Posted on 12/15/2014 5:29:08 PM PST by Morgana
I wrote in my book, “unPlanned,” about a church that kicked me out when they found out that I worked for Planned Parenthood. I often get questioned about that, whether I still think they made the wrong decision. My answer is a resounding YES.
I try not to go down the “what if” road very often. It isn’t fruitful and just makes you feel crummy. But, just for the sake of this article, let’s go there.
What if I had been ministered to instead of shunned by that church? How could my life be different? Well, maybe I would have realized that abortion was actually going against God’s Word. Maybe I would have sat down with my parents and had an honest discussion about their beliefs. Maybe I would have really connected with a group of pro-life women who could have mentored me during that time. Maybe I would have left. Maybe I would never have been an abortion clinic director. Maybe I wouldn’t be responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 babies. What if…
If the church doesn’t minister to sinners, then who will? And guess what? Every church across this planet is full of sinners…every single one of them. Shocking, I know. We all sin. We all can change. We all can be reborn in Christ. But the church has fallen down on the job. Let’s do some more “what ifs.”
What if people of faith had been standing outside that abortion clinic that I went for my first abortion in 2000? You see, I walked in alone. My boyfriend dropped me off at the curb. Not a soul was outside…but the waiting area inside was standing-room only. What if someone had been there to reach out to me at that time of confusion in my life? Maybe I would have turned to them instead of the abortion clinic. Maybe I would have had the courage to talk to my parents about my situation. Maybe I wouldn’t have killed my first child.
The day of my first abortion was when the evil of abortion entered my life. If I had chosen life that day, maybe I would have never have signed up to volunteer for Planned Parenthood…
What if I had grown up in a church where abortion was talked about frequently from the pulpit? Maybe I would never have even chosen to have sex before marriage. But if I did, maybe I would have known that abortion was not an option when I had my first unplanned pregnancy. What if the sin of abortion had never entered my life…
The first day that I drove into Planned Parenthood to volunteer is a scene that I will never forget. A guy dressed up like the grim reaper. A man standing with a HUGE sign that said “There is blood on your hands if you kill your baby.” A group of people yelling at me as I got out of my car…saying that I was a baby killer. A man holding a 5-foot tall graphic sign of a baby’s head after an abortion. And a tiny voice that I couldn’t even hear over the yelling, offering help to women walking in. What if those aggressive protestors had not been there? I remember pulling up, listening to their cruel words and seeing their crazy behavior and thinking, “Wow. If this is the Christian pro-life movement, then I don’t want ANY part of that.” What if there had only been loving voices, like that tiny voice I heard, out there on that sidewalk, offering help and hope? Maybe I would have realized that Planned Parenthood had not been honest with me…that we weren’t “saving” these women…that the pro-lifers weren’t the enemy. Maybe if things had been different that very first day…
At one of our recent healing retreats for former abortion worker, I heard a story from a woman there that made me disgusted and heartbroken.
This woman had gotten involved with the abortion industry when she was 16. She didn’t like abortion, but her mom had severe mental illness and couldn’t work. Her dad was out of the picture. She had to work to support herself, her younger siblings and her mother. They were living in squalor. The only thing keeping them out of a homeless shelter and off the street was this girl’s small paycheck from the abortion clinic.
She had been a long time member of a Christian church in her area. Her pastor and other members of her church knew the poverty they lived in. The pastor had personally visited their home. When the church leaders found out that she was working at the abortion clinic, they sat her down and told her that she was no longer welcome there. There was no, “Hey listen, I know things are tough for you. How can we help you get a better job? How can we help you support your family? How can we help with your mother and your siblings? How can we minister to you? How can we get you out of that job and into something better?” Nope. Just a quick kick out the door. No ministry. No witness. Just dismissal.
Wow. I wonder how different her life would have been if her church would have done the right thing? We will never know. But as it is now, this woman has terrible flashbacks, nightmares and PTSD because of her work in the abortion industry. I am just so thankful that she is connected with our ministry so she can finally get the help that she needed…help that should have come when she was a 16-year-old child.
Churches, it’s time to stand up. It’s time to speak up. It’s time to minister to the hurting, to the wounded and YES, to the sinner. Do you have to vote them in as a deacon or the choir director? No. But you should be willing to minister to those who need it…without judgment and without condemnation.
What if our churches actually spoke on the truth of abortion? Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today…
- 1.2 million abortions per year - 3,300 abortions per day - 1 in 3 women having abortions in this country - 50% of African American pregnancies ending in abortion - Almost 70% of women seeking abortions coming from our churches
What if?
I remember speaking for a Catholic conference one time. I had spoken some really hard truth to the priests in the audience. A few of them didn’t like that too much and one came up to me after the event to express his aggravation. Here was our conversation.
Priest: “I just think you are blowing things out of proportion. I mean, how much do we REALLLLLY need to talk about abortion in our churches?” *sarcastic tone* Me: “Well Father, I don’t know the answer to that. But I remember women lying on the abortion clinic table with a blood pressure cuff on one arm and a rosary in their other hand. I remember women reading their Bibles as they sat waiting for us to call them for their abortion appointment. I remember women asking us to pray with them before we started the abortion procedure. So, why don’t you tell me how much this needs to be talked about in our churches?” Priest: “Oh, I didn’t know.” Me: “Well, now you do. No more excuses.” Priest: *silence*
If the church doesn’t stand up against this evil, then who will? Enough with worrying about “who we will offend.” Somehow our Christian churches have become more worried about offending their congregation than they are about offending God. Shame on us.
Pastors, you are the shepherds of your flock…lead them. They are waiting for you to lead them. They are desperate for you to lead them. If you have an abortion clinic in your town, you better be out there praying at it. If there are pregnancy centers in your area, your church better be supporting them. You are accountable, as a clergy member, more than anyone else. LEAD YOUR FLOCK. If you lead, they will follow.
And everyone else, stop with the apathy. Stop with the excuses. Get out there at your local abortion clinic and pray. There is nothing to be scared of. And fear doesn’t come from God anyway. Don’t let satan keep you from doing God’s work. BE the hands and feet of Christ. BE pro-life…don’t just say it.
What if things had been different? What if my pastor had spoken up? What if people had been outside that clinic where I had my first abortion? What if that church hadn’t given me the boot? What if…
Don’t live your life with those questions. What if you had gone out to that clinic? What if you worked to start a pro-life group in your church? What if you volunteered at that pregnancy center? Maybe you could have saved a life…or many lives. Don’t live a life of “what ifs.” Strive to live a life of action.
The answer is keep her in the church and minister to her.
You walked in alone toots because those of us who stood outside KILL-YOUR-BABY abortion mills were scorned, spat-on, shunned and often ARRESTED for standing up for LIFE while trying to PREVENT YOU from MURDERING YOUR BABY.
The rest of this article isn't worth spit. When you lie at the beginning, there's no reason to believe a single truthful word follows.
If the people in her congregation have a heart for the Lord, they’ll allow the Holy Spirit to work through them to draw her away from the abortion clinic.
Seems like the question is how long do you wait for her to make the change.
If two or three years have passed and she’s still working in the abortion industry it’s way past time to draw the line.
“i kill babies in my spare time... why the church has a problem with that is beyond me. i should be allowed to stay in their organization and spread my version of life to any that would listen”
typical libtard
we need to start shunning these people. if they want redemption, that’s fine... but let’s not kid ourselves. this is a war and they want to get inside the fence to spread their poison.
I agree with her that it would have been nice that there were Christians outside that abortion clinic that she went to that day. I disagree with her wishing her church was more tolerant towards her though.
But this story makes me think of abortionist Tiller. He was a late term abortionist and he was very comfortable attending his church and his church was comfortable with him. I know nothing else about this church of his, but I think we all have an idea what type of church this must’ve been.
We do not know what would have become of Abby if her church had not kicked her out, but I find it hard to believe that she would still be the strong pro-life woman that she is today.
Here is the process of excommunication straight from the Bible. They have the right to kick her out if they told her that her actions are sinful and she continued to do it.
Matthew 18:15–20
15 “If another believer* sins against you,* go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. 16 But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. 17 If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.
And the reason they did it:
1 Corinthians 5:5
5 Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed* and he himself* will be saved on the day the Lord* returns.
Did Abby contact the church to verify the story and ask about their process? Or did she race to the computer to make sure the details made it in the book?
Not enough details to make a judgement call.
That sums it up. She decided for herself that the church was responsible to play parent and set limits, otherwise she should be free to do what she wanted.
What if I had been ministered to instead of shunned by that church? How could my life be different? Well, maybe I would have realized that abortion was actually going against God’s Word. Maybe I would have sat down with my parents and had an honest discussion about their beliefs. Maybe I would have really connected with a group of pro-life women who could have mentored me during that time. Maybe I would have left. Maybe I would never have been an abortion clinic director. Maybe I wouldn’t be responsible for the deaths of more than 20,000 babies. What if…
Or maybe and most likely... she would have continued toying with two masters. What if she had taken a clue that she *was* ministered to? She just didn't like the church's stongly-worded message, so now it's the church's fault for not being her nanny. Egads what a piece of work.
I was on the receiving end of one of those peaceful pro-life protests when I was escorting my obviously pregnant (9 months of a 9 pound baby with a 4'10" mother) into her last prenatal physician visit. They didn't care that she was not about to have an abortion - they followed us into the elevator hurling accusations at us.
So while they were standing outside a multi-story medical office building any pregnant patient was targeted and not given a Christian message nor even listened to.
It’s bad enough that most Catholic churches rarely bring the subject up but many protestant denominations are perfectly OK with abortion... 7th day adventists , Episcopalians and such .. I don’t know if they really are for murder or if they’re just sticking a thumb in the Catholics eye..
There also are some rigorous theological arguments which assert it is not murder based upon Tertullian and Augustine foundations of when the soul is placed in the baby immediately at childbirth (when God breaths upon the face, not from corporeality), rather than at conception. The counterargument is that the soul is generated by the will of the parents, rather than the will (Sovereignty) of God.
The argument may extend to the formless vs formed stages of growth in the womb and when the soul is imparted to the body.
While I would err on the side of caution, and not condone abortion, there is an additional discernible thinking process of accusation when always asserting it is murder.
It should be noted that the RCC position that abortion is murder, flies in the face of Latin doctrine expressed by Tertullian and Augustine.
It is murder. It is the horrendous killing of a human being.
When is the soul joined to the human body?
It doesn’t really matter because no one has ever actually seen a soul. Arguing about things that cannot be known is a waste of time.
It makes the difference of murder and a surgical procedure.
If an accuser demands a murderer be held accountable when it is not murder, then they also maybe guilty of the charge.
It does not make a difference, it is murder. The baby is 100% human and alive from conception. This much is established fact. Arguing about souls and angels on the heads of pins is meaningless because it is something that cannot be known.
Don’t misunderstand my position.
I believe there exist murderers who perform abortions.
I believe the baby has a soul upon their first breath.
I believe most abortions are committed by ignoring the life of a baby.
I also see many ‘do-gooders’ who have a knowledge of good and evil, attack those surrounding abortion, while they are not in fellowship with God, but instead out of a lust to perform good in their own eyes. IMHO, their actions may be just as sinful as those they attack.
Ignoring the soul now makes the abortion simply a form of killing, instead of murder. Do you really want to ignore the soul?
So opposing evil is also evil in your eyes.
I’m not ignoring the soul. The soul pre-exists the body IMO, so I don’t have any question about when the baby gets one. The baby always had one.
You DO know, doncha, that the belief of "ensoulment" upon birth is what allowed Bill Clinton to slide away theologically and embrace abortion?
Back in the 1990s, one of the major mags (think it was TIME mag) mentioned how Clinton went to a Little Rock Baptist church, whose pastor believed that ensoulment took place at birth...and therefore opened the door for Bill to embrace abortion.
The Bible mentions how God knew both Jeremiah and the apostle Paul BEFORE they were born. And anybody reading the "ME" in Psalm 139 can't readily embracement birth ensoulment nonsense.
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