Linda Gibbons awaits arrest outside a Toronto abortion facility.
Posted on 10/01/2014 6:28:07 AM PDT by wagglebee
Linda Gibbons awaits arrest outside a Toronto abortion facility.
Editor’s note: Linda Gibbons has been in prison since an August 7 arrest in Toronto while she witnessed to life outside an abortion facility protected by an injunction. Her case goes to trial November 12. She wrote the following letter this month to explain her ongoing mission.
This article is a reflection on my ten years of bearing witness for life in front of Toronto's several abortuaries.
My intention is not an apology for the reason, cause or purpose I engage in civil disobedience against injunctions in place at these death mills; I've written on that previously. My presence is more than a challenge to unjust laws. My presence is a response to a distinctive human cry: the cry of Canada's aborted unborn.
The courts have not responded to that silent cry. Currently, the killing of one in four children continues unabated.
Neither has the majority of Canadian parliamentarians shed tears over lives lost to abortion. Instead, they have unequivocally condoned the killing and compelled a tranquilized populace into paying for it.
When the social messaging regarding inconvenient or complicated pregnancies is "try again next time" or "better off dead," it's not a statement of the human condition but rather of cultural conditioning that implies some lives are unworthy of living. It begs the question: How much is a life worth? Unborn lives then become commodified and put on a sliding scale of values; ignored are the deliberate crimes against Canada's own children.
What then should be a human response to the senseless attacks against babes in the womb? Essentially, the answer for me is simply to be there as one human being recognizes the endangered life of another, and to act in his or her defense. My presence is a plea for each child in jeopardy of being killed and the pamphlets I carry bear witness to the incontrovertible evidence of a child's earliest existence, evidence denied them in the mill.
My presence is to plead for the living and to pray for the dying. I am witness to a holocaust: vis a vis over four decades of bloodshed.
Given the status quo of abortion on demand, with no legal redress throughout the entire gestation and delivery period, some would question the point of insisting that life is a sacred trust from conception until natural death and a God-given right worthy of defending.
My actions publicly demonstrate my commitment to resist the abortuary's campaign of disinformation and to dissuade women from entering the killing centre.
For Christians, the failure to resist the practice of abortion makes a travesty of our faith. An empty sidewalk at the death centres and silence from the pulpits is scandalous when we are called to deliver those being dragged to death and those ready to be slain.
Not to take action contradicts God's will and purpose for life. With abortion mills scarring the land from one coast to another and a death count in the millions, it calls for serious searching of heart. Have I done all I could in the face of such human carnage?
Should cares and commitments to family hold me back? What is the price of loving God's unborn and not relinquishing the fight? I've weighed all of these. If the cost of loving and remaining with my family is the price of unborn blood, then the "cost of living" with family is too high. At what time, then, may I divest myself of the charge to defend life?
Imagine for a moment, in our world plagued with political unrest, the enemy coming to our towns and taking our children from us (as is happening in Iraq and Syria). Could we beg deliverance from God for our own when we were so reluctant to deliver His own babes in the womb threatened with death? When cares of the world distract and disturb, I'm reminded of the words of the Talmudic sage that Elie Wiesel, a holocaust survivor, quoted in his book, Open Heart:
"It is incumbent on you to love as if you were to die the next day.”
The love of God constrains me to love the unborn as if there were no tomorrow. I only have today and in it I am called according to His purpose to answer the unborn's long and unending cry for life.
I remain present in their service.
In the Lord, Giver of Life,
Linda
My grandmother, somewhat resignedly, a week or so before she died, following an eventful 86 years, acknowledged her belief that her relationship with God in Christ was "the only thing that really" mattered in the end.
The Gospels are explicit about such things, how actions divide believers from non-believers before a wider, unseen audience.
I have to say, for myself alone, this prisoner of conscience makes me a little ashamed. Because, in the Christian perspective, what she does matters almost proportionally with the degree with which her actions are witnessed by God alone.
I have to shake my head, frankly, for my own sake, when I consider the vast gulf between what seems to matter most to us and what matters to the God of Abraham.
*************************
Wonderfully said!
With respect, you are conflating two totally different issues.
Nothing else matters with an individual compared to their personal relationship, or lack thereof, with Jesus.
But that’s not at all the same discussion as the results of their life - did their life bring redemption, or were there wasted efforts in good faith. Just two valid, but different, conversations.
I am. (I'm not sure what is meant by "net".) Here is my personal testimony from six months ago.
-----------------------------------------------
Standing on the street with a cold wind blowing, did not seem to be anything happening in the blue building, feeling a bit sorry for myself, wanting to get warm.
Then
A dark haired young woman approached me from the convenience store parking lot. I said, “Hello." She spoke not a word, but extended a hand to shake. She silently looked into my eyes, then handed me a note.
"24 years ago my mother went to a place like this because she thought she was too young and she couldn’t financially take care of me. She saw people like you and stated crying and drove away. 9 months later, she had me. I want to thank you all for what you do and what you stand for. Because of people like you, I’m alive. 2 weeks ago I saved a 3 year old from getting hit by a truck. If I hadn’t pulled him away he would have died. So in a way people like you saved his life too. Keep it up. Pass it along. God bless you all and God bless America."
Suddenly, I did not feel the cold.
One of the many many many mistakes in your self righteous diatribe. But proves my case, actually - they DID MAKE A DIFFERENCE. A HUGE DIFFERENCE. GAME SET MATCH, thanks for playing, drive safely.
... if a lot of church goers see the media coverage of these protests and harden their hearts towards the pro life movement - and then become pro abortion voters down the road
it is a harsh world. This woman is not responsible for her "media coverage." The gulags of Siberia were filled with people whom received poor media coverage in Moscow.
C. Edmund, I respect your good intentions and I do accept your point about a prudential judgment for success or effectiveness in general. It is important to see if we are doing anybody any earthly good --- that is wise stewardship.
It's not that "success" counts for nothing.
But consider this: If we don't see anyone being faithful, very few of us would finally get up off our backsides to do something successful.
For the Honor of God and the Good of my neighbors, in this life and the life to come, is the best, most effective thing I can do posting stuff on Free Republic? Now I've got to stop and think. Honestly.
It is really extremely urgent. Most Tennessee Christians, most conservatives, and even most Tennesssee pro-lifers have no idea how the "dual majority" actually works.
DON'T VOTE ON GOVERNOR! YESON1!
Of course the Founding Fathers made a difference and most of them were lucky enough to see it.
Men like Moses, the Apostles, John Brown and MLK also made a difference, but didn't live to see the realization of what they set out to do.
My guess is that your are just another Republican lapdog who is happy for conservative votes, but wishes we would stop talking about abortion and other issues. Am I hitting a nerve?
What is it you think you have won? You and I have been down this road before, do you recall what happened last time? You see, I have quite a good memory when it comes to trolls.
Perhaps you will write about me in your blog, I seem to be quite popular among blogger trolls lately, it's very entertaining.
But that’s not at all the same discussion as the results of their life - did their life bring redemption, or were there wasted efforts in good faith. Just two valid, but different, conversations.
I see you're back to the "results matter" theme. Our Lord did have a few things to say about it:
[31] And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. [32] And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: [33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. [34] Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. [35] For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:[36] Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. [37] Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? [38] And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? [39] Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? [40] And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
[41] Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. [42] For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. [43] I was a stranger, and you took me not in: naked, and you covered me not: sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. [44] Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee? [45] Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.
[46] And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.
-- Matthew 2:31-46
I’d completely forgotten about that conversation.
I agree, I admire her commitment, but might she be more successful witnessing Gods Word to change hearts and minds? A woman who hears the Words of Life and confesses and believes may not abort her child, plus she is now a member of Gods family to witness to others of his grace and forgiveness.
Great article and a brave woman. I’ve been in jail a couple of times. Longest was 24 hrs and I assure you that was all I wanted. Anyway.
Wonder what she thinks about Eric Rudolph, Scott Roeder or Shelly Shannon,etc? I know what I think but I don’t want to go down that road right now. I’m not sure what the consensus here is on the forum, or the right to life movement and I’m not wanting to get banned. That’s real brave, huh?
Here is a living saint.
Calling (vocation) is exactly where everyone hopes to be. I see both of you testifying to the appropriateness of obeying your calling. As one who had a call to be a pastor, and after listening to another this week speak of his calling as an urgent “Am I being led here? I must find out.”, I can only say that that is exactly what took place within me many years ago.
I believed God wanted me in the ministry, and I simply had to find out if I was correct. Years later now, I’m sure I stayed because this is what God had for me. I haven’t always done it the best way, and sometimes I think I even made absolutely unhelpful decisions, but God has encouraged me to persevere.
Now, to be clear about ‘results’ confirming one’s calling, I offer what a wise old pastor once told me. God’s gifts will determine the right way to evaluate your calling and not comparing your results to others with the same calling.
We know from Jesus’ parable of the talents that one was given 5, one was given two, and one was given only one. That one who had only one talent wasn’t expected to produce in the same way as the man who had five. (Not that it’s impossible.) But, he was expected at a minimum to produce commensurate with the one talent given. How do we know? Because Jesus indicates the master would have been pleased merely with only the interest on the money. A simple banking of the cash represents a person who doesn’t believe they have a lot of skill at anything but is willing at a minimum to raise their hand and be counted.
They will not be forgotten by God. Their gift may be less than ours, their results may be less than ours, but the Lord looks on the heart.
Amen to all that, xzins!
Thank you, Ma’am.
Gail
On number four it appears to be like they warned
A tax on not so smart lower income folks
Who do you usually see compulsively buying scratch offs.....a fools bet
The big powerball stuff attracts more broad span.
Im no 4
I often agree with you but not on this results qualifies the action notion
I guarantee yer daddy told you to just do the right thing son.
Results are independent of virtue of action....I wish they werent
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