Stay Strong

Planned Parenthood is not happy about the 40 Days For Life Campaign. We are seeing several instances where people are being persecuted for peacefully praying outside abortion clinics. We are now just past the half way point in the 40 Days For Life Campaign. The other night I participated in a webcast for 40 Days For Life's midpoint rally. It was very inspirational. There are many great people working very hard to end abortion. It is very important in this election season to make abortion the number one voting issue. If a politician does not respect the life of the most innocent person, an infant, what makes us think he'll respect our life? How can we trust a man with those convictions? We can't and we should not vote for such a person. Our country needs a conversion of heart. We need to overturn Roe vs. Wade and be the leader in the world in promoting life. All this said, the president will not make this happen. We must make this happen. The abortion problem is not here because of who's sitting in the White House, it's still here because we, good Christian men and women are sitting in our house. We must go out and join those in prayer, fasting and community outreach. We should make it a priority to take on this issue and educate people about the evils of abortion. I am at fault as well. I have not done nearly enough. I must do more. For this reason, I will make my first ever trip to an abortion clinic here in Marietta, GA at 7:00 AM on my birthday - October 25th. This is a great sacrifice, but in the grand scheme of things my sacrifice is very small. I can think of no better way to celebrate my birthday than to go to the abortion clinic and pray for an end to abortion. Below is an email I received today from the director of 40 Days For Life. Stay strong and never lose faith. We WILL end abortion in this country. God bless!

Dear Mike,
Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortionchain, does NOT like 40 Days for Life.
The billion-dollar organization -- that rakes in$336.7 million tax dollars each year while aborting289,750 children -- is always fighting to protect itsbottom line.
And it has brought out one of its tired old ploys forthis fall's 40 Days for Life -- a campaign it calls"Pledge-a-Picket."
Planned Parenthood supporters are asked to make adonation for each person who prays outside itsfacilities, claiming that pro-lifers are helpingto raise money for the abortion business.
Planned Parenthood has been using this tactic innumerous cities across the country where 40 Days forLife campaigns are disrupting customer income.
To further demonstrate how much 40 Days for Life isimpacting Planned Parenthood's revenue stream, theorganization has now rolled out a national campaignattempting to counter the impact of 40 Days for Lifewhile raising funds for the abortion operation.
They use a web-based blog called, "I am Emily X,"which uses a made-up character that represents, "asmall group of Planned Parenthood employees," whocontinually accuse 40 Days for Life participants ofharassing clinic workers and customers.
To give an example, the blog reported this Tuesdayfrom Nebraska where the abortion workers have countedmore than 350 volunteers participating in the 40 Daysfor Life campaign thus far. (Great job, Nebraska!)
"Emily X" then condemns a group of Catholic priestsand lay people who came out to peacefully pray therosary together outside their doors, saying, "I worryabout how intimidating the sound of all those voicesat once can be," before claiming that the rosary,"has been corrupted as a tool to frighten women."
That's what they call intimidation?
First of all, if Planned Parenthood triesPledge-a-Picket in your community, please don'tchange what you're doing!
You are NOT raising money for Planned Parenthood.This is a deceptive campaign meant to dissuadefaithful people whose prayers are cutting in to theabortion chain's bottom line. You are praying to endthe evil of abortion -- PLEASE DON'T STOP!
Devanie Cooper, the local 40 Days for Lifecoordinator in Memphis, gave a great answer when aWREG-TV reporter asked her about Pledge-a-Picket."Prayer and fasting works better than money does,"she said. "We're going to win this; God's going towin this."
The 40 Days for Life team in Manchester, NewHampshire is noting the real effect this campaign ishaving on Planned Parenthood.
Mike and his wife pray outside near the end of thebusiness day. "We observe that the people working atthe clinic leave all at once and very quickly inorder to avoid any interaction with us," he said. "Ibelieve that deep down in their souls they know thatwhat they are doing is evil."
I suspect that the 40 Days for Life team in Spokane,Washington is having a similar impact. Why else wouldPlanned Parenthood send eight of its own employeesoutside with signs promoting "choice"?
"Two or three more joined them within the next halfhour," said Inga. "They lined up on the curb oneither side of our prayer volunteers, with an'in-your-face' attitude, mocking us with their looksand laughter. This was the first time in eithercampaign that we have encountered this kind ofpersecution."
Inga said only two people were signed up to pray atthe vigil when this happened, but God had otherplans. The people who were scheduled to leave thevigil stayed and kept praying -- and other peoplekept arriving to join them until more than two dozenfaithful believers were gathered in prayer outside ofPlanned Parenthood.
When 5 o'clock came, the Planned Parenthood employeesgave up and went home. But the 40 Days for Life teamcontinued to pray.
"We all felt great cause for rejoicing that we hadbeen found worthy to suffer for truth and life," Ingasaid. "Truly, this is a sign that we are somehowgetting under their skin, disrupting business,causing women to not keep their appointments,possibly even saving lives of babies and keepingwomen from a lifetime of regret."
Please keep Planned Parenthood and its employees inyour prayers. A call to conversion can be extremelyunsettling to those being called. But the call isstrong, and it is real.