“40 Days For Life” will be back out in the streets with us again this year at abortion mills in over three hundred cities.  This is, by in large, a Catholic organization that takes great umbrage over the graphic signs we bring to the gates of hell.  Most are very sweet folks who are doing their very best to be a voice for voiceless children.  Most have no clue as to the Gospel battle we fight in the strong Name of Jesus – but they are there. 

Daniel and Angela Michael have been “40 Days For Life” coordinators at the abortion mill in Granite City for the past three years.  They will not be doing so this year.  Here is their reason why.  ~ Flip

 

THE PAY TO PRAY SCAM

1 Timothy 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires……

by Angela Michael

After taking part in the 40 Days for Life prayer vigils for almost three years, we finally realize that it is ridiculous to make people pay $197.00 to be a part of the 40 Days for Life Campaign. Understand, we have been holding prayer vigils, and through the ultrasound van helping moms and saving babies for almost 20 years on a daily basis, just like a lot of other faithful pro-lifers across the United States.  So, why would we pay money to pray outside of an abortion clinic? 

Now don’t get me wrong.  We went into this with the best intentions over three years ago with our first campaign. It’s always good to get a multitude of prayer warriors outside facilities where children are scheduled to die.  However, charging money to do what our ministry has been doing for two decades for FREE sounds more like a scam.  For, the only thing you get is access to the 40 Days main website and modules.  That’s all.  No shirts, no banners, no signs. We had to pay extra for all our materials, so another organization made money too.

The real reason for the “praying fee” appears to be, sadly, that David Bereit, the National Director for 40 Days for Life, needs to make a $94,000 salary, and that Shawn Carney, campaign director, can collect $20,000 at last report.  When I questioned Mr. Carney about this he said, “40 Days for Life spends $800 on each participant in the 40 Days for Life Campaign.  ” If you multiply 1,500 participants by $800 that’s $1.2 million. In 2009, they only reported taking in $400,000.  Something smells fishy.

Question:  has the pro-life movement become a bottomless money pit?  A modest salary would be okay, but $94,000 is ridiculous.  If you need to charge people to cover your expenses, that’s fine, but to make an outrageous salary like that is ludicrous.

That’s why if all abortion came to an end today, there would be pro-lifers jumping off their buildings as they would be losing their salaries, their social status, their titles, etc.  Unfortunately, raising money has become the pro-life movement’s main objective;  they have lost their focus. Instead of prevention, they are there to perpetuate it.  

Another instance is taking claim to closing abortions mills, which is a great thing, but let’s give credit,  where credit is due.  God does indeed answer prayers, but there are other things that factor into the closing of a lot of child killing facilities, not just 40 Days.  For instance, a lot of these abortion centers are losing federal funding and the struggling economy is also playing a part.  Also, it’s not as easy to find abortionists anymore .  Let’s face it, it’s the red light district of medicine and that’s a stretch.  Most real, reputable physicians don’t want to be associated with abortion or it’s industry.  So, it’s making it harder to find skilled baby killers.  Anytime we see another abortion clinic close it’s doors, it’s good; but to charge money to do what all Christians should be doing, for those without a voice… well, that’s just plain wrong.

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief’s.

See the new and serpentine ways Granite City is seeking to silence the Gospel of Christ at its most favored business – the abortion mill.  ~ Flip

BANNED IN GRANITE

“City of Slaughter” latest ploy to silence the truth

Isaiah 59:14 “So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance: Truth has stumbled into the streets and honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.”

There are three things that Granite Cityabhors: homeless people, couches on front porches, and pro-life activists; and all three have been banned from this deplorable town. That is how the gestapo and city officials deal with the issue of abortion. Rather than deal with the message, they attack the messenger. All three are treated as “undesirables”. For years now, many editorials have been written pointing out the war Granite Cityhas declared upon freedom of speech and pro-lifers. These editorials have called for the city to address the real problem, that being the abortion industry in clear eyeshot of city hall. (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=41803)  

Over 400,000 babies have been slaughtered in this city since 1974. Many women have been butchered, some have died, and lawsuits have been filed. Far too many underage girls have been brought over state lines to “get rid of the evidence” from child rapists; underreporting is rampant. (http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53013 ) Short of calling it a “drug cartel”, there seems to be a constant problem inside Hope Clinic with substance abuse, missing drugs, theft, and petty crimes by abortion mill staffers. Meanwhile, city officials have tried beautifying this blue-collar, gritty town with million dollar makeovers, but you can’t cover up a cancer and expect it to go away. How can God bless a city that allows the slaughter of thousands of innocent babies? Their blood cries out from the ground, Genesis 4:10.

Today as we pulled up to the crime scene outside theMidwest’s largest, late-term baby dumping mill, we viewed three blocks of handicapped-only parking. The only entrance to the hospital on this side of the street already has ample handicapped parking spaces nearby. This means our vital ultrasound/pregnancy resource van will have to find parking two blocks over from the slaughterhouse.

We had heard rumblings over the spring and even a month ago that half of our street in front of the abortion mill was sold to the hospital from the city through closed door negotiations. If one Granitonian would have been invited to that meeting and opposed, it would have been thwarted. Thus, half of 21st street has been paved into a parking lot. Funny thing is the hospital employee lot just west of the mill is half bare. This is just the latest “ploy” to attempt to dissuade our lifesaving efforts and pregnancy resource outreach to mothers and babies in need. Let’s face it: there is no free help or hope in Granite City.                                                                                                          (http://www.smallvictoriesusa.com/Articles/2007/Unwelcomed%20in%20Granite%20City%20May%2007.html )

There is another hands-on-ministry, Jesus’ Place, a store front soup kitchen and worship center led by Pastor Larry. Through the years, he has struggled with funding and political persecution from city officials and police in order to be a refuge for the homeless and hungry who find themselves wandering in the City ofSlaughter. They, too, are unwelcomed. Thus,Granite Citydeals with them by giving the homeless “river rides” or “wharf rides”. TheGranite Citygestapo beats them up, drives them over to the Mississippi Riverfront, and drops them off after removing their shoes and throwing them into the river, ultimately making it harder for the homeless to walk their way back to the City ofSlaughter. So much for being our brother’s keeper.

This leads me to the third unwelcomed subject inGranite City: ratty porch couches. Personally, they are just part of the mosaic of Granite City, not much of a threat or dangerous. Enough said. The real blight is the abortion mill which draws all 50 states to its doors. It speaks volumes when a corrupt city can take public parking away from the only resource for pregnant women and their babies that are scheduled to die that day. We have been targeted by police. It tells others how powerful that ultrasound van and the ministry are when a city must ban them from the streets. Over 19 years of daily ministering and witnessing, the devil has tried everything to deter and get rid of us, but we were called for such a time as this. Whether we have a street or not, we will still be there, rescuing babies, saving lives, and making a difference inGranite City.

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

God will use this for His glory too.

 Be encouraged ~Angela

Angela Michael paints a very graphic picture via our own American history as to why the casket must be kept open, and the truth be displayed for all to see. ~ Flip

 

   

History is repeating itself. Just as one hundred and fifty years ago our nation was torn apart over the issue of slavery, even so, today there is another great evil that divides the country…abortion. Back then, a whole race of Americans was viewed as inferior, less than human, chattel to be used at another’s whim and will; even so today, there is a group of Americans who are shamelessly treated as “things” to be owned, to be disposed of…unborn children. 

The parallels continue: Back then, by a majority decision of 7-2 in the infamous Dred Scott case (which had it’s beginnings in St. Louis), the Supreme Court ruled against all those of African descent; even so, in 1973, by a majority of 7-2, the Supreme Court overturned the pro-life laws of all fifty states and declared that the humans in the womb were no better than slaves, living and dying at the discretion of another. Back then the compassionless cliché was, “Don’t want a slave? Don’t own one.”  Today we say, “Don’t like abortion? Don’t have one.”

Sadly, it took a Civil War to bring the horrid institution of slavery to an end; a war fueled by the preaching of righteousness and the dissemination of the truth that “all” men are truly created equal. And today, another war is brewing and has begun as we and many stand in the gap, being witnesses of the atrocities, and proclaiming on the airwaves the reality of these horrid acts; and very soon we will have the opportunity to bring this message, this truth, into the living rooms of many. 

This month is the 56th anniversary of a brutal, unthinkable act. Emmett Till was a young African-American boy from Chicago who was violently murdered in Mississippi while on vacation. His funeral service was to be closed casket because his face was so disfigured, but his mother insisted the casket be opened so that the world could see what had happened to her son.

Over four days, thousands of people saw Emmett’s body. Many more African-Americans across the country, who might not have otherwise heard of the case, were shocked by the pictures of him. These pictures moved them in a way like nothing else had. Black preachers were demanding that “something be done in Mississippi now!”

Showing what’s in the casket is exactly what we do outside these abortion mills…and we are hated for it. Our message: If the truth of what happens to a person through abortion is so horrible, then why are we allowing it to happen?

At first, local whites as well as blacks were horrified by the crime. Newspapers and white officials reported that all “decent” people were disgusted with the murder and proclaimed that “justice would be done”. That same attitude from our leaders and churches needs to be embodied now. It needs to be preached from the pulpits and driven into the streets where battles are won. We have no more excuse for calling unborn children “non-human” today than our forefathers did for calling blacks “non-human” then.

Elie Wiesel, survivor of the holocaust, wrote: “What harms the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.”

In Emmett Till‘s mother, Mamie Bradley‘s words: “Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago.  I had a good job. I had a son. When something happened to the Negroes in the South, I said, ‘That’s their business, not mine.’ Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.”

We can no longer stand by and say, “It’s not our problem.” I ask you; are we not our brother’s keeper?  If the horrible “seen” injustice done to Emmett Till moved a nation to action, should not the unspeakable violence done to the most vulnerable Americans–the children in the womb–move “us” to action?

There must be a crisis of the conscience. Only after seeing abortion for what it really is will we understand the controversy and end this horrible injustice. We must never, never be silent on atrocities that we find disgusting to view.”

Another report from the Saints in Granite City who continue to allow the theology of the church house to become biography in their streets and at the gates of hell.  Police departments nation-wide continue to strain a gnat and swallow a camel; ticketing every Christian pro-life sidewalk counselor who speaks for life while allowing others the freedom to dismember precious preborn babies. ~ Flip

Click here to read this article via Angela Michael’s Small Victories blog.