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Jackson Town Council Allows Abortion Display, But Not During Elk Antler Auction

As we have been planning our way (Proverbs 16:9) God has been directing our steps for our next adventure into the little town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  God has used Wyoming’s Supreme Court to help pave the way for the theology of heaven to become biography in the streets of Jackson once again this May 16-20, 2012.  “The heart of a king is in the hands of the Lord; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He wills.”  Proverbs 21:1.

Please pray for us that the Name of Jesus will be lifted up, that preborn babies will have a defense, that the heart of abortionist Brent Blue will be softened, that God’s Church in Jackson will rise up to be a voice for those who have no voice, and that the city itself will begin to accept responsibility for being her brother’s keeper. ~ Flip

By Rebecca Huntington

Jackson Town Councilors voted Monday to allow a ten-by-eighty-foot display, which could include graphic images of fetuses, on the Town Square. Texas-based Operation Save America would be allowed to put up the anti-abortion display for four days in May. But the council denied the group’s request to set it up on a Saturday during the Boy Scouts annual elk antler auction.

Councilors said the content was not the problem, but that the display would compete for space with the Boy Scouts’ event.

Councilor Mark Obringer stressed that pro-life protestors could still come to the square. 

“It does not prohibit anybody from walking around introducing themselves, passing out brochures at any point… or carrying signs,” Obringer said.

The decision comes after Operation Save America won a ruling earlier this month from the Wyoming Supreme Court saying that the anti-abortion protestors’ first amendment rights were violated by efforts last year to keep the group from showing graphic images at the Boy Scout event.

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Governor Signs Bill that Could End Abortion in Mississippi!

When petitioning in Mississippi for Personhood, we had the privilege to meet the new Governor of Mississippi, Phil Bryant. We talked briefly about Personhood and would he as Governor back Personhood to make Mississippi the first abortion free state. He responded, “Not only would I sign it into law, I would defend it.” As you will see in this article, this Governor is still committed “to make Mississippi abortion-free.”

If the Lord uses this bill to shut down the last remaining death camp, this would fufill part of the goal of the States of Refuge campaign, the first abortion free state in America. (One down and four more states to go) This would free up more resources to concentrate on the remaining four states that have one death camp defiling our land. Let us pray, soon and very soon, we will hear the joyful report that Mississippi has freed herself from the sin and crime of child sacrifice and blood guilt in Jesus’ name! ~ Rusty 

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Abortions Fade in the South!

Even the secular media is accepting the fact that abortion is rapidly coming to an end.  “States of Refuge” is simply one more means God is using to push this horrible evil into its grave.  This story, though not at all favorable to those who lift up the Gospel of Christ at abortion mills, is just one more evidence that abortion in America is coming to an end.  Lord hasten the day.  ~ Flip

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More on Our Victory in Wyoming

Little did we know, when we planned our way to make the theology of heaven become biography in the streets of Jackson, Wyoming, what God had in mind.  Jackson was and is perhaps the most God-hating, anti-Gospel, anti-life, city any of us have ever visited.  The citizens of this little 6,000 member community had a hard time covering up their visceral hatred toward anyone who would dare expose the “secret” sin of the community.  Though its population swells to millions during the skiing season and summer, it is still an incestuous, nepotistic, bastion of liberal “hate.”  The animus toward the God of the Bible is palpable and impossible to hide.

Yet, it was here that God chose to allow His theology to become biography through the lives of simple little Christian moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas, by becoming a voice for the voiceless.  We came to Jackson last May to expose the treachery of abortionist Brent Blue.  We came to make the Church of Jesus Christ in Jackson aware that she has a responsibility to stand in the gap on behalf of preborn children.  We came to let the city of Jackson know that “it takes a village to kill a child,” and that the blood of these innocent children is on her hands.  We came to let the world know that there is another King, and that His Name is Jesus!

We are coming back this May 16-20, 2012, to do the same thing.  Now, however, we are somewhat protected by a Supreme Court decision that will put a stop to many of the city of Jackson’s machinations to shut down our Gospel Proclamation.  It is amazing that this city will tolerate any other kind of speech or religion so long as it is not Biblical Christianity.   ~ Flip

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – A state court order that barred abortion protesters from appearing at Jackson’s town square last year violated the protesters’ constitutional rights, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

In a lengthy 3-2 decision, the state Supreme Court ruled the temporary restraining order issued by District Judge Tom Day violated the First Amendment rights of protesters with the group Operation Save America.

Dozens of Operation Save America members descended on Jackson last May with graphic signs of aborted fetuses that they showed around town.

The group said it picked Jackson for its campaign in an effort to make Wyoming the first state in which no doctors would provide abortions. The group targeted a family practitioner whom it said was the only doctor in the state to offer abortions.

The restraining order that Jackson secured from Day last year barred the protesters from appearing within two blocks of the town square. The town’s lawyer told Day that city police feared violence if the protesters came together with about 200 Boy Scouts and their families who were gathering for Elkfest, an annual auction of elk antlers.

The protesters weren’t alerted beforehand that the town was seeking the court order.

“Assuming the town had established a compelling interest in the protection of its youth and in maintaining the peace, we would nonetheless find the temporary restraining order unconstitutional,” Justice Michael Golden wrote for the court majority. “The town has not met its burden of establishing that the temporary restraining order ban was necessary to serve the town’s interest and that less restrictive measures would not have been adequate.”

Chief Justice Marilyn S. Kite and Justice William U. Hill wrote a dissent saying they believed the case was moot and that the constitutionality question shouldn’t have reached the court.

“No evidence was presented in this case that Operation Save America will return to Jackson and attempt to assemble or display posters during another scheduled event such as the Boy Scouts expo and auction or, in the event it does, that the town will again file for a temporary restraining order without providing notice and an opportunity to be heard,” Kite and Hill stated.

Rusty Thomas of Waco, Texas, is assistant director of operations for Operation Save America. He said Tuesday his group intends to return to Jackson next month. “I just got the news, and just tears of rejoicing,” he said of the court ruling. “The timing is incredible.”

Thomas said the group believes the ruling “strikes a blow for liberty and puts our government, both the federal and state authorities, on notice that the First Amendment is alive and well in the United States of America.”

Flip Benham, director of Operation Save America in Concord, N.C., said Tuesday the group has applied to the town of Jackson for permits to hand out materials next month but hasn’t received them yet.

“What they’ve done is put us off. They’ve said they’re going through new criteria for permits,” Benham said. He said the group’s experience in Jackson was the first time it has ever been restrained “from presenting the gospel.”

Attempts to reach town officials were not immediately successful Tuesday.

Audrey Cohen-Davis, lawyer for the town, argued before the Wyoming Supreme Court in November that it was proper for the town to secure the restraining order.

“Parents taking their Boy Scouts to the Elkfest event did not expect to have a group subjecting their children to such material,” Cohen-Davis said in November.

Jack Edwards, a lawyer in Etna, represented Operation Save America.

“I think it’s important to realize that the First Amendment, and the cases from the U.S. Supreme Court that have interpreted that amendment, were not to protect speech that people welcome and that people enjoy, but the basis for that amendment is to protect speech that causes arguments and dissent in the public square,” Edwards said Tuesday.

The state supreme court ruling comes just days after the state of Wyoming reached a settlement with another anti-abortion group, WyWatch Family Action.

In the agreement approved last week by U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal of Cheyenne, Wyoming admitted it violated WyWatch’s constitutional rights by removing anti-abortion placards from a tunnel leading to the state Capitol during last year’s legislative session.

The state agreed to pay WyWatch $1 in nominal damages and $30,000 in attorney fees. WyWatch was represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, a national advocacy group for social conservatives.

Freudenthal allowed the American Civil Liberties Union to enter the WyWatch case to argue on the group’s behalf that the state had violated the group’s constitutional rights. Linda Burt, director of the Wyoming ACLU, said Tuesday that the courts decided both cases correctly by protecting public speech.

“While we disagree with both of the organizations involved in these cases, we firmly respect their right to discuss these issues in the public square,” Burt said. “The remedy for speech that you disagree with is more speech, and more debate and more information, and disallowing this kind of speech that you disagree with does not support that.”

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Two More Articles on Win in Wyoming

The nation is coming to know about the wonderful victory won yesterday in the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Enjoy! ~ Flip

CHEYENNE, WYOMING, April 10, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled today that the city of Jackson had violated pro-life activists’ First Amendment rights when it prohibited them from holding a protest on the city square last year.

Rev. Chet Gallegher and a Kansas Pastor of Operation Save America were arrested last May 20, when they attempted to hold a three-day vigil to oppose the state’s only abortion clinic, owned by Dr. Brent Blue. That’s when they found out city attorney Audrey Cohen-Davis had sought a temporary restraining order against them without notifying them. The group had no opportunity to defend itself before District Judge Tom Day granted the motion, to prevent the protesters from being in the same location as a group of Boy Scouts.

“We gave them our word that we would not bring our graphic signs to that venue,” Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas of Operation Save America told LifeSiteNews.com. “But we told them we would come, we would preach, and we would hand out Christian pro-life literature. Well, they didn’t believe us. Behind our back, they sought this order. When we arrived, that’s when we find out they had brought this injunction against us.”

Justice Michael Golden wrote the 43-page opinion for the court’s 3-2 majority.

“They ruled that graphic signs in the public square are free speech under the First Amendment, and anywhere we go on the public square that is to be protected,” Thomas said. “These local governments do not have the authority to remove or abridge or violate our First Amendment rights.”

“This is a major ruling,” he told LifeSiteNews. “It’s a great blow against tyranny and a great defense of liberty.”

The ruling made the second pro-life victory for free speech in Wyoming in April. Last week, U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal awarded $30,000 in attorney’s fees to WyWatch Family Action, which sought to set up a pro-life display in the state Capitol Building in Cheyenne.

The group plans to return to the city next month to renew their protests.

Thomas said he hopes Jackson police will better enforce public safety laws this year. “There were six separate incidents where the public used their vehicles to try to run us over,” he said.

“The problem was, because the police did not defend our constitutional rights and did not stop the violence toward us, it escalated. I understand they’re under pressure from the public, but they still have a job to do.”

At a separate protest the group held in Jackson Mississippi, a man with two hunting knives slashed a banner held by senior citizens.

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WND EXCLUSIVE: Court protects graphic abortion images

 April 11, 2012 7:07 am

 The state Supreme Court in Wyoming has issued a ruling protecting the graphic abortion violence photographs and images that pro-life protesters use to shock people into a debate on the procedures used to kill the unborn in America.

The ruling came today in a conflict between Operation Save America and the town of Jackson, which went to court and without notifying OSA obtained an order that the pro-life organization could not exercise members’ First Amendment rights in parts of Jackson last year.

A large part of the town’s concern was the “large photographs” of “disfigured and aborted fetus images.”

According to a report from Jackson Police Lt. Robert Gilliam, “the group has consistently demonstrated throughout the town of Jackson showing the same graphic photographs. The group has refused repeated requests from me and other law enforcement officials to remove these graphic photographs. This came after police received several hundred phone calls, emails, personal visits and face to face complaints from citizens who see the photographs as obscene and offensive.”

The city’s ultimately obtained an ex parte hearing, where a judge issued a temporary restraining order silencing the pro-life message without notifying OSA. The ex parte order resulted in Rev. Chet Gallegher and another of the protesters, ultimately being arrested for violating that order.

The organization, whose members hail from a number of states, dispatched protesters to Jackson in May 2011 to raise awareness to the abortion clinic run by Brent Blue.

Town officials were alarmed that Boy Scouts attending their 2011 annual Elk Fest in the town at the same time might see the images.

But the state Supreme Court found that just as speech on issues of public concern is protected, so are those images.

“We find that the ex parte [temporary restraining order] was issued in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Rule 65 of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure,” the opinion said.

The opinion explained that the First Amendment does not protect everything – fraud, defamation, obscenity and fighting words are not protected, for example.

But it added, “Speech on public issues or matters of public concern ‘are classic forms of speech that lie at the heart of the First Amendment.’ … Speech directed at abortion policy is public issue speech.”

“The fact that the messages conveyed by those communications may be offensive to their recipients does not deprive them of constitutional protection,” the panel wrote. “As a general matter, we have indicated that in public debate our own citizens must tolerate insulting, and even outrageous, speech in order to provide ‘adequate ‘breathing space’ to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment,'” the opinion said.

“We find that this level of protection must likewise be extended to the graphic photographs OSA chooses to use in its demonstrations,” the justices wrote.

“The Supreme Court has stated it will not expand the categories of speech that receive limited protection, such as obscenity, unless there is a demonstration of a longstanding American tradition forbidding such speech or expressive conduct,” the opinion said.

The opinion also found that the streets and sidewalks of Jackson are exactly what is thought of regarding a public forum.

Ultimately, the charges stemming from the arrests of the two pastors were dropped, but the appeal was continued to the state’s high court because of the likelihood that the situation can be repeated, since the pro-life protesters plan to return to Jackson in just weeks.

The other protestor told WND that the group’s activities had been routine – handing out brochures about the issue of life, marching sidewalks to declare the message and asking residents to pray for the abortion business operator.

He said while the images do upset people, they should direct their objections to those who made the events captured in the photographs happen.

“Are we more concerned that we’re showing the image, or the fact that the image was produced,” he wondered. “My children grew up seeing those signs, they understand someone hurt the baby.”

Town officials did not respond to a WND request for comment.

Gilliam had explained that he complained to OSA officials about the images.

“The conversations … regarding the graphic signs have been cordial but matter-of-fact like. They acknowledge the signs are graphic and offend most people, but that is their intent. They wish to ‘shock’ the public into taking their side on the abortion debate in this country,” the court ruling noted he said.

“The topic of abortion incites like no other issue in this country today. It divides the nation, our religions, our families, our politics and our society. The issue arouses deep passions that find full expression in full an open and public debate that gives all participants the satisfaction of a fair and full hearing,” the opinion said.

There also was no evidence that there was a danger of a “breach of peace” and no reason to have the ordered issued in secret, the opinion said.

“The town has not met its burden of establishing that the TRO ban was necessary to serve the town’s interest and that less restrictive measures would not have been adequate,” the opinion said.

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PRESS RELEASE – Operation Save America Vindicated In Wyoming Supreme Court

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

10 April, 2012

Operation Save America Vindicated In Wyoming Supreme Court

“We find that the ex parte TRO was issued in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Rule 65 of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure and reverse.” – Wyoming Supreme Court, April Term, A.D. 2012, Operation Save America Appellant (Defendant), v. The City of Jackson Appellee (Plaintiff)

Wyoming Supreme Court:  Ban on Abortion Protest Unconstitutional!

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – As Operation Save America begins its “States of Refuge” campaign (Statesofrefuge.org) we were greeted with some miraculous news from the Supreme Court of the state of Wyoming today.  It ruled that a lower court order prohibiting gentle Christians from displaying graphic signs of “aborted” and “living” babies at the Jackson town square last year was unconstitutional.

In a 3-2 decision released Tuesday, April 10, 2012, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by District Judge Tom Day violated the First Amendment rights of members of  Operation Save America.  On page 27 (#67) of the 43 page decision the court said, “OSA’s speech is protected public issue speech, and based on these precedents, any restriction on that speech must be carefully scrutinized.  We find that this level of protection must likewise be extended to the graphic photographs OSA chooses to use in its demonstrations.”

A Kansas Pastor and Chet Gallagher were arrested by Jackson police last May for a violating the TRO.  “All praise to our Lord Jesus for this victory for OSA, for Christians, for Americans, for life, and for the Kingdom of our Lord.” – Kansas Pastor  

 Pastor Rusty Thomas, Assistant Director of OSA said, “When the case was argued before the Supreme Court, we prayed to God for two blessings.  First, that the court would rule favorably and strike a blow against tyranny to preserve our liberties.  Second, that the ruling would come before we went back to Jackson, Wyoming to further the “States of Refuge” campaign.  We are pleased to report that our Lord graciously answered both these prayers.”  (254)-715-3134

Contact:  Pastor Rusty Lee Thomas (254) 715-3134 

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Word and Warfare In Jackson MS, Ushers in Great Legislation!

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  Matthew 16: 18-19.  I just spent three days (April 2-4, 2012) with the saints in Jackson, Mississippi, reading through the entire Bible at the gates of hell – Mississippi’s last remaining abortion mill.  We were loosing on earth true repentance over the shedding of innocent blood believing that, as we did, God would loose from heaven His mercy and grace.

Well, He did just that!  On Thursday, April 5, we were informed by some Christian passer’s as we were reading God’s Scripture at the gates of hell, that the state of Mississippi just offered up a possible death blow to the last remaining abortion mill in Mississippi.  God is doing exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or imagine.  Here’s the story via CNN.

Enjoy! ~ Flip

 

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Sign Slashed in Jackson, Mississippi

Video news report of the animus of hell surfacing as the saints of Jackson, Mississippi, read the entire Bible at the gates of hell – Mississippi’s last remaining abortion mill. ~ Flip

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Preborn,

 May our Lord take what was meant for evil and turn it to the good. The States of Refuge campaign has the forces of darkness stirred up, knowing their time is short.

 This man attacked the States of Refuge campaign with hunting knives, but we come against the powers of darkness with the Sword of the Spirit. The lamb of God will conquer the wolves in Jesus’ name! Here is the broadcast of the attack. Through it all the Lord is spreading the vision and mission. Glory to God! ~ Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas

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Word and Warfare in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Rusty, Coach and several other hardy saints read the entire Bible through at the gates of hell – South Dakota’s last remaining abortion mill. That’s right! At the same time Chet Gallagher and I were reading through the Bible in Jackson, Mississippi, Rusty and the guys were doing the same in Sioux Falls. We are looking to present to Almighty God the first abortion free state this January 1, 2013, at the 150th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s official signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Flip

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Preborn,

Today, we finished reading aloud the entire Bible at the last remaining death camp in South Dakota. We demonstrated our faith in God and His Word as we unsheathed the Sword of the Spirit at the gates of hell. Planned Parenthood and the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota was put on notice. There is another King, one called Jesus and the awkward peace this city has with child-killing is over. The following is a picture of the crew who accomplished the mission. For four of these men, it was the first time confronting an abortion mill with the Gospel of the Kingdom. They each promised it will not be their last. Praise God for raising up good soldiers of Jesus Christ in the battle for the souls of men, the lives of children, and the future of our nation.

Word in Warfare Team in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Word in Warfare Team in Sioux Falls, South Dakota

It has been almost a year since we took the Gospel of the Kingdom to Jackson, WY. The city has not been able to get over it. Our event has been in the news throughout the entire year. What will they do as we make our way back and confront the last remaining abortion mill in WY this year? No need to ask. This was published in today’s paper as we are getting ready to revisit this city and expose the hidden works of darkness perpetrated by the abortionist Dr. Brent Blue.

The States of Refuge vision marches on! Brethren, pray for us!

Elkfest to see protest return

Abortion opponents, arrested last year will be back, plan to read Bible at doctor’s office.

By Emma Breysse, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

April 4, 2012

A religious group that drew fire last year over displays of photos of aborted fetuses plans to visit Jackson twice this spring, including the weekend of Elkfest.

The Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, assistant director of Operation Save America, said Tuesday the group plans to send protestors to the Elkfest event in May. Police arrested two members of the group last year for allegedly violating an injunction, leading to a battle over free speech that remains in front of Wyoming’s Supreme Court.

The group also plans to send protesters here in late April to march in front of Dr. Brent Blue’s office.

“There’s going to be wave after wave,” Thomas said. “We’re just trying to give God reason to show mercy to a land that’s killing babies.”

Participants plan to read the entire Bible aloud in front of Blue’s office this month as part of an expanded campaign. They say he is Wyoming’s sole abortion provider.

The “Word in Warfare” protest will last three days, Thomas said, but he could not give specific dates.

Jackson Town Clerk Olivia Goodale said Operation Save America applied for a permit to protest “along the western fence” of the park on Town Square between May 16 and May 20. The Boy Scout elk antler auction portion of Elkfest, which is on Town Square, is scheduled for May 19.

Goodale’s office is still processing the permit request, she said, so she declined to comment further. The Jackson Town Council likely will decide on the permit April 16, she said.

When asked why Operation Save America chose to come during the event a second time, a Kansas Pastor said the reasons are purely practical.

“It’s just that it’s the same weekend we came last year and it works for everyone,” he said.

Last year’s protests, which were the first of Operation Save America’s campaign to eliminate abortion from states where the practice is “vulnerable,” drew counter-fire from pro-choice locals who objected to graphic signs.

By the time of the 2011 antler auction, Lt. Bob Gilliam of the Jackson Police Department said in an affidavit that he feared allowing the graphic photos at the auction would lead to violence against the group.

This year, Wyoming event leader said members of the group plan on adding a much larger tower display that prominently features photos of aborted fetuses, but they would probably work with the town if officials asked them not to use it during the antler auction.

Jackson Police Sgt. Cole Nethercott said local law enforcement is aware of both planned protests and is working out the best response in light of the potential for conflict.

“As of the current time, we don’t have any plans in place, but we are planning how best to be ready,” he said. “Our concern is the safety of all involved on all sides, whether protestors coming or local citizen protestors.”

Last year, the town sought a temporary injunction barring the group from Town Square during the antler auction. Public safety concerns, along with worries about exposing Boy Scouts to the photos and potential violence, swayed 9th District Judge Timothy Day, who granted the order the evening before the auction.

Operation Save America did not hear about the attempt to obtain the injunction, or the order, until the morning of the auction.

When the pastor and another group member passed out literature in the square, police arrested them. Teton County Prosecutor Steve Weichman later asked that the misdemeanor charges of violating a court order be dismissed.

He said Tuesday he remembers language in a Wyoming Supreme Court case at the time that gave him “very grave concerns” about whether the charges were appropriate. He said Tuesday he couldn’t recall the specifics ecause he was not in his office at the time of a telephone interview.

The pastor contends dropping the charges was part of a deliberate strategy to silence a message town officials didn’t like.

“That’s the way police departments silence the gospel or speech they don’t want to hear,” he said. “They arrest you and then say, ‘Oh, never mind’ and dismiss the charges once they’ve done what they wanted to do.”

Weichman said he preferred not to address the pastor’s remarks or make any statements not already on the record in a court of law regarding the situation.

The pastor’s accusations are “patently untrue,” Town Administrator Bob McLaurin said. The group was barred only from Town Square and only during the day of the auction. Operation Save America has the right to return and protest if members choose, McLaurin said. He said he knew of the permit application but hadn’t seen it, so he was not comfortable commenting further.

The pastor said he was worried about the town’s reaction to his group this year.

“I think we saw last year that First Amendment guarantees are not of any importance to the Jackson police,” he said.

Last year’s conflict lives on in the Wyoming Supreme Court, where Operation Save America appealed the original restraining order, claiming the process the town went through to get it was unconstitutional.

The town did not notify representatives of Operation Save America about the hearing on the order, which occurred about 12 hours before the antler auction began.

There were other legal remedies aside from a restraining order for public safety worries, the group argued in its appeal. The town argued there was a pressing and immediate need to protect the town and the auction attendees, and the terms only applied to a limited time, date and area, so the law allowed for the order.

The high court heard oral arguments on the case in November, but has yet to issue a decision.

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RH Reality Check Startled by the Gospel of Christ

The pro-aborts have served notice to their minions that there is something astir in the heavenlies.  They are right!  Their nasty little child-killing kingdom is coming to an abrupt end and they know it.  RH Reality Check is almost apoplectic about the fact that gentle Christians are moving out of the closet of the church house and into the streets of our culture.  As they are they are having a great impact and the gates of hell are being pushed back.

Enjoy the confused and convoluted argument of RH Reality Check!    ~ Flip

Dear Champion of the Lord and the Preborn,

The same lady, Eleanor Bader, from RH Reality Check that reviewed our first book, The Kingdom leadership Institute Manual, has become aware of the States of Refuge campaign. The RH Reality Check website is one of the hubs promoting the abortion and homosexual agenda defiling our land and invoking God’s wrath upon our nation. Here is her take on our new national campaign. ~ Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas

STOKING FIRE: Extremist Anti-Choice Groups Plan Five-State Assault

The fanatical fundamentalists are at it again. Not to be outdone by Catholic bishops clamoring for ever-increasing fetal protections, Flip Benham’s Operation Save America has teamed up with Go Stand Speak, LifeLink, Jeremiah Cry Ministries, Personhood USA, and Repent America to make five states-Arkansas, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming-abortion “refuges.”

The five were chosen because each has just one reproductive health clinic. What’s more, the campaign to make these states abortion-free will link grassroots activism-raucous picketing, complete with billboard-sized pictures of bloody body parts–with a media crusade geared to maligning those who support freedom of choice.

According to OSA’s website, the groups will return to Jackson Hole, Wyoming from May 16th to 20th and will visit Little Rock, Arkansas from September 12th to 16th and Jackson, Mississippi from November 7the to 11th. They’ll also be in Charlotte, North Carolina during the Democratic National Convention, July 21st to 28th. As of this writing, both North and South Dakota appear to have been spared a direct appearance from OSA activists (Flip and I just returned from there).

But lest you write off these protests as same-old/same-old, please know that they’re not. OSA’s latest effort comes with a newsworthy difference–scope. The group has not only done outreach to legislators in each targeted state, they’ve also contacted 950 evangelical churches to solicit financial (False, we have not asked for a dime) and on-the-ground support.

Their appeal to largely African-American congregations included a copy of Maafa 21, a 137-minute documentary produced by Mark Crutcher of Life Dynamics Inc. in 2009. The film presents abortion and birth control as central components of a Caucasian plot to annihilate people of color; it further lambasts Planned Parenthood as a purveyor of racism and hatred of the poor. Predominantly white churches received The Abortion Matrix, a 10-part, 195-minute film, released in 2011, that posits the reproductive justice movement as a satanic cult comprised of witches and goddess worshippers.

While I have no idea who bankrolled this undertaking, the missive that accompanied the DVDs-signed by Benham and OSA Assistant Director Rusty Thomas-is clearly meant to rev up the fire-and-brimstone set. The Civil War took 630,000 lives, it begins, as payback for slavery.

“What do you think the toll will be when God Almighty demands an accounting for all the innocent blood that America has shed since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision,” the letter asks.

Released to coincide with the 39th anniversary of the Roe decision, the letter came at a time of such intense anti-feminist backlash that even the most absurd anti-woman pronouncements seem capable of gaining traction. And rest assured, the just-released Abortion Matrix is nothing if not absurd. The more than three-hour long narrative takes swipes at supposedly anti-Christian lawmakers and leaders, among them Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon, Barack Obama, and Margaret Sanger-but saves its most shrill condemnation for clinic workers, AKA members of Wiccan religious orders.

“Witchcraft is endemic to the abortion industry,” narrator Eric Holmberg declares. “It is a key component in a vast conspiracy in the tradition of paganism.”

Luminaries of the feminist spirituality movement including Starhawk, Zsuzsanna Budapest, and Ginette Paris are slammed, not only as man-haters, but also as proponents of infanticide. As the film unfolds the kind of music typically heard in campy horror flicks envelops the viewer. Throughout, Holmberg describes a litany of evil. Looking the viewer straight in the eye, it’s as if he wants to share a dastardly secret. Yes, he assures viewers, the goddess Aphrodite demands child sacrifice-or, in today’s parlance, abortion. Close-ups of a Florida clinician’s bumper sticker-In Goddess We Trust-is, he says, proof of this phenomenon.

Abigail Seidman, the daughter of a Midwestern clinic worker turned anti-abortion activist, is trucked out as the star witness. Clinic employees, she rails, are heathens who see abortion as a necessary rite of passage. Among her more inane assertions: Each spring, several staffers at an unnamed health center intentionally become pregnant so that they can have abortions. This, she reports, is meant to appease the blood lust of the female deities these vixens worship.

Yes, that’s really what she says.

Toward the end of The Abortion Matrix a section called Defeating Jezebel reveals the filmmaker’s political intent: Activating the fundamentalist base to stop abortion by whatever means.

“Without out-and-out spiritual warfare, what are our chances for victory where one million children are sacrificed each year?” Holmberg bellows. The imperative to act is boosted by an injunction to “heavenize the world…Deliver blows as hard as we can hit…Nothing but forked-lightening Christians will count,” he concludes.

You can imagine Benham’s glee at seeing The Abortion Matrix. In fact, its presentation of God-fearing Christians battling Godless baby-killers underscores the message he’s been delivering for 35 years. Furthermore, by sending copies to churches and legislators he’s made clear that he sees the film as a useful tool in the campaign to make some states abortion free.

Whether fundamentalists will take Matrix — or, for that matter, Maafa 21– seriously or laugh it off the screen is hard to predict. That said, Vicki Saporta, CEO and President of the National Abortion Federation, believes that Benham’s efforts are a direct violation of his current legal status.

“This effort is obviously meant to intimidate abortion providers so that they will stop providing care to women,” she begins. “It flies in the face of Benham’s 18-month probation which began in August 2011. At that time the judge ordered him to curtail his intimidating behavior.”

NAF is presently investigating this possible infraction. Meanwhile, if anyone knows how to turn antis into frogs, this seems like the perfect moment to cast a spell.

/by