Operation Save America, New Orleans, 2014
“Passing the Mantle” Thursday, July 24th
Baton Rouge Outreach
On Thursday, OSA visited Baton Rouge, LA. Tom Raddell of Cleveland Ohio set up his powerful, professional display of graphic panels at the state capital of Louisiana. The 200 foot wide and 8 foot tall display consisted of pictures of human atrocities and genocide, presented along side of pictures of aborted babies. Each panel connected abortion, America’s modern Holocaust, to historical evils.
Christians also visited the Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge on Thursday. The clinic kills on two days a week, Tuesday and Thursdays. When clinic staff heard OSA was considering a Tuesday ministry outreach, the clinic shut down. When OSA members showed up on Thursday instead, they found the clinic shut down that day too. For the week Christians witnessed the Gospel and stood for life, Baton Rouge was a safer place for preborn children.
This Clinic Stays Closed
The same could be said for the cities of New Orleans and Metairie. The mantra by abortionist supporters this week was, “This Clinic Stays Open.” A radical group called “Pink House Defenders” from Mississippi’s last remaining abortion clinic joined with local pro-abortionists. They clinic escorts helped the prolife movement by representing an intimidating presence to any would be abortion patients. The group of feminists, lesbians, and communists wore pink vests labeled “Pro-choice Clinic Escorts” and held blue signs reading, “This Clinic Stays Open.”
Women’s Healthcare Center in New Orleans pretended to remain open. Clinic escorts ushered in abortion supporters as though they were “patients” scheduled for appointments. OSA’s sharp-eyed children pointed out that after a few moments of being inside the clinic, the “patients” would leave the building dressed in pink clinic escort vests, holding blue signs. The “patients” then lined the sidewalk. The pro-abortion mantra should have been, “This revolving door stays open.” Although Women’s Healthcare Center’s door stayed open, no pregnant women walked through it. As far as we know, baby murder was arrested and stopped the week Christians ministered the Gospel of the Kingdom at the gates of hell.
Louisiana State University
At Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, OSA members from California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Virginia, and Florida joined with evangelist Jason Storm and T. Russell Hunter of Abolish Human Abortion. The outreach consisted mostly of young adults, teenagers, and children. The young people of OSA were blessed to observe Jason and Russell evangelize.
The young people were engaged and passionate about leading the lost to Christ. The Holy Spirit was with the children as they shared the Good News and held signs revealing the ugliness and sin of abortion. They were not ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16).
Valiant (14), Jeremiah (12), and Victor (14) spoke to a young agnostic student (17) visiting the university. As the boys gave out tracts, the young man asked what their religious beliefs were. Jeremiah responded that they were Christians. The young man asked if Christianity was their parents’ faith. The boys responded that they were Christians of their own accord. Referring to the large signs of aborted babies, the young man than asked why abortion was wrong. He stated, “It’s the woman’s choice.” The boys replied that abortion is murder. Val added, “God doesn’t like murder.” The young man left to enter the student commons. He came back outside after having googled questions about Christianity. The three boys spoke to the young man for about thirty minutes, lifting the name of Jesus. When the conversation concluded, the boys were pumped. A fire for evangelism was lit.
The youngest member of the LSU outreach, Jubilee (7), was an uncompromising witness for Christ. She approached a secular professor and politely but boldly asked, “Do you know Jesus?” The professor was silent. “You know he died for your sins, right?” More silence. She continued,”What do you think of abortion?” More awkward silence. “You know they’re killing babies?” At that, the professor walked awkwardly away. Jubilee continued her evangelizing on the public sidewalk. Eventually she entered the student commons and gave a lonely looking businessman a tract. With her cuteness factor, Jubilee was a lethal Gospel weapon.
Loving Our Neighbor
Another team of Christians visited Javonne Turner’s neighborhood. Turner is the clinic manager of the Delta Clinic of Baton Rouge. The team handed out flyers inviting her neighbors to “adopt her” as a prayer focus. The flyer asked people to pray for her salvation.
Turner’s owns a second business- a day care for children. Early in the morning, OSA saints visited her day care center, Brown Bears Child Care, with signs asking her to stop killing image bearers of Christ.
A local newspaper reported on the event. The news outlet nailed it. Charlotte Guedry of the Creole wrote:
Drivers along Hwy. 44 are getting to see something not often seen in Ascension Parish this morning, as a group from Operation Save America are gathered to “pray for the soul” of a local daycare owner.
Javonne Turner, according to the Secretary of State’s website, is listed as a registered agent of Brown Bears Child Care. According to protesters, she is also employed by Delta Abortion Clinic in Baton Rouge. When checking with Delta Abortion Clinic, a “no comment” answer was given. The group feels that raising awareness will help members of the community “adopt this woman and lead her to Christ.”
The group are a mix of people from across the country who gather whenever they feel there is a need to make a statement. They were handing out flyers, asking local residents to adopt Turner and “pray for her repentance and salvation.” They also asked that her “sins be exposed,” and that “letters be written, asking her to stop the killing of innocent children.”
Operation Save America’s mission is to “take up the cause of preborn children in the name of Jesus Christ. We employ only biblical principles. The Bible is our foundation; the Cross of Christ is our strategy; the repentance of the Church of Jesus Christ is our ultimate goal. As the Church changes its heart toward unborn children, God Himself will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and bring healing to our land. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the abortion holocaust. It is upon our active repentance in the streets of our cities that the Gospel is visibly lived out. We become to the church, to our city, and to our nation living parables which rightly represent God’s heart toward His helpless children.”
Operation Save America representatives claim that Turner is being hypocritical with her views on children by working at both an abortion clinic and a daycare facility. However, their literature also asks residents to not berate Turner. “Javonne Turner is our neighbor,” they state. “As Christians we are called to love her. Our actions may bring her to Jesus and eternal life.”
According to the Gonzales Police Department, the right to peacefully protest is legal as long as the protestors do not step onto the property of the daycare facility, but stay on the right of way.
A call to Brown Bears Child Care was answered, and a request to speak to Ms. Turner was made. The woman who answered the phone said, “we have no comment,” when she asked why I was calling.
Passing the Mantle
Finally, Thursday night’s rally brought a transition to OSA. Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, assistant to the director, was set in as National Director of Operation Rescue/ Operation Save America. Rev. Flip Benham (National Director since 1994) and Pastor Keith Tucci (National Director before Flip and right after founder, Randall Terry) laid hands on Rusty and passed the mantle of leadership to him. After the mantle was passed, faithful Christian men surrounded Rusty and prayed over him, as Curtis blew the rams horn. At the conclusion of the setting in, Rusty’s challenge to the brethren was, “You have bled with Keith. You have bled with Flip. Now bleed with me.”
Jesus gave His life for us. Are we willing to suffer for Him?
