July 2001 Newsletter

July 2001 Newsletter

The Battle is Waxing Hot in Wichita

In anticipation of the July 15-21 arrival of Operation Save America, the Wichita Police Department stepped up its efforts to censor the Gospel of Christ outside Mr. Tiller's abortion mill. Police cars, uniformed officers, and undercover agents were all on hand to greet gentle Christians on Saturday morning, June 9, 2001, as they prepared to proclaim the Gospel of Christ at the gates of hell. Saturday is ordinarily a banner day for Mr. Tiller's child killing activities, and the City of Wichita was sending a very clear message - it wants Mr. Tiller to be free to kill at will without the hindrance of Christians "standing in the gap!"

The police harangued and harassed sidewalk counselors giving literature to those who drove into the mill. This kind of harassment has not gone on for several years, but it appears that the Wichita Police are intent upon sending a message of intimidation to all who dare to bring Christ to the streets. The counselors were told that they were in violation of a federal statute and that they would be arrested if they continued to pass out literature. When asked what that statute was, the police were at a loss to give an explanation.

The Police Department also contacted local pastors and churches in Wichita in an attempt to fill them with a spirit of fear. These intimidation tactics have become so ludicrous that even the mayor of Wichita was enlisted to meet with local OSA leaders to obtain the names of all pastors and churches that will be involved in the summer event. To the mayor's dismay, no names were given, but the Gospel of Christ was presented.

B.J. Brown, an attorney for the American Family Association (AFA) and a fierce defender of the faith in courtrooms across this land, has fired a shot across the bow of the City of Wichita. Here is a small excerpt of the AFA's 12-page letter sent to city officials in Wichita on June 19, 2001:

"It is well documented that police authorities have contacted local pastors and churches in what appears to be an attempt to frighten them into rescinding any offers of aid and assistance to OSA. Given that OSA correctly considers itself a Christian resistance to state protected killings, and as such, a parallel to Corrie Ten Boom's resistance to Hitler's Germany, it would seem that certain government agents and/or governments in Kansas have elected to play the part of the Gestapo. A check of historical archives will reveal that the SS likewise intimidated pastors and churches. May I strongly suggest that such government coercion come to a quick and decided end? If it does not, litigation pursusant to 42 U.S.C. 1983 will be filed, for the good of our constitutional order."

Take a good look at the man in the photograph. You are looking at the face of death - Dr. George Tiller, the most infamous late-term abortionist in the world. He kills children in Wichita! He calls himself a Christian, but he desperately needs Christ. He professes Christ, but in reality he is a functional atheist! How can a man be so debauched yet claim the Name of Jesus? Check his web site, www.drtiller.com/remembrance.html. He is even authorized by his church to baptize the babies he has killed. The following is an advertisement on his web, (italicized words are our own):

WOMEN'S HEALTH CARE SERVICES, P.A. (Dr. Tiller's business located in Wichita, KS)
Specialists In 2nd Trimester Elective &
2nd & 3rd Trimester Therapeutic Abortion Care
Late Abortion Care for Fetal Anomaly (read: disabled children)

Remembrances and Special Requests

Many patients request a remembrance of their baby to take home with them. The following lists items and services that some of our previous patients have found helpful in their emotional recovery. Everyone approaches this experience with their own unique emotional, spiritual, and cultural background. There is no right way or wrong way, just your way. Once the process of healing has begun, you may want to consider a token of the precious time you and your baby had together. All of these features of our program will be discussed with you while you are with us:

• Viewing your baby after delivery
• Holding your baby after delivery
• Photographs of your baby
• Baptism of your baby, with or without a certificate (Tiller is an elder in his church
• Footprints and handprints of your baby
• Certificate of premature miscarriage
• Cremation (Tiller has an on-site smokestack and crematorium)
• An urn for ashes
• Arrangement of burial in either Wichita or your home

"… but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel." Proverbs 12:10. Abortionist George Tiller presents a "living parable" of this Scripture verse. He makes every effort to appear kind and compassionate while he violently and viciously rips little baby boys and girls apart and burns them in an incinerator.

The Day the Smoke Rolled

Two pro-life leaders from California, Troy Newman and Ken Reed, had flown in to help us with the preparation for the "Jesus is the Standard" event this July in Wichita. They were following me to Mr. Tiller's abortion mill. After taking the Oliver exit and turning back east I saw a sight I had never seen before - smoke billowing out of the incinerator at George Tiller's mill.

It was brown smoke painted against the morning sun. The wind was blowing it southwestward. As I got out of my car to meet the other sidewalk counselors, I began coughing and gagging. Our lungs filled with the smoke and ashes of what we later realized were little baby boys and girls that were being sacrificed and incinerated on the corner of Kellogg and Bleckley in Wichita, Kansas. Our eyes burned, and the odor was horrific.

Of course, my first thought was of the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. How could the Christians in Hitler's time have ignored the sounds, smells, and sights of his death camps? Surely the wind carried this awful evidence to the residents of the German cities. Then an incredible thought struck my mind and heart.

How can we, the Christians in Wichita, Kansas, who are called to love our neighbor as ourselves, continue to go to work, go out to eat, go to school, go to CHURCH, while babies are dying? What must God think of us? Have we become like the Christians in Germany, singing a little louder to drown out the cries of the Jews being led away to the slaughter? Are we going to ignore the smoke, the stifling smells, lungs filled with the ashes of human flesh? The mother's of Wichita need us to give them a real choice - life in Jesus!

I appreciate many great men of God who preach against abortion. I have heard their sermons and buy their tapes. But, most of them stop short of telling us what to do. Where are the men of God who are going to lead us to tear down this high place in our city? God of Heaven, hear us. God of heaven, forgive us. God of heaven heal our city in Jesus' Name!

We are asking you to pray and fast with us that this holocaust in Wichita will end. God desires to awaken His people to His will. There is a limit to what He will tolerate. Jesus created each child in His own image. When they are sacrificed it is as if we are sacrificing Jesus all over again. I hope you will never have to experience what I did yesterday, but I will never forget the day the smoke rolled.

Fact: Since 1991, abortion across the nation has decreased 40% while in Kansas abortions have increased 30%, hence an invitation has gone out across the country for Christians to come to Wichita July 15-21.

Victory for Gentle Christians that Stood!

By Marilynn Carroll (Gentle Warrior in Bridgeport, CT)

Today we had victory on the streets of Bridgeport. The illegal injunction was lifted from us in the current effort between the Bridgeport Police and the Summit Women's Center to freeze our First Amendment rights. The white buffer zone that was painted on the street to keep Christians from giving the Gospel truth to mothers in crisis was covered over with black paint. God heard our prayers again and has allowed us to stay on the public sidewalk as we reach out to the lost and the needy with the gospel of Christ.

I thank all the courageous Christians that stood up for their Lord and their First Amendment rights. The American Family Association issued a lawsuit on our behalf against the Bridgeport Police and the Summit killing center. It appears the police have backed down. Here is a portion of the AFA's Press Release:

CITY BACKS DOWN - PRO-LIFE ACTIVITIES RESUME. On June 15, 2001, police in Bridgeport, Connecticut abruptly changed course in the face of a federal lawsuit and rescinded a police order that infringed constitutional rights of peaceful sidewalk counselors and pro-life advocates located outside Summit Women's Health Center, an abortion clinic. The police had illegally been enforcing a court injunction and selectively enforcing a local loitering ordinance against pro-life activists, prohibiting them from exercising their First Amendment rights on a public sidewalk. The AFA Center for Law & Policy (the Center) is hopeful that this move is a significant and lasting recognition of important First Amendment rights.

Last month, the Bridgeport Police began applying the injunction against all pro-life advocates and counselors at the clinic. This application was the culmination of a year-long pattern of police harassment of peaceful pro-life activists. AFA responded by filing suit in federal district court against the abortion clinic, the City of Bridgeport, and several Bridgeport police officers. This lawsuit alleges that these and other unnamed defendants conspired to violate the constitutional rights of pro-life advocates who counsel abortion seekers at or near the clinic.

"The city has finally chosen to respect the First Amendment rights of pro-lifers," commented Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the Center. "It is unfortunate that a federal lawsuit was necessary to restore constitutional rights that others enjoy as a matter of course. The application of the injunction against our clients was utterly lawless from the beginning," added Mr. Crampton. "We intend to vigorously pursue the full and final resolution of this matter in order to vindicate the rights of our clients," said litigation counsel Michael J. DePrimo.

A Graduation Message from One of Our Valued Arrows

"A Higher Goal" By Rachel McGlade. This is a speech that Rachel delivered May 18th at her home school graduation ceremony before graduates, family, and friends. Rachel has been home schooled since kindergarten. Note many of the phrases and the steel in her character are what we desire to pass down to all of our arrows! Finish the work Rachel!

I was recently asked to share with you my ambitions and goals in life. To be honest, it has not been an easy task. To put into words and summarize what the Lord has deposited in my heart through experiences is not a simple thing to do. However, I will do my best.

I decided that I would need to first give you a little background into the garden of my life where the roots of my goals and ambitions have come forth. There are two people that come to my mind who have had tremendous impact on my life: Mom and Dad - my precious parents. They have been the primary gardeners. They've been so faithful in being my teachers, my friends, and godly examples. They have poured out their lives for my brothers and me, teaching us all they know about the Lord. They have prayed that we will hit the mark that He has set before us, hoping that we will go even farther than they in our walk with Him.

Many of you are probably aware that my family and I have been actively involved in the ministry of saving unborn babies. We have given hope and alternatives to the mothers and fathers who have been caught up in the deceptive web of abortion. I can remember going to the local abortion clinic ever since I was a little girl. Even though I was young, I knew the importance of us being there - to be able to stand in the gap for the little ones - even lay my life down. Proverbs 24:11 says, "Recall those who are being unjustly sentenced to death, and those who are staggering towards slaughter, Oh, hold them back." That verse was instilled in me at a young age and will remain on my heart forever.

Our family has traveled all around this nation for the past 12 years and has witnessed the horror of abortion. We have seen the lifeless bodies of the aborted babies who have been discarded; we have seen the broken men and women who have been hurt indescribably. I was there when they arrested my parents and others for being witnesses for the Gospel of Christ. I have experienced prison myself. I have seen firsthand what happens when a nation turns her back on a holy God. Murder and rebellion is in the heart, and the blood of the innocent flows in our streets (Hosea 4:2). Justice is far from her.

Now, my brothers and I are older and a new generation has begun. I am witnessing them being examples to their children in leading their little ones to the very gates of darkness. This is a goal that I will strive to teach my children as well. We have been taught that children are blessings - gifts from the Creator of all life. That they are, "Arrows in the hands of a warrior, blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them" (Psalm 127).

So many times throughout the years, people would come up to us saying, "It must be so dangerous to be out there." Yes, we were threatened by arrest, even HRS threatened to take us away from our parents because of our stand. And yes, it wasn't always easy. But, I'm here to tell you today that when the Lord calls you to serve Him and to go wherever He wants you to go, that there's no safer place to be - no matter where it is.

As it says in the 23rd Psalm, "In the midst of my enemies, You, oh Lord, prepare a banquet table for me." Can you believe it? When our enemies surround us, it is there that the Lord feeds us! I've felt His peace that passes all understanding when circumstances were impossible. I've seen His hand of deliverance when the enemy threatened to overtake us. I've experienced His provision when all hope seemed to be gone.

With these experiences planted into the garden of my life by Almighty God, I know that with His help, I will not lose heart when I see the potentially frightening circumstances surrounding me. Instead, that I will have the courage to press on in spite of my enemies. As God's people, we must not turn back when we hear the raging battle. We must run toward the roar of the lion, using the spiritual weapons He has given to all of us through His Word and Spirit to advocate His kingdom.

We must not be like the children of Ephraim who the Bible speaks of in Psalm 78 saying, "Though they were armed and carrying bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle." You see, they had the knowledge of who God was, yet they didn't serve Him. They saw the battle, yet they didn't fight. I have come to realize that to be effective in the Kingdom of God, one must really have to die to oneself… As Paul says, we must "die daily." I have to admit though that my flesh definitely does not want this to be one of my highlighted goals. In fact, it would be so nice to just forego that whole dying to self part. However, I know that I have been bought with a precious price - the blood of God's own son.

As God's bride, we are all called to be overcomers. We are to overcome fear, temptations, and the one who was defeated at the Cross. The Father is looking for that pure and spotless bride to present to His Son on that wedding day. He has called us to be His ambassadors to this world. The only fear that we need is the fear of the Lord, for that's the beginning of wisdom. My life is not my own, it is His. My goals have to be His goals - my ambitions have to be His ambitions.

My main goal and prayer is that I will always be in the Lord's will. Since He's so faithful, I know that He'll correct me whenever I get off track because His love endures forever. And no matter how scary or impossible the situation may appear with my eyes, I know that the Ultimate Gardener will complete the good work that he has begun in me and in all of us who trust Him with our lives and futures.

Thank you, Mom and Dad, the tenders and protectors of my garden- my life, for your examples of love and faithfulness to God. Thank you, my wonderful brothers (though at times you seemed like a trial) and my faithful friends for being my support as I stumbled and grew - thank you for standing strong in Christ. Thank you, most of all, Lord Jesus for allowing me to be Yours and for being with me every step of the way as I press on toward the ultimate "goal" - of life everlasting with you. It is my prayer that The Father will someday say, "Well done, my good and faithful daughter, my beloved "

See you at the gates of hell in Wichita,

Flip Benham,
National Director
Colossians 4:17