Vindicated!!! And an update on the police in Portland.

Hi everyone,
Last Thursday Mike Stockwell and Mike Overd were vindicated by the Bristol Crown Court! You can see the complete story of their vindication at Christian Concern's website. This is a huge victory for freedom of speech in England and along with Mike Overd I pray that this ruling encourages other Christians to continue sharing the Gospel. After he was arrested a year ago for preaching the Gospel this has been a long process with court dates and I am thankful that God has acquitted their names. These men are heroes of the faith! The day after Mike and Mike were vindicated brother Robert Gray, who is also with the men in England preaching, was standing and preaching in the same spot that Mike had been arrested. May we all continue to use our freedoms before they are taken away from us.

Along the same lines of police and arrests two weeks ago Cal Zastrow was arrested while preaching outside an abortion mill. One of the abortion mill's "deathscorts" came over onto the city property that Cal and the rest of the protesters were standing on and stole their sign then proceeded to go and put it in a car. The protesters, rightfully wanting their sign back, called the police. The police showed up and walked over to talk to the "deathscorts" and then proceeded to go over to Cal and arrested him because his non-amplified voice could be heard over 50 feet away. He was reported to have been saying "Hallelujah" from the back of the police car.I do not know how long he was held but his facebook post within the next few days said that after his unjust arrest he had not yet started to disturb the peace of their child sacrifice. Cal Zastrow's daughters were arrested a few months ago for sitting and blocking the doors of the last remaining abortion mill in Kentucky.

I wrote a few weeks ago about our encounters with the police in Wiscasset and in Portland. (See A Week With The Police). In that post I wrote about how a Portland police officer told us that we must stand an arms length away from a volunteer greeter. In that post I included a copy of my letter to the chief of  Portland police expressing my concern about the officer stating that it was a lawful order to stand an arms length away even when he did not tell me what law I was breaking by standing close to a "deathscort". He then told Daddy that it was disorderly conduct and that is when he threatened to enforce the order. He also did not enforce that order on the "deathscorts" when they stood so close to me that they were touching me and then when the other one came over and they blocked me in and crowded me up against a building.

What I want is equal protection under law so that whatever is enforced on me will also be enforced on the "deathcorts". I received a letter from the chief within just a couple of weeks. The letter said that in the case of a complaint against an officer they start an internal investigation which resulted in an interview with the police this past Friday. The interview went well but since it is an internal investigation the chief will be notified of the results, but we will not know the outcome of the case unless we ask. The whole process can take several weeks to complete and the end result may be the Portland police justifying their officer or maybe he will be found guilty of making unlawful orders. Either way God's will be done!

Friday we went to the abortion mill in Portland to share the Gospel and to plead with those who were going in. We had no officer out on the sidewalk with us which is very strange. We found it even stranger since it was the day that we had to go meet with the police because we were accused of being intimidating by the officer though no one complained to us. At one point Friday an officer showed up and parked down the street and then walked into the abortion mill. A police supervisor also showed up and walked upstairs. They were both upstairs for a long time and then they both came down. The supervisor left and then the other officer left after a while but he was not on the sidewalk with us. I do not know what happened but it was strange.

We had many Planned Parenthood supporters again Friday. For the first year or so that we had been going to the abortion mill we had about 2 supporters that were each there for a week. Now there is an actual group of supporters that have been coming out the last few weeks.

Yesterday in Daddy's preaching at the abortion mill, he mentioned the time that the "deathscorts" were blocking me in. One of the "deathscorts" that had been there that week, Joshua, started looking at me and knew exactly what Daddy was talking about. I just smiled at him. Hey, if nothing else it shows that he was listening to the preaching. He also yawns very loudly during the preaching I do not know if it is a show that he puts on to make it look like he is bored but at least he hears the Gospel preached whatever weeks he works.


In our town the fourth of July is a big deal. We have 3,000-7,000 people in town which is huge considering the entire population of our town is 2,200. There are races and a parade in the morning and fireworks at night. We had Wesley Nevish, another street preacher, come up from New Hampshire to help us spread the Gospel at this event. Jeremy and Chloe who also do the abortion ministry, came from Lewiston to help pass out tracts and share the Gospel. We got lots of tracts out. We also got 300 glow sticks that we passed out to the kids with the tracts at the fireworks. The glow sticks were popular and we passed most of them out. In the morning I do not think as many tracts were passed out but at night I kept running out and Daddy actually went back to the car to get more because we were mostly out. We had signs on the side of the parade route and we had a few people in the parade who really liked the signs.

Prayer
Continue to pray for Dan Courney who was arrested in England for "religious aggravation". He had to go back to court on July 6th but I have not heard any updates. Continue to pray that he too would be vindicated. Pray that God would continue to stir up the christians in England to share the Gospel no matter what opposition comes against them.

With love in the Lord,
Virginia

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.

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

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

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. 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kziw0du1JPA&t=2s  

Here is my brother in Christ preaching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7gbiMQW6Ks

Virginia Cowperthwaite

Thomaston, Maine

Memorial day, our upcoming week and Planned Parenthood

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

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

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