rockland. The Blues Festival will be later this year along with many other other events coming up this summer and fall. Write to us and we can provide exact dates and locations for all these events. Check out our facebook page Equipped Ambassadors for Christ where we post our major events.
Due to our conversation/debate on Planned Parenthood with my aunt today we started looking at their website. First I would like to thank them for their video Across the Line. I highly suggest you watch it. There is some of the video where they say things that we would not say (though some professing Christians have) but they also share at least part of the Gospel in it. While listening we recognized Tony Miano's voice in it. They must have found a clip of him outside an abortion mill and used it for their video. At least they did not make that part up. The pro-lifers actually said some of the things that are in the video.
Also in the Planned Parenthood search Daddy came across some posters that Planned Parenthood has all of which are disgusting such as "Good Morning After" and "Sex positive". These are hanging in the waiting room of Planned Parenthood! I guess it can be expected of them but it is still sickening to hear. Please continue to pray that the atrocity of abortion would be ended now!
Prayer
Please be praying for Mike Stockwell and Mike Overd as they go to appeal their case in England on June 28. Pray that the courts would rule justly and pray that God would be glorified. Please pray that God would grant these two brothers peace during this trial. Pray also that Mike Stockwell would be safe in traveling both there and back. If I know street preachers at all Mike will probably go and spend some time in England preaching to make the trip worth while. Pray that both men would receive favor in the eyes of the authorities and those who they encounter and that they would be given many opportunities to proclaim Christ.
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Monday, May 22, 2017
Abortion ministry with Catholics, Portland abortion mill, and the Care Net walk for life.
Hi everyone.
The last few days have been filled with ministry mostly regarding abortion but every day had a different group of people with very different views yet all claiming to be pro-life.
On Wednesday Daddy got home from work and decided to go to Rockland to hold some gospel signs. Daddy started counting how many cars went by and about 1,200 cars went by which means probably 2,000 people saw the gospel signs in about an hour. With the size of the town of Rockland that is a huge number!
On Thursday we went to the Maine Family Planning in Augusta. There is a large presence of pro-life people there that come in throughout the day. They are there from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon every Thursday which is when they do abortions. They are mostly Catholic. At that abortion mill you can not stand next to the door like we can in Portland. The mill is on Gabriel Drive which is kind of ironic considering they are murdering babies on a street that has the same name as the angel that announced the birth of Christ. The group that is there has gotten permission to put signs up right outside the entrance since it is within 30 feet of the center line of the road and also down at the street corner. They sit across the street praying. Sadly their prayers are not being heard since they are praying to dead people instead of the living God.
The people there did not know whether or not we could use amplification for preaching. I am currently trying to figure out with the police if it would be okay to use an amp there. Most of the signs that the Catholic group has are related to abortion. How often RU486 fails so that you then have to have a surgical abortion which means you have to pay twice to kill one baby. Other signs link abortion to breast cancer. They have graphic signs and signs that say Planned Parenthood sells baby body parts and "Defund Planned Parenthood". The signs do address abortion and there have been many babies saved but these do not deal with the root of this atrocity. At the abortion mill in Portland we do have signs "BABIES ARE MURDERED HERE" and "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL", but we preach the Gospel. We know that abortion is a huge issue in our day and age but the root of the problem is that people are sinners in rebellion against God. The answer to ending abortion is to preach the Gospel!
I know that some people will probably disagree with me when I state that Catholics who believe the doctrine of their church are not saved. I say this because they believe that their works contribute to their salvation and that is heresy. They are often more faithful to go out to the abortion mill than Christians are because they believe it earns them favor with God. We do agree on some things such as the need to end abortion but they have a different Gospel and that needs to be addressed. Ron, who is one of the men there, said that we have the same morality but we do not believe in the same God so we do not have the same standard for morality. They believe that they have to work to earn their salvation thus saying that Christ's sacrifice was not enough to pay for our sins. This is not just a pet doctrine this is an issue of a false Gospel! We may continue to go to Augusta to do ministry at the abortion mill but we want to proclaim the true Gospel and not just hold signs about how much abortion costs and what diseases it may cause. These women need to know that not only are there physical consequences from having an abortion but much more there are spiritual consequences. They will have to stand before God having murdered their own child that He gave as a gift to love and cherish. That far exceeds any physical consequences.
On Friday we went to Portland for our usual abortion ministry. We have not been there for awhile since we were sick last time we were supposed to go, so it was nice to be able to be there again and to see people. There may have even been a baby saved. A couple stopped and talked to Jeremy and Donna. They said they were going for birth control but Donna does not think that was right from some things that happened while they were talking. They ended up not going into Planned Parenthood though. They heard the Gospel and I do not know what all happened but I would love it if God chose to save this couple.
Not much else happened on Friday besides the usual response we get when we preach the Gospel. The officer did not do much for either side. Sometimes the officer is more sympathetic to us and one stands opening the door to Planned Parenthood but sometimes the officers are like the one this week and they mostly just stand there doing nothing. Sadly they are just standing there doing nothing instead of enforcing the justice due to the murder of children that is taking place under their watch. Please continue to pray for these officers.
After the abortion ministry we went to a local park and had lunch with Donna, her family, some of her friends and Marguerite and James. We had a great time together with lots of fellowship with our family in Christ.
On Saturday we went to the Care Net walk for life. We did not walk as it would have been difficult for Mommy to walk the whole distance. We went to the street corner near where they were gathering for the walk and held signs. We had a few people who disagreed with us and one man screamed at us from across the street but thankfully the man's wife controlled him before he came across the street and did anything else. He said that we were self righteous hypocrites. The thing is we were are not self righteous we are sinners saved by the grace of God we have no righteousness of our own but clothed in His righteousness alone. I do not think the man was interested in listening to what we had to say though.
We had a great talk with one of our friends that was there for the walk. We have known them for a long time and they are a great family. They used to be missionaries in the Czech Republic and now their daughter and son-in-law have a church there in the Czech. Recently their son-in-law actually got to translate for Paul Washer on his recent trip there. He also used to be a student of James White who is also going to the Czech soon.
{This post was written within a few days of the Care Net walk. I have now edited this post because when I wrote it some things were misunderstood by me but we have now been given new information and I do not want to include false views in my writing. It seemed at the day of the Care Net walk that we were being avoided by those putting on the walk, we have recently received a letter that changes our perspective. Today, June 9th, we received a letter from the board of directors of Care Net. They made a formal apology and explained that they did not change the route to offend us or to separate themselves from us as fellow followers of Christ. They told the walk volunteer that was standing near us to move away from us because the man across the street was yelling at us and they thought it would be safer if their volunteer move away from us. (The volunteer was probably 10 years old or so and was there with her mother.) They also said that they are joined with Care Net international and they have guidelines that say no signs are allowed in the walk except the Care Net banner. They also redirected the path around us again because Camden police had said that they must stay on the sidewalk and where we were standing there would not have been enough room for us and the walkers so they moved for safety reasons. They welcomed us to come and walk with them next year and apologized for seeming to avoid us. They also asked forgiveness for not approaching us and discussing this on the day it happened. This letter was signed by six members of the board. I commend Care Net for writing this letter and seeking to make restoration. May we all learn from their example.}
I did get to talk to some people that were there for the walk. I put together a couple questions for people to answer. I talked to one of the people on the board of directors of Care Net. He agreed that abortion was murder but when asked what the punishment should be for a women who has an abortion he said that "the abortion is punishment enough". The thing is no one would say that if someone murdered a 3 month old, "Well having to live with the guilt of murdering someone is punishment enough". Another person said that they had not thought about it but that it should be jail or prison since it was murder. Most people were okay with Christians standing outside abortion mills and sharing the Gospel with women going in but no one said that they were doing it themselves. I hope it caused some people to think about what they believe.
If you could be praying we will be meeting with our representative, David Miramant, at the capital next month. June 1st is home school day at the capital where the home school families from around the state get together and have a rally and a day of getting to get to know each other. I am hoping to talk to Mr. Miramant about abortion which may be interesting. Daddy has written to him before so I know where he stands on the issue but that is not going to stop me from trying. Please pray that it all goes well.
Prayer
Please be praying for Sye Ten Bruggencate as he just made the announcement that he is in a relationship with Kimberly May! Kimberly's husband Cody died in January. They had just recently moved to Texas with their seven children when Cody died. I have not been able to meet either one of them but we are all very excited for both of them! Pray that God would give them wisdom as they figure out what they should do as there are many logistics to figure out as they are living in different countries right now and there are some things that need to be figured out as Sye is the full time caretaker for his mother. I am so happy for both of them and hope that God shows them what to do. Please pray for them.
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
The last few days have been filled with ministry mostly regarding abortion but every day had a different group of people with very different views yet all claiming to be pro-life.
On Wednesday Daddy got home from work and decided to go to Rockland to hold some gospel signs. Daddy started counting how many cars went by and about 1,200 cars went by which means probably 2,000 people saw the gospel signs in about an hour. With the size of the town of Rockland that is a huge number!
On Thursday we went to the Maine Family Planning in Augusta. There is a large presence of pro-life people there that come in throughout the day. They are there from 8 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon every Thursday which is when they do abortions. They are mostly Catholic. At that abortion mill you can not stand next to the door like we can in Portland. The mill is on Gabriel Drive which is kind of ironic considering they are murdering babies on a street that has the same name as the angel that announced the birth of Christ. The group that is there has gotten permission to put signs up right outside the entrance since it is within 30 feet of the center line of the road and also down at the street corner. They sit across the street praying. Sadly their prayers are not being heard since they are praying to dead people instead of the living God.
The people there did not know whether or not we could use amplification for preaching. I am currently trying to figure out with the police if it would be okay to use an amp there. Most of the signs that the Catholic group has are related to abortion. How often RU486 fails so that you then have to have a surgical abortion which means you have to pay twice to kill one baby. Other signs link abortion to breast cancer. They have graphic signs and signs that say Planned Parenthood sells baby body parts and "Defund Planned Parenthood". The signs do address abortion and there have been many babies saved but these do not deal with the root of this atrocity. At the abortion mill in Portland we do have signs "BABIES ARE MURDERED HERE" and "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL", but we preach the Gospel. We know that abortion is a huge issue in our day and age but the root of the problem is that people are sinners in rebellion against God. The answer to ending abortion is to preach the Gospel!
I know that some people will probably disagree with me when I state that Catholics who believe the doctrine of their church are not saved. I say this because they believe that their works contribute to their salvation and that is heresy. They are often more faithful to go out to the abortion mill than Christians are because they believe it earns them favor with God. We do agree on some things such as the need to end abortion but they have a different Gospel and that needs to be addressed. Ron, who is one of the men there, said that we have the same morality but we do not believe in the same God so we do not have the same standard for morality. They believe that they have to work to earn their salvation thus saying that Christ's sacrifice was not enough to pay for our sins. This is not just a pet doctrine this is an issue of a false Gospel! We may continue to go to Augusta to do ministry at the abortion mill but we want to proclaim the true Gospel and not just hold signs about how much abortion costs and what diseases it may cause. These women need to know that not only are there physical consequences from having an abortion but much more there are spiritual consequences. They will have to stand before God having murdered their own child that He gave as a gift to love and cherish. That far exceeds any physical consequences.
On Friday we went to Portland for our usual abortion ministry. We have not been there for awhile since we were sick last time we were supposed to go, so it was nice to be able to be there again and to see people. There may have even been a baby saved. A couple stopped and talked to Jeremy and Donna. They said they were going for birth control but Donna does not think that was right from some things that happened while they were talking. They ended up not going into Planned Parenthood though. They heard the Gospel and I do not know what all happened but I would love it if God chose to save this couple.
Not much else happened on Friday besides the usual response we get when we preach the Gospel. The officer did not do much for either side. Sometimes the officer is more sympathetic to us and one stands opening the door to Planned Parenthood but sometimes the officers are like the one this week and they mostly just stand there doing nothing. Sadly they are just standing there doing nothing instead of enforcing the justice due to the murder of children that is taking place under their watch. Please continue to pray for these officers.
After the abortion ministry we went to a local park and had lunch with Donna, her family, some of her friends and Marguerite and James. We had a great time together with lots of fellowship with our family in Christ.
On Saturday we went to the Care Net walk for life. We did not walk as it would have been difficult for Mommy to walk the whole distance. We went to the street corner near where they were gathering for the walk and held signs. We had a few people who disagreed with us and one man screamed at us from across the street but thankfully the man's wife controlled him before he came across the street and did anything else. He said that we were self righteous hypocrites. The thing is we were are not self righteous we are sinners saved by the grace of God we have no righteousness of our own but clothed in His righteousness alone. I do not think the man was interested in listening to what we had to say though.
We had a great talk with one of our friends that was there for the walk. We have known them for a long time and they are a great family. They used to be missionaries in the Czech Republic and now their daughter and son-in-law have a church there in the Czech. Recently their son-in-law actually got to translate for Paul Washer on his recent trip there. He also used to be a student of James White who is also going to the Czech soon.
{This post was written within a few days of the Care Net walk. I have now edited this post because when I wrote it some things were misunderstood by me but we have now been given new information and I do not want to include false views in my writing. It seemed at the day of the Care Net walk that we were being avoided by those putting on the walk, we have recently received a letter that changes our perspective. Today, June 9th, we received a letter from the board of directors of Care Net. They made a formal apology and explained that they did not change the route to offend us or to separate themselves from us as fellow followers of Christ. They told the walk volunteer that was standing near us to move away from us because the man across the street was yelling at us and they thought it would be safer if their volunteer move away from us. (The volunteer was probably 10 years old or so and was there with her mother.) They also said that they are joined with Care Net international and they have guidelines that say no signs are allowed in the walk except the Care Net banner. They also redirected the path around us again because Camden police had said that they must stay on the sidewalk and where we were standing there would not have been enough room for us and the walkers so they moved for safety reasons. They welcomed us to come and walk with them next year and apologized for seeming to avoid us. They also asked forgiveness for not approaching us and discussing this on the day it happened. This letter was signed by six members of the board. I commend Care Net for writing this letter and seeking to make restoration. May we all learn from their example.}
I did get to talk to some people that were there for the walk. I put together a couple questions for people to answer. I talked to one of the people on the board of directors of Care Net. He agreed that abortion was murder but when asked what the punishment should be for a women who has an abortion he said that "the abortion is punishment enough". The thing is no one would say that if someone murdered a 3 month old, "Well having to live with the guilt of murdering someone is punishment enough". Another person said that they had not thought about it but that it should be jail or prison since it was murder. Most people were okay with Christians standing outside abortion mills and sharing the Gospel with women going in but no one said that they were doing it themselves. I hope it caused some people to think about what they believe.
If you could be praying we will be meeting with our representative, David Miramant, at the capital next month. June 1st is home school day at the capital where the home school families from around the state get together and have a rally and a day of getting to get to know each other. I am hoping to talk to Mr. Miramant about abortion which may be interesting. Daddy has written to him before so I know where he stands on the issue but that is not going to stop me from trying. Please pray that it all goes well.
Prayer
Please be praying for Sye Ten Bruggencate as he just made the announcement that he is in a relationship with Kimberly May! Kimberly's husband Cody died in January. They had just recently moved to Texas with their seven children when Cody died. I have not been able to meet either one of them but we are all very excited for both of them! Pray that God would give them wisdom as they figure out what they should do as there are many logistics to figure out as they are living in different countries right now and there are some things that need to be figured out as Sye is the full time caretaker for his mother. I am so happy for both of them and hope that God shows them what to do. Please pray for them.
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
Saturday, May 13, 2017
End Abortion Now, Pressing Charges, Interposition, and anything else that happens to come up.
Hi everyone.
Last Friday we did not go to the abortion mill due to sickness in the family. Instead we stayed home and watched the End Abortion Now conference. The conference was good and ended with a day at the abortion mill in Tempe. The speakers were: Jon Barros, John Speed, Jeff Durbin, Zachary Conover, Sherri Pierce, and Rusty Thomas. You can probably watch the videos on the Apologia Radio facebook page.
I did not listen to all of the sessions but the title of Jeff Durbin's talk, Overcoming Objections sounds like a good one. You may remember that Apologia posted a video of a Planned Parenthood supporter that they refuted. I still love Jeff's response when someone says that it is "just a fetus." "Feel free to speak English here!" The question and answer session was good, complete with jokes about reformed theology which always adds great fun to the mix! Discussions came up about women doing abortion ministry alone, disarming when going to the abortion mill, the doctrines of Grace, (hence the reformed theology jokes,) and more. I would encourage you to listen to the videos if you have not already.
One thing that came up that we have thought about as a family is whether or not to press charges on someone who assaults you when doing ministry. We think that based upon the principal in the Old Testament of killing an ox that is known to gore, if someone attacks you when you are preaching shouldn't you then press charges so that justice is served. Also if someone walks up to a street preacher and punches them and the preacher does not press charges, the person may decide to go and punch any other preacher that he sees with whom he disagrees. Isn't that like knowing that an ox is known to gore and not putting up a fence to keep it in or killing it so that it can not gore anyone else? Yes, we should forgive them, but God is also a God of justice. If anyone has some Scripture that speaks to this issue I would love to hear your thoughts. Just a few thoughts that have come up in our family in discussions about this.
Brian and Tabitha Ingalls were able to go to the End Abortion Now conference so Pro-life Missionaries of Maine was represented along with I think 27 other states. The videos of how many people were at the abortion mill was amazing. Brian said that they were expecting about 200 Planned Parenthood supporters but I do not know how many actually showed up. Another thing in the videos was how far away from Planned Parenthood the End Abortion Now people had to stand. In Portland we can stand within 2 feet of the door and we can easily walk up the sidewalk talking to women who are going in. We need no bullhorns or speakers and can easily project our voices for anything that we are doing which is a huge blessing. I do have to say a couple of people from our group can project their voices really well, such as Daddy, Brian and Robert Gray. There is no need for an amp when those guys are preaching! Some people from around the abortion mill do not like that fact but it is great that we do not need to get permits and such to use amplification. It is a great place to do abortion ministry because of how close you can get to the building and also the women going in can see you and see how much you love them which may be harder to do when you are farther away having to use a megaphone to talk to them.
Today, Rusty Thomas and I think 10 other people were arrested for interposition on behalf of the preborn. The article I saw did not say what the charges were so I do not know what exactly happened. There are pictures here. Just the other day Jon Barros said that someone was thinking about doing something illegal and with this happening today I would assume that is what he was talking about.
We are not involved with Operation Rescue/ Operation Save America and did not endorse their actions. I know that there is a time to obey God rather than men, but that time is when man tells you to disobey God. Romans 13 says that we are to obey the governing authorities. Going to the abortion mill is a great ministry and there is a way to do that without breaking the law. It is not wrong to disobey the authorities if they tell you that you cannot preach such as with Peter and John in the New Testament. But there are certain things that the authorities have made laws about where we must obey. There are ways to protest abortion and to save babies without breaking the law.
Again I do not know what exactly happened with Rusty Thomas and the others who were arrested but we need to make sure that we are doing God's will and not disobeying God when He has told to be subject to the governing authorities. I know that sometimes the police are unjust and you may get in trouble even though you did not do anything wrong such as when Brian was taken to court for preaching, but if you do something that you know to be illegal you can expect that you will get in trouble with law enforcement. We just finished discussing this in 1 Peter in our nightly worship time as a family, and Daddy talked us through many objections and circumstances that might come up.We all must continue to seek God's guidance and pray for wisdom to show us when we are to obey the law of man and when it is just to disobey the law of man. Please pray for those that were arrested today that they would seek God and act according to His will.
Our family is considering going to Augusta to do abortion ministry at the mill there in addition to our ministry in Portland and Rockland. The abortion mill there is purposely very hard to get to. It is on a side street and the abortion mill itself has a berm and a gate so you cannot get near it and people going in can't hear you without amplification. You cannot get anywhere near the door thus making it difficult to talk to the women but you can stand on the corner going to the abortion mill so that the people coming in will still see your signs.
There is a Catholic man named Ron who when we met him had been there in Augusta every week for 42 years. He was 82 years old! I do not know if anyone else does ministry there, but Ron said that people have said to him " This is your baby. I was going in there, (the abortion mill) and saw you and your signs and decided not to." So his ministry is effective in saving babies. The other nice thing about being there with Ron is that since we will not be able to talk to people much we can witness to him while doing the abortion ministry and maybe God will save him while we work to save babies.
We have stood outside the abortion mill in Augusta once when there was a planned event for pro-lifers but we have not been there to hold signs on a normal week. The one week we were there someone did call the cops but everything turned out fine. There were I think 86 people there which may not seem like a big group to some, but here in Maine that is a good size crowd. We have less than 30 people on a good day in Portland. Regardless of the amount of churches in the Portland area there are not many people that come to stand outside the abortion mill to protect babies and to share the Gospel. Please pray that God would raise up more people who are willing to come out and share the Gospel with the lost people of this world! If anyone has any information on the Augusta abortion mill that would be useful for us as we consider going there we would appreciate it.
We should be going to the abortion mill in Portland next Friday as long as no one in the family is sick. We are getting new signs printed and should be able to pick them up Friday morning and use them at the abortion mill.
Prayer
Please be praying for Nabeel Qureshi, a christian apologist and speaker. He has terminal cancer and the doctors have given him almost zero chance of survival. Please pray that if it is God's will he will heal Nabeel.
Please pray for Mike Stockwell and Mike Overd as they are going to appeal their case next month. Pray that they would be acquitted of any false charges that have been placed against them. Pray that the men would be strengthened in their faith through this trial and that God would be glorified through them.
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
Last Friday we did not go to the abortion mill due to sickness in the family. Instead we stayed home and watched the End Abortion Now conference. The conference was good and ended with a day at the abortion mill in Tempe. The speakers were: Jon Barros, John Speed, Jeff Durbin, Zachary Conover, Sherri Pierce, and Rusty Thomas. You can probably watch the videos on the Apologia Radio facebook page.
I did not listen to all of the sessions but the title of Jeff Durbin's talk, Overcoming Objections sounds like a good one. You may remember that Apologia posted a video of a Planned Parenthood supporter that they refuted. I still love Jeff's response when someone says that it is "just a fetus." "Feel free to speak English here!" The question and answer session was good, complete with jokes about reformed theology which always adds great fun to the mix! Discussions came up about women doing abortion ministry alone, disarming when going to the abortion mill, the doctrines of Grace, (hence the reformed theology jokes,) and more. I would encourage you to listen to the videos if you have not already.
One thing that came up that we have thought about as a family is whether or not to press charges on someone who assaults you when doing ministry. We think that based upon the principal in the Old Testament of killing an ox that is known to gore, if someone attacks you when you are preaching shouldn't you then press charges so that justice is served. Also if someone walks up to a street preacher and punches them and the preacher does not press charges, the person may decide to go and punch any other preacher that he sees with whom he disagrees. Isn't that like knowing that an ox is known to gore and not putting up a fence to keep it in or killing it so that it can not gore anyone else? Yes, we should forgive them, but God is also a God of justice. If anyone has some Scripture that speaks to this issue I would love to hear your thoughts. Just a few thoughts that have come up in our family in discussions about this.
Brian and Tabitha Ingalls were able to go to the End Abortion Now conference so Pro-life Missionaries of Maine was represented along with I think 27 other states. The videos of how many people were at the abortion mill was amazing. Brian said that they were expecting about 200 Planned Parenthood supporters but I do not know how many actually showed up. Another thing in the videos was how far away from Planned Parenthood the End Abortion Now people had to stand. In Portland we can stand within 2 feet of the door and we can easily walk up the sidewalk talking to women who are going in. We need no bullhorns or speakers and can easily project our voices for anything that we are doing which is a huge blessing. I do have to say a couple of people from our group can project their voices really well, such as Daddy, Brian and Robert Gray. There is no need for an amp when those guys are preaching! Some people from around the abortion mill do not like that fact but it is great that we do not need to get permits and such to use amplification. It is a great place to do abortion ministry because of how close you can get to the building and also the women going in can see you and see how much you love them which may be harder to do when you are farther away having to use a megaphone to talk to them.
Today, Rusty Thomas and I think 10 other people were arrested for interposition on behalf of the preborn. The article I saw did not say what the charges were so I do not know what exactly happened. There are pictures here. Just the other day Jon Barros said that someone was thinking about doing something illegal and with this happening today I would assume that is what he was talking about.
We are not involved with Operation Rescue/ Operation Save America and did not endorse their actions. I know that there is a time to obey God rather than men, but that time is when man tells you to disobey God. Romans 13 says that we are to obey the governing authorities. Going to the abortion mill is a great ministry and there is a way to do that without breaking the law. It is not wrong to disobey the authorities if they tell you that you cannot preach such as with Peter and John in the New Testament. But there are certain things that the authorities have made laws about where we must obey. There are ways to protest abortion and to save babies without breaking the law.
Again I do not know what exactly happened with Rusty Thomas and the others who were arrested but we need to make sure that we are doing God's will and not disobeying God when He has told to be subject to the governing authorities. I know that sometimes the police are unjust and you may get in trouble even though you did not do anything wrong such as when Brian was taken to court for preaching, but if you do something that you know to be illegal you can expect that you will get in trouble with law enforcement. We just finished discussing this in 1 Peter in our nightly worship time as a family, and Daddy talked us through many objections and circumstances that might come up.We all must continue to seek God's guidance and pray for wisdom to show us when we are to obey the law of man and when it is just to disobey the law of man. Please pray for those that were arrested today that they would seek God and act according to His will.
Our family is considering going to Augusta to do abortion ministry at the mill there in addition to our ministry in Portland and Rockland. The abortion mill there is purposely very hard to get to. It is on a side street and the abortion mill itself has a berm and a gate so you cannot get near it and people going in can't hear you without amplification. You cannot get anywhere near the door thus making it difficult to talk to the women but you can stand on the corner going to the abortion mill so that the people coming in will still see your signs.
There is a Catholic man named Ron who when we met him had been there in Augusta every week for 42 years. He was 82 years old! I do not know if anyone else does ministry there, but Ron said that people have said to him " This is your baby. I was going in there, (the abortion mill) and saw you and your signs and decided not to." So his ministry is effective in saving babies. The other nice thing about being there with Ron is that since we will not be able to talk to people much we can witness to him while doing the abortion ministry and maybe God will save him while we work to save babies.
We have stood outside the abortion mill in Augusta once when there was a planned event for pro-lifers but we have not been there to hold signs on a normal week. The one week we were there someone did call the cops but everything turned out fine. There were I think 86 people there which may not seem like a big group to some, but here in Maine that is a good size crowd. We have less than 30 people on a good day in Portland. Regardless of the amount of churches in the Portland area there are not many people that come to stand outside the abortion mill to protect babies and to share the Gospel. Please pray that God would raise up more people who are willing to come out and share the Gospel with the lost people of this world! If anyone has any information on the Augusta abortion mill that would be useful for us as we consider going there we would appreciate it.
We should be going to the abortion mill in Portland next Friday as long as no one in the family is sick. We are getting new signs printed and should be able to pick them up Friday morning and use them at the abortion mill.
Prayer
Please be praying for Nabeel Qureshi, a christian apologist and speaker. He has terminal cancer and the doctors have given him almost zero chance of survival. Please pray that if it is God's will he will heal Nabeel.
Please pray for Mike Stockwell and Mike Overd as they are going to appeal their case next month. Pray that they would be acquitted of any false charges that have been placed against them. Pray that the men would be strengthened in their faith through this trial and that God would be glorified through them.
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Courting, dating and purity.
Hi everyone.
Mommy recently listened to a sermon by Paul Washer on dating and I thought I would listen to it and write about some of the things Mr. Washer brought up and my thoughts on the issue. The first thing that I will say is that the way our society usually goes about dating and finding spouses is wrong.
In our day and age many people do not value purity but instead run around having "fun" by having sex with many people outside of marriage and freely giving their bodies away in the name of "fun". The purity of a young man or woman is to be prized highly. When you have sex with people outside of marriage you are not only disobeying God but you are destroying yourself and throwing away your purity which you will never be able to gain back.
In our society boys, (realize I said boys not young men,) do not treat girls with the respect that they should be shown. Girls do not treat their own purity with high esteem as they should and instead are willing to give their bodies to almost any "cute" boy that asks to date her. Boys in our society go to a girl or have a friend go to the girl and do not care what the girls father says about whether or not they should be in a relationship together. Fathers have the duty to protect their daughters and this means that any boy wanting to have a relationship with a girl has no business talking to a girl until he obtains permission from her father. This is something that is very important but is rarely given attention to in our society.
Okay, I said a little bit of what was wrong with our society's view of dating but I will share a little of what my thoughts are in how it should be done.
First. When a boy or a girl starts thinking about wanting to have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex that does not mean that they are not ready to be in a relationship. It means that they need to start preparing themselves for marriage. Young men need to start preparing to lead a family spiritually, physically, and economically. And learn how to care for his future wife and children. A young woman needs to start preparing herself for taking care of a household, raising a family, caring for her husband, and learning what it takes to be a good wife and mother.
No girl should be in a position that boys think it is okay to approach her and ask to go on a date in the first place. It should be obvious that a girl's father will not let any boy close to his daughter without first getting his permission to even talk to his daughter in a way that is any different than a usual friendship. It should be obvious that a father cares about his daughter enough to protect her purity for both her sake and her future husband's.
A young man should have the integrity and boldness to go to a girl's father and ask if he may begin to court his daughter. If the father says no the answer is no for at least now. In the case of Paul Washer his wife's father had said "no", but then Mr. Washer submitted to him and did not start a relationship with Charro. Later the father ended up saying yes to Paul courting his now wife Charro because Paul showed that he was willing to submit to him as the authority over his daughter. If the father however says yes it then goes to the daughter to consider. The father goes to the girl and asks her to think about it and pray about it but if the girl says no, the father than goes back to the man and tells him that they have decided that he is not allowed to court his daughter. But he should never say that the daughter said "no" so that the girl is not seen as the "bad guy". The girl should never be put in the position to say no to a young man.
It is the father's duty to not only protect her purity but her emotions as well. I remember the story of Scott Brown's daughter and son-in-law in the movie "Return of the Daughters". In their story, which I really enjoy, Scott had his now son-in-law Peter write essays on different issues. I think this a great thing to do since the man will one day be the spiritual leader of your daughter. After I think 7 months Peter was allowed to talk to Scott's daughter, Kelly. Until the young man is given permission by the girl's father the girl has no idea that the boy is interested in her. So that if the father says no the young woman has not grown fond of the young man.
Once a father says yes to a young man courting his daughter the man and young woman should be given the ability to get to know each other and have some time maybe even semi-privately to be able to talk. They in no way should be allowed to be behind closed doors without supervision but talking in another room with an open door that is very visible where parents are able to come in and out whenever they see fit is fine. I, as a girl with many younger siblings, understand the desire to be able to have some time alone with a potential suitor apart from brothers and sisters so that you can focus more on the conversation at hand but never without the knowledge and close protection and supervision of parents.
After a young man and woman are engaged, which the man also needs to ask permission of the father to do, they should not be allowed to act as if they are married since they are in a relationship and are promised to marry each other but they are not yet married. Since I am the oldest child at home I will probably be the first one to court so we do not know what all the rules will be but I do know that both my purity, and the purity of my future husband will be protected no matter what.
Some may think that I think that arranged marriage is how people should find a husband. While I do see that in Scripture a father picks the girl's husband. I do not think that it is wrong for a girl to decide whether or not she would like to marry a man that her father has brought to her attention. I do not know what families will decide to do for their own sons and daughters but I do know that Christian families should not follow the path that our society is taking in regards to dating and courting.
We are to be separate from the world and fathers are supposed to protect their daughters and sons. One way that they do this is protecting their purity and emotions as they take the journey from a child to a young man or woman that is ready for marriage. These are just a few things that I have heard on this subject. There are many good resources and I would encourage you to listen to some of Paul Washer's sermon on the subject.
Prayer
Jon Barros posted that 6 women chose life yesterday. Another baby was saved in the last couple of days. Many babies are being saved from abortion mills around the country. Please be praying for those who are involved in abortion ministry around the world. Pray that they would stay safe as they do this ministry and that babies would be saved. Pray that more than anything they would boldly proclaim the Gospel and that God would grant people repentance and faith. Please continue to pray for those who are involved in the wicked business of abortion that God would open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel. Please pray that abortion will soon be abolished around the world!
In the light of North Korea's recent actions please pray for the salvation of Kim Jung Un and his citizens. Pray for the Christians in the country as they are persecuted for their faith. Pray that they would be comforted in their time of trial.
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
Mommy recently listened to a sermon by Paul Washer on dating and I thought I would listen to it and write about some of the things Mr. Washer brought up and my thoughts on the issue. The first thing that I will say is that the way our society usually goes about dating and finding spouses is wrong.
In our day and age many people do not value purity but instead run around having "fun" by having sex with many people outside of marriage and freely giving their bodies away in the name of "fun". The purity of a young man or woman is to be prized highly. When you have sex with people outside of marriage you are not only disobeying God but you are destroying yourself and throwing away your purity which you will never be able to gain back.
In our society boys, (realize I said boys not young men,) do not treat girls with the respect that they should be shown. Girls do not treat their own purity with high esteem as they should and instead are willing to give their bodies to almost any "cute" boy that asks to date her. Boys in our society go to a girl or have a friend go to the girl and do not care what the girls father says about whether or not they should be in a relationship together. Fathers have the duty to protect their daughters and this means that any boy wanting to have a relationship with a girl has no business talking to a girl until he obtains permission from her father. This is something that is very important but is rarely given attention to in our society.
Okay, I said a little bit of what was wrong with our society's view of dating but I will share a little of what my thoughts are in how it should be done.
First. When a boy or a girl starts thinking about wanting to have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex that does not mean that they are not ready to be in a relationship. It means that they need to start preparing themselves for marriage. Young men need to start preparing to lead a family spiritually, physically, and economically. And learn how to care for his future wife and children. A young woman needs to start preparing herself for taking care of a household, raising a family, caring for her husband, and learning what it takes to be a good wife and mother.
No girl should be in a position that boys think it is okay to approach her and ask to go on a date in the first place. It should be obvious that a girl's father will not let any boy close to his daughter without first getting his permission to even talk to his daughter in a way that is any different than a usual friendship. It should be obvious that a father cares about his daughter enough to protect her purity for both her sake and her future husband's.
A young man should have the integrity and boldness to go to a girl's father and ask if he may begin to court his daughter. If the father says no the answer is no for at least now. In the case of Paul Washer his wife's father had said "no", but then Mr. Washer submitted to him and did not start a relationship with Charro. Later the father ended up saying yes to Paul courting his now wife Charro because Paul showed that he was willing to submit to him as the authority over his daughter. If the father however says yes it then goes to the daughter to consider. The father goes to the girl and asks her to think about it and pray about it but if the girl says no, the father than goes back to the man and tells him that they have decided that he is not allowed to court his daughter. But he should never say that the daughter said "no" so that the girl is not seen as the "bad guy". The girl should never be put in the position to say no to a young man.
It is the father's duty to not only protect her purity but her emotions as well. I remember the story of Scott Brown's daughter and son-in-law in the movie "Return of the Daughters". In their story, which I really enjoy, Scott had his now son-in-law Peter write essays on different issues. I think this a great thing to do since the man will one day be the spiritual leader of your daughter. After I think 7 months Peter was allowed to talk to Scott's daughter, Kelly. Until the young man is given permission by the girl's father the girl has no idea that the boy is interested in her. So that if the father says no the young woman has not grown fond of the young man.
Once a father says yes to a young man courting his daughter the man and young woman should be given the ability to get to know each other and have some time maybe even semi-privately to be able to talk. They in no way should be allowed to be behind closed doors without supervision but talking in another room with an open door that is very visible where parents are able to come in and out whenever they see fit is fine. I, as a girl with many younger siblings, understand the desire to be able to have some time alone with a potential suitor apart from brothers and sisters so that you can focus more on the conversation at hand but never without the knowledge and close protection and supervision of parents.
After a young man and woman are engaged, which the man also needs to ask permission of the father to do, they should not be allowed to act as if they are married since they are in a relationship and are promised to marry each other but they are not yet married. Since I am the oldest child at home I will probably be the first one to court so we do not know what all the rules will be but I do know that both my purity, and the purity of my future husband will be protected no matter what.
Some may think that I think that arranged marriage is how people should find a husband. While I do see that in Scripture a father picks the girl's husband. I do not think that it is wrong for a girl to decide whether or not she would like to marry a man that her father has brought to her attention. I do not know what families will decide to do for their own sons and daughters but I do know that Christian families should not follow the path that our society is taking in regards to dating and courting.
We are to be separate from the world and fathers are supposed to protect their daughters and sons. One way that they do this is protecting their purity and emotions as they take the journey from a child to a young man or woman that is ready for marriage. These are just a few things that I have heard on this subject. There are many good resources and I would encourage you to listen to some of Paul Washer's sermon on the subject.
Prayer
Jon Barros posted that 6 women chose life yesterday. Another baby was saved in the last couple of days. Many babies are being saved from abortion mills around the country. Please be praying for those who are involved in abortion ministry around the world. Pray that they would stay safe as they do this ministry and that babies would be saved. Pray that more than anything they would boldly proclaim the Gospel and that God would grant people repentance and faith. Please continue to pray for those who are involved in the wicked business of abortion that God would open their eyes to the truth of the Gospel. Please pray that abortion will soon be abolished around the world!
In the light of North Korea's recent actions please pray for the salvation of Kim Jung Un and his citizens. Pray for the Christians in the country as they are persecuted for their faith. Pray that they would be comforted in their time of trial.
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)