Sunday, June 25, 2017

Another week at the abortion mill

Hi everyone
Yesterday we got up early once again to leave for the abortion mill in Portland. This week we were joined by our friend Helen who rode down with us. We were one of the first of our group to arrive but the police officer and the "deathscorts" were ready for our arrival. The officer that was there yesterday was officer Kwok. I am pretty sure I have already given him a tract but I still tried talking to him yesterday. I asked him why he was standing there. He told me he was there to keep the peace. I asked him where the peace was for the babies who were being murdered upstairs. I asked if he had heard of the doctrine of the lesser magistrate but he did not answer me. I hope that it was because his conscience was bothering him because he knew he had the duty to protect those babies. I called Chloe over and we prayed for him. I hope that he thinks about what he heard us praying about. I told him before we left to look at lessermagistrate.com I pray he looked it up and will realize his duty to protect all humans in our country without discriminating against the unborn.

This week there were 4 Planned Parenthood supporters along with the 4 "deathscorts". We have had one Planned Parenthood supporter there for a few weeks but she was joined this week by two other ladies and a man. I offered a tract to one of the ladies and she told me that "this (I believe what we were doing) was not the Gospel of Christ". What she did not tell me was what she believes is the Gospel of Christ. I went over to one of the other ladies and she asked me for one of my tracts. I gave her one and then we started talking. She did say some things that were correct such as "We have different gods and I think my god is kinder than your God". I believe she does have a different god than me. Her god is a false god. My God is the only true God who made heaven and earth. And I believe her God is more kind toward sinners that my God because my God is a just God who is angry with the wicked everyday. She also believed that the God of the Old Testament was different than the God of the New Testament and there are different messages. The lady said that we would not agree and when I asked if we could politely discuss our beliefs even though we would not agree she said "No". I hope that if she comes back we will actually have a conversation. Daddy also got a chance to speak to the male supporter who was there as well.
Image may contain: one or more people, people standing, tree and outdoor
When we were standing in front of the abortion mill we saw two men across the street. One had a video camera and the other had a boom mic. Daddy called across the street to see if they wanted to talk. They came across the street and told Daddy that they were making a documentary and decided to interview Daddy for it. They then went to see if the Planned Parenthood supporters wanted an interview as well. After that they went and interviewed our friends Heather and Stephanie. They were two Christian guys, Brian and Joel from Wisconsin. It was a blessing to meet these two brothers in Christ. This was the first time that Daddy has had a chance to be interviewed at the abortion mill. He shared the Gospel and its impact on life, morality, and our desire to reach the lost.

Stephanie asked me to go witness to a young boy named Alex who was standing nearby. I was able to talk to him and share the Gospel with him. I do not know if he will continue to think about the conversation but I trust that God will save him if it is His will. Please pray for his salvation.

We had a couple people join us again yesterday that have not been able to be at the abortion mill very often due to work. It was good to see them again and labor along with them in this ministry. And for those who did not know, yesterday was my friend Chloe's birthday. Happy Birthday Chloe!  

One man walked past us who is a professing Satanist. He was pretending to talk on his phone asking if he needed to pick up stuff for people at Planned Parenthood and "Oh your friend had a miscarriage and she needed to go to Planned Parenthood". Pray that God would open this man's heart to the truth.

One person walked past and asked me what I had against murdering Mongolians. I do not always know what someone is thinking when they speak but I told him that I have everything against murdering Mongolians just like I am against murdering babies. If Mongolians were being murdered at a certain place I would protest that too.

One of the "deathscorts", Joshua, said that he supported women being able to access healthcare. I asked him about the healthcare for the women who are being escorted in by their mother's to be murdered. They are very inconsistent in their arguments but that can be expected when they disregard the truth.

I do not think I mentioned it last week but we just bought audio recorders which work great. They are great for anyone who is looking for an easy way to record everything that goes on while out on the streets preaching or holding signs or anything else that could cause a disturbance where the police may get involved. Due to our recent interactions with the police we want to have a record of everything that goes on. Here is link to the recorders on Amazon.  The recorders come with a lapel microphone, headphones, and a device that you can use to attach a phone to the recorder if that is ever needed. I called Planned Parenthood in Portland a couple weeks ago and all I had do to was turn the phone on speaker phone

Mike Stockwell and Mike Overd are due to return to court on Wednesday to appeal their case. (See last week's post to see more details about their case.) Continue to pray that they are vindicated! Mike Stockwell is in England now and I bet brother Jimmy Hamilton and those who are with him will see to it that Mike has plenty of chances to preach while he is there in the UK. Mike and Mike's prosecutor said that publicly quoting parts of the King James Bible in modern Britain should "be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter". He also said, "although the words preached are included in a version of the Bible in 1611, this does not mean that they are incapable of amounting to a public order offence in 2016."

Does that mean that if they preach out of the ESV they will be okay? While you pray for these men pray also for the salvation of this prosecutor, Ian Jackson. And also for the salvation of all those who rule on this case.

Prayer
Please be praying for us in the coming weeks as we discern what to do with legal action against the officers who we believe have targeted us because of our religious activities. Pray that God would give us wisdom as we proceed. And that above all God would be glorified and that if it is His will people would be saved!

No King but Christ!
Virginia

Monday, June 19, 2017

Abortion ministry, gay pride, and pray for Dan Courney.

Hi everyone.
This week at the abortion mill outreach in Portland we had Officer Keller who I have written about before due to his continued presence at the abortion mill and we had no bad interactions with police which is a blessing. Our friend Brian has been talking to Portland Police. The officer in charge of the Planned Parenthood detail would not admit that the officer from two weeks ago was wrong in saying that we must stand an arms length away from the "deathscorts". (See my post from two weeks ago, A Week With the Police.)

The officer in charge said that if a person is intimidated by another person they could have the officer ask that person to move a reasonable distance from the person who feels intimidated. But Brian told him that the "deathscort" was not intimidated by me. The officer Brian talked to was however upset with officer McCusker (the officer from two weeks ago) for wearing earplugs while out at the abortion mill on duty. I do not know if one of the other officers got in trouble because she was sitting in her car and when a man came up and was yelling at Daddy she rolled up the window. When the person stopped yelling at Daddy she then rolled down her window again. The officers actions just show whose side they are really on. They are not there to protect us or else they would pay attention when someone started screaming at us and insulting us. Pray that as we go forward in legal action against the authorities who act unjustly toward us that we would gain favor in the eyes of the authorities and that they would act justly.


This week at the abortion mill I asked some others from our group, Stephanie and Chloe, to come with me to pray for officer Keller. Stephanie asked him if we could pray for him and he said that he could not stop us from thinking or saying anything. I hope that he heard the truth in our prayers and realized our love for him. Continue to pray for his salvation. I would like to show him that many people care for his soul. If you feel lead you can send letters for officer Keller to Maine4Jesus@gmail.com. Please include a clear Gospel message in it and where you are from. I will deliver them to him when I see him again. I continue to pray that he will be saved.


This week Chloe, Stephanie, and I spent part of our time in prayer and singing along with 4 of us reading Psalm 5 out loud. When we were singing on the sidewalk a man called out from the 4th story of the Planned Parenthood building, "Can I request a song". I told him he could if it was a Christian song that I knew. He ended up not requesting one. One of the songs we were signing was "You Give Me Life." The words said "You give me life, life in my soul, breath in my lungs, awaken my soul, now I will praise you, now I will praise you." After singing it as written we changed "me" to "them" and then we inserted one of the "deathscorts" name into the song. I do not know how she liked that but she did not yell at us or anything. I do not know how much she heard through her ear buds but we can be pretty loud sometimes. 


One lady came by and mocked us and was talking to the "deathscort" about how us girls were brainwashed. We were down on the sidewalk singing a song that we had chosen to sing and we were not forced to be there at the abortion mill at all. My sister was there and she is only 10 but she had actually at that point had been given the choice to go sit in the car with the rest of the kids and Mommy. I am a 14 year old who chose to be there. The other two people were Stephanie who is an adult with two children who makes her own decisions and Chloe who is an adult who also makes her own decisions. None of us were being forced to be there and we are only "brainwashed" in the same way that this lady who was mocking us was "brainwashed" by believing what other people have told us. I wonder if they ever even consider that they too have been brainwashed. 

Chloe went over to read a passage of Scripture to officer Keller. I do not know if he was paying attention or not but I hope he was. He tried to not take Chloe's note that she was trying to give him but in the end he took it. He said that he would take a letter and that he would read it later. I will write him another letter at some point once again sharing the Gospel. I told him that I did not have a picture of him and I together and asked if I could take a picture with him for my blog and he agreed. I also told him to smile instead of having a grim face and as seen in the picture below he did. In these two pictures you can see Marion who is the "deathscort" that I got in trouble for standing next to a couple weeks ago. (Also in my post from two weeks ago.)


A couple of the men in our group preached. Brian preached about this weekend's "Pride" parade in Portland. This morning Portland Police posted on their facebook page a sign that said " The Portland Police Department supports equality." I had to say something so here is my original comment. Homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord God Almighty. I am deeply concerned for all who practice this sin and hope they repent and turn to Jesus Christ in Faith. I hope that all people everywhere repent because I do not want anyone to face the full wrath of God. I love people and do not want that to happen to anyone but God is a God of Justice who cannot let sin go unpunished. Repenting and turning to Christ is the only way to be saved! And while we are talking about equality. Where are all the equal rights to life for the babies in the womb who were murdered yesterday in Portland under the watch of a Portland police officer who has been told multiple times that this murder is taking place?
After I posted that more people responded and I hope that this thread turns into a rational conversation with someone without the ad hominem attacks and illogical arguments that sometimes arise out of threads like this. Here are some responses. 
"Yeah but God isn't real... So..."    
"You don't speak for God. He speaks for himself, and his ruling is that the gays are okay. So get over it, and stop calling people "abominations" in God's name. Hating people for who they were born as is probably the greatest sin you can commit."
Another one of our responses:  Where does the Bible say that "gays are ok"? The Bible also says murder is wrong, pride is wrong, lying is wrong and many other sins. We are shown the law to realize that we cannot live up to God's holy standard. That is why we need Jesus as a sacrifice to pay for our sins. We are speaking what God has already spoken in His Holy Word. It is true that all people are born sinners and that is why we need a savior but no one is born gay that is a sinful choice that people make. I would urge you to consider what God has said and please stop saying that God says gays are okay when He has clearly stated otherwise in His written revelation.
To which the man replied, You're disgusting, and I'm done talking with you until you grow up. I hope God forgives you for the hate in your heart. Or, I'll see you down in gay hell. We're bound to have a fabulous time. 
Someone else said, "Report his first post to Facebook as hate speech."

I said at the start of the thread that sometimes facebook conversations turned into an internet shouting match and that I wanted to have a good conversation and I would appreciate a well thought through response. I guess some people did not get the point of a polite answer. Now my comments are still there but other people deleted their comments. 

Please be praying for Mike Stockwell and Mike Overd as they go to court on June 28 to appeal their case. You may remember that last year both men were arrested in England for preaching the Gospel along with Don Cairns and Adrian Clark. Adrian was acquitted and Don's charges were dropped but both Mike and Mike were charged guilty. If I remember correctly they were each fined 2,016 pounds each. Mike Stockwell is planning on leaving for the UK June 23. Pray that they will both be vindicated! 

Recently Dan Courney, who is in England right now, was arrested for "religious aggravation". His situation seems similar to Mike and Mike's. He has been bailed until a July 6 court date. England's law enforcement continues to show their hatred for the Gospel of Christ. They refuse to let men preach Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. When the men were out in England preaching yesterday they endured much opposition and Dan Courney was even assaulted by a "she-man". 

While we here in America can sit back and talk about our religious freedoms in this country our rights are being taken away from us. While it is still at the point that we can take unjust persecutors to court and have a judge rule in our favor there may be a point very soon where the law of the land states that we do not have the right to proclaim the Gospel in the public square. But as many men and women who have gone before us have done, we will continue to follow Christ's command to preach the Gospel to every creature! Pray that these men facing persecution at the hands of the law would be an example to us to press on against any opposition and glorify God through the proclamation of His glorious Son, our only Savior, Jesus Christ! These men, Mike, Mike, Don, Adrian and Dan are faithful heralds of the Gospel and heroes of the faith!

Saturday night was the summer solstice in Rockland, and even though Daddy was working we went and passed out tracts. We probably passed out around 100 Gospel tracts. They also had chalk out for people to write on the street with. I wrote in 12 inch letters "Jesus Christ is King". And I hope that Sye Ten Bruggencate did not mind but I also wrote his website address on the road. I recruited two other people to pass out tracts one of them I have known for years and I handed him a few tracts which I told him to pass out. He promptly walked past the police officer that was out and offered him one. I thank God that my friend did this even though his friends could easily have mocked him. The other person we gave tracts to was a woman who saw the tract and told us that she loved Jesus. She is with the City Reach in Bangor but when we mentioned Cell53 she knew who they were and told us that she loved them. She said that Cell53 was one of the first churches she have her testimony at. There was also a man that we met who was with our friend who greatly encouraged us in our work. Thank you sir for sharing this encouragement with us!

Prayer
Please be praying for 2 women who went to the abortion mill in Orlando recently. Jon Barros posted on facebook that it seems like they may be in unsafe situations. Both of them are pretty far along in their pregnancies. Pray that both them and their new babies will be able to get the care and protection that they need. Pray also for Jon Barros as he continues to minister outside Orlando's Women's Health Center.

With love in the Lord,
Virginia

Saturday, June 3, 2017

A Week With The Police

Hi everyone.
This week we did yet more ministry. This time we did not escape without a little confrontation with law enforcement.

On Thursday we went to Augusta for an hour of abortion ministry in Augusta followed by homeschool day at the capital and a meeting with our senator. At the abortion mill we had heard that Maine Family Planning will call the cops on the protesters. We stood right next to the entrance to the abortion mill, but definitely outside of the marked boundaries. Right before we left a police officer pulled up and said that someone had called and made a complaint that someone was blocking the roadway. We told him that we were not blocking the roadway and he just said to make sure we did not block it and drove off. He was a nice officer and did not give us any more trouble.

After we left the abortion mill we drove to the state house. We went to the homeschool rally at the capitol in the Hall of Flags. There was a man playing Francis Asbury who was a circuit riding preacher in early America. He was a Methodist bishop and an amazing man. He faced many dangers and barely survived many times but God saved him and used him to preach the Gospel to many people.

After the homeschool rally we went upstairs to find State Senator David Miramant. He was in caucus when we arrived but came out to meet us. I do not think he recognized us which is good because then he could not find an excuse to not meet with us. We strongly disagree with him on the issues of abortion and assisted suicide but nonetheless we were still able to have a peaceable conversation. We may go back to the state house to meet with him sometime when he is not as busy. We only had a few minutes to talk so we did not have a long conversation but he knows that we stand for parental rights and the dignity of human life from conception to natural death. We left him with a gospel tract. Please pray that he would read it and consider the truth in it and that God would grant him repentance and faith.

That afternoon we went to Wiscasset to meet with some of our friends who want to get out and do more evangelism and discipleship. I had previously written to the chief of police asking if it would be okay to use amplification in our religious speech.  This is the email that I sent to the chief:

My name is Virginia Cowperthwaite. My family and I are hoping to come to Wiscasset on Thursday and we were wondering if we would be able to use a 7 watt amp to amplify religious speech. We would be standing in such a way to not block pedestrian traffic or vehicle traffic. We wish to abide by any laws but we would like to be able to use amplification. Thank you for any information. ~Virginia

This is his response:
Ms. Cowperthwaite,
The ordinance does not cover amplified noise (listed below) but there may be another ordinance I am unfamiliar with . I would request you reach out to our Town Planner (Ben Averill)  or Code Enforcement Officer (Stan Waltz) for additional information. They have been CC’ed above.
Thanks
Jeff

I then wrote to the town planner and code enforcement as was suggested but I did not receive a reply. We went out to Wiscasset where we stood holding signs and Daddy preached. A police officer showed up and a man came out to meet him. I saw that the officer's badge said that he was the chief so I reached out my hand and introduced myself. He then started telling me and then Mommy when she came over how we were breaking the law. He showed us a law that states that 3 or more people may not stand in a group or near each other in such manner as to obstruct free passage, after a request from a officer of the peace to move on. The chief tried to leave out the part of the sentence that said in such manner as to obstruct free passage.

After a little while Daddy came across the street to talk with us as well. The chief said that we may not use amplification which we understand but then told us that Mommy and my two younger siblings, ages 2 and almost 5, were not allowed to stand together even though they were not obstructing free passage and regardless of the fact that Red's Eats across the street had people waiting in line who were blocking the sidewalk in both directions and spilling out into the road. The chief said that they were a business, so there were allowed to do so but we were not. In the course of discussion, he found out that I was the one who had sent me the email and asked me how old I was. We told him I was 14. When he heard that he said that he did not know he was writing to a 14 year old and "that makes all the difference". And that we "could not rest our case on a 14 year old talking to the chief of police". Daddy told him that I was using his email and told me what to write and read what I wrote. As you can see above we have proof of what the chief said, so this is not a matter of he said/she said, so it wouldn't matter how old the person typing was as his answer had nothing to do with the question at hand. We have contacted a lawyer and we think that this is a case of selective enforcement because they did not agree with our message. Please be praying for chief Lange.

On Friday we went to Portland for the regular abortion ministry. We got there before anyone else besides the deathscorts and the police. We were fine for a while but later Heather crossed the sidewalk from where she had been standing going toward the door. The officer chased her and told her that we were "not allowed to stand within an arms length" of a deathscort. I do not think Heather and Stephanie were going to test him on it but Daddy said that there was no law that said that.

Brian and Daddy then stood next to the deathscorts to see what the officer would do or say. The officer said nothing to them. He only came after the women. I find this to be very cowardly to only approach women and not the men who are doing the exact same thing. Later in the day I went and stood near the deathscort "M". The officer came up and told me to move so that the edge of my sign was an arms length from the deathscort. He did not tell me what law I was breaking but said it was a lawful order. I know that a officer can not just make up laws and when he saw that I was not just going to move he decided to go talk to Daddy.

He said to Daddy, "Sir can you please tell your daughter to move away from the volunteer. She just keeps getting closer and closer." (At the time, I was very near arm length away) Daddy asked if he had a law that said that I could not stand on a public sidewalk. The officer said, "It is disorderly conduct. I will absolutely enforce it whether you want me to use your child to do it or not." Daddy did tell me to step away rather than disobey, but we were not about to leave it at that.

I am writing to the chief of police asking for a law that says that I can not stand within arms length of a volunteer. I said that if there is not a law that said that I ask for a formal apology from the officer otherwise we will be contacting a lawyer about this case. If I remember correctly this is the same officer who was there the week that the deathscorts were pushing up against me and physically blocking me in. This once again seems to be a matter of targeted enforcement because of our message. After the officer had told me this "lawful order" the deathscort that I had been standing "too close to" said to me, "FYI I have no idea where that came from." She found it ridiculous that the officer would even say such a thing. I was in no way intimidating her at all. This is the same deathscort that took tracts from me one week. She seems to be a little less hostile towards us as some of the others. Please pray for her salvation.

Not to much happened yesterday but Daddy did have some conversations with people. One conversation was with Jonathon who is a young male, not man, who walks by chanting "Abort all the babies. Abort all the babies." He is wicked and said that me and all my siblings should be murdered because we are parasites to the planet. Please be praying for his salvation as well.

One talk was with a young lady named Jada. She talked to Daddy for probably 45 minutes. She used to go to church but does not have a church here in Maine. We disagree but Daddy was able to have a good talk with her and she took our email address along with information for Redeeming Grace Fellowship. We hope that she gets in contact with us so that we can talk more. Pray for her as well.

At one point Chloe and Stephanie knelt down on the sidewalk across from the door to the abortion mill. All three of us knelt and prayed and sang. Here is a video of that time. After that we stood up and shouted the Jesus anthem. At least 2 people came and stood at a window where the curtains had been pulled back and were watching us. The officer was not listening to us and actually brought earplugs so that he did not have to listen to us. Please pray for his salvation. The letter to Portland Police is copied below.

We just received a box from Human Life Alliance. We got comic books for kids about the journey of life in the womb. We also got booklets called "The Truth Behind Planned Parenthood". They also included 15 or 20 free bumper stickers that say "Life, What A Beautiful Choice".

Prayer
Please be praying for the salvation  of all these police officers that were mentioned. Please also be praying that God would give us wisdom as we figure out what legal action to pursue in these cases. Pray that if this proceeds to court, justice would be served and that God would be glorified. Pray that we would be given wisdom to not back down but not to seem disrespectful of the authority God has given them.

With love in the Lord,
Virginia

Virginia's email to the chief of police in Portland, Maine

To whom it may concern,

My name is Virginia Cowperthwaite. I am a pro-life advocate and I regularly stand outside the Planned Parenthood in Portland with my family and friends. On Friday June 2nd we had an officer I believe his last name is McCusker. This officer said that my friends and I were not allowed to stand within arms reach of a Planned Parenthood volunteer escort. My friend earlier  in the day had been standing across the sidewalk and when she walked across toward a volunteer the officer chased her over and told her this law.

Later in the day, he came up to me, a 14 year old girl, and told me that I must stand so that the edge of my sign was an arms length away from the Planned Parenthood volunteer. He did not tell me what law I was breaking and no other officer in over a year of me being there doing the exact same thing has ever said that I may not stand that close to a volunteer. The officer then turned to my father and said,"Sir please ask your daughter to step away from the volunteer please. She just keeps getting closer and closer." 

My father then asked if there was a law that said that I could not stand on the public sidewalk. The officer replied that it was disorderly conduct and said "I will absolutely enforce it whether you want me to use your child to do it or not." 

The volunteer I was standing next to, said to me "FYI I have no idea where that came from." She was not intimidated by me. I have never threatened to harm any of these ladies and in fact love them very much. I have never used any language near them that could be interpreted as vulgar in any case. I have even held umbrellas over them to block them from the sun and the rain. I have offered them cookies. I in no way would do anything disorderly toward any of them. 

If I remember correctly this is the same officer who was there back in April when I was physically blocked by two Planned Parenthood volunteers while standing on a public sidewalk. One of them was standing so close to me that they were touching me and the officer said nothing about standing an arms length away from me. Another volunteer then came over and the two of them blocked me. 

I believe that I was targeted because of my religion, something which has happened with Portland Police before in the case of Brian Ingalls and Andrew March. Those names may sound familiar as they recently won a settlement in court against the city of Portland for their selective enforcement of laws like this one. 

I am asking you to send me a law that says that I may not stand within an arms length of a volunteer. If there is not a law that says that I ask that officer McCusker send a formal written apology for making up laws and unjustly threatening a 14 year old girl with punishment when I had done nothing wrong. If I do not receive either of these things we will be contacting a lawyer about this case to ensure that others are not intimidated and threatened with force of law when they are within their legal rights. Please know that we do and will continue to be carrying audio and video recording equipment and will contact lawyers if there are any future issues.

Below is a audio recording from yesterday along with pictures from April when the volunteers were blocking me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kUgA35aVlk 


Here are some videos that were taken June 2nd. 
--
Here is my brother in Christ preaching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7gbiMQW6Ks

Virginia Cowperthwaite
Thomaston, Maine