May 1999 Newsletter

WELCOME TO THE GENTLE REVOLUTION

That the gentle revolution is more than some ethereal dream harbored in the hearts of eternally optimistic Christians was again corroborated in a new study presented by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. This survey, done in 1998 with over 275,000 entering college freshmen, indicates that the gentle revolution is on in full force:

The percentage of freshmen who agree that it is OK for two people who like each other to have sex dropped from a high of 52% in 1987 to 40% in 1998.

The percentage of freshmen who back efforts to keep abortion legal has dropped from a high of 65% in 1990 to 51% in 1998.

These incredibly encouraging statistics remind us: "… 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." Zechariah 4:6 . Surveys done by Planned Parenthood's Faye Wattleton and the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, have produced the same unexpected results. All point to the fact that there is a huge paradigm shift (gentle revolution) underway. Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), whined at a recent pro-child killing luncheon in San Francisco: "If we get an anti-choice President in the year 2000, we will see the overthrow of Roe v. Wade." She knows the days of Roe are numbered, and she is right! She is just mixed up about who will be the cause of Roe's demise. It won't be the President. It will be the Church of Jesus Christ living out her theology in the streets.

The children of this new generation are rejecting the moral relativism of their "my rights, my body, my choice, me generation" parents. They are seeking truth, order, and purpose. God Himself is providing a magnificent window of opportunity for us to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their hearts. These kids are searching, and the God who seeks to be found is using us to reveal the depth, order, and hope of one world view over the shallow, chaotic despair of the other.

The battle for the hearts and minds of our kids is being won as we continue to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the gates of hell.

THE ENEMY OF CHRIST ATTEMPTS TO CENSOR THE GOSPEL

The enemy of our Lord is losing on the streets and he knows it, so he uses the courtrooms of our land to judicially remove us from the streets. His latest ploy came as a federal injunction seeking to prevent the Gospel of Jesus Christ from being proclaimed within 60 feet of an abortion mill or hospital where little baby boys and girls are being slaughtered. We (anyone who has ever been to an abortion mill in either Buffalo or Rochester in the past millennium) were served with a 3 1/2" thick dossier describing all of our "terroristic" acts. Elliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York, was the enemy's chosen vehicle.

One lie after another was sworn to in affidavits given by people used by the enemy to murder children. He wanted U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara to grant injunctive relief that would allow him to murder unborn children in peace and quiet. He doesn't want Jesus around when he's trying to kill. His demands became Mr. Arcara's commands as Arcara used his judicial office and authority to silence the Gospel proclamation.

On April 15, 1999, the enemy had succeeded. Arcara cited the federal F.A.C.E. law to expand the buffer zones around local mills to 60 feet. That effectively put us across the street where we could not possibly give the Gospel message to moms in crisis.

F.A.C.E., AN INSTRUMENT IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS

We have often said that F.A.C.E. was never about violence. It was preeminently about silencing the Gospel of Christ. The violence of one was used in 1993-94 to get F.A.C.E. passed into law and silence the voice of many. Barabbas, the insurrectionist and murderer, never caused the enemy of Almighty God to fear. It was Jesus he feared! It was Jesus he had to kill! It was Jesus he had to remove! It was Jesus he nailed to a cross! But, it is Jesus who spells his ultimate doom! (Genesis 3:15, Romans 16:20)

Instinctively, the pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, pro-euthanasia crowd knows this truth. It wants to be god and doesn't want anyone to say to the contrary. That is why there is such an all-out hatred of those who proclaim Christ. Jesus says that He is God and that apart from Him there is no other. Now this just makes for a bad hair day for those who believe that they are gods. If they could just silence the pesky Christians proclaiming Christ, they would be free to do as they please.

This is precisely why we are witnessing the incredible buildup of governmental power in Buffalo and Rochester to silence the Gospel message. Janet Reno has re-initiated her pro-life conspiracy unit. Hillary Clinton has asked for $4.5 million to pay for surveillance equipment and bulletproof windows at abortion mills. Elliot Spitzer has initiated a Reproductive Rights Division staffed with lawyers and investigators to insure abortion access. U.S. District Court Judge Arcara granted an absolutely ludicrous injunction. President Clinton made Buffalo his first stop after his State of the Union Address, and Hillary came to Buffalo April 22 to pay back the abortion industry for its blind support. Police departments in several cities surrounding Buffalo and Rochester have been preparing for months for Operation Save America.

Why all this fuss, you ask?

"The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." Pr 28:1. They are using howitzers in an attempt to kill mosquitoes. The only problem with this strategy is that howitzers have little effect on mosquitoes. Nails could not keep Jesus on the cross and death could not keep Him in the ground. The enemy can fire whatever salvo he desires, but we will continue to bring the Gospel of Christ to the very gates of hell. The reason for all the fuss is that the enemy is quaking in his boots, knowing that the time for his serpentine head to be crushed is drawing nigh.

It is interesting that no other organization on the face of this earth receives as much governmental support and financial aid than the abortion industry. There can be no question that the abortion industry in the United States of America has garnered for itself most-favored business status.

PRESS RELEASES

April 14, 1999

NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL USES F.A.C.E. TO CENSOR GOSPEL OF CHRIST

Elliot Spitzer, Attorney General of New York, is seeking a federal injunction to censor the Gospel of Jesus Christ from being proclaimed within 60 feet of abortion mills or hospitals that kill children. Operation Save America is coming to the streets of Buffalo and Rochester, New York, April 18-25, 1999, and Mr. Spitzer is asking for injunctive relief to enable the abortion industry to continue murdering unborn children in peace and quiet. He has gone so far as to ask for the removal of large graphic signs and scripture verses from the streets of Buffalo. He is demanding our government be used to censor the Gospel proclamation.

"It is ironic that F.A.C.E. (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) is the vehicle Mr. Spitzer has 'chosen' to censor the speech of Christians," said Rev. Flip Benham, National Director of Operation Rescue. "Mr. Spitzer himself, by filing this absurd injunction, blatantly violates F.A.C.E. by attempting to intimidate Christians from giving mothers true reproductive health information. He is blocking the access of pregnant mothers to receive information that might enable them to choose life!"

The issuing of this injunction violates every statement made by those stalwart sponsors of F.A.C.E., Chuckie Schummer and Teddy Kennedy. They made repeated promises that this bill would never be used to silence FREE SPEECH. What a preposterous lie!

"F.A.C.E. was never about violence, though violence was the vehicle used to get the bill passed into law," said Rev. Benham. "It was always about silencing the Gospel of Jesus Christ outside abortion mills. That is what Kennedy and Schummer always had in mind. They never feared violence from us. They knew better than that. They feared the Jesus in our hearts. He is the one they hate! They know He changes lives! He changes everything! He would even change them if they would ask!"

April 16, 1999

OPERATION SAVE AMERICA TO BRING GOSPEL OF CHRIST TO THE GATES OF HELL - THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT!

"Today, we have a federal government that will not allow Christians to speak against the unspeakable horror of murdering precious children in their mother's womb," said Rev. Flip Benham, National Director of Operation Rescue. "F.A.C.E. (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) is the only federal law in this nation's history that has created civil and criminal sanctions for speaking against an issue (sin) of high political controversy."

"Truth has stumbled in the streets!" said Rev Benham. "New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara, and the abortion industry have formed an unholy alliance to censor the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are still allowed to preach Jesus in our churches but we are not allowed, by our government, to live His Gospel in the streets."

UNITED NATIONS REPORT

Wonderful friends of our ministry, Joe and Sheree Havlik, attended the recent United Nations Programme of Action meeting, which was a five-year follow-up of the conference in Cairo. Your eyes will be opened and saddened.

March 1999
By Sheree Havlik

I recently had the honor of attending a conference at the United Nations on World Population and Development. Five years ago a conference in Cairo, Egypt, negotiated a document describing a Programme of Action to be implemented by all nations. The purpose of this program was to solve the over-population problems of the world. The purpose of this recent conference was for each country to status their implementation of the program and to re-negotiate a new Programme of Action.

To those of us who love the gift of life and care about all of God’s children, we would use this conference to find ways of helping developing countries to deal with the problem of too few resources for their increasing population. Think of the good that could be done by sharing our resources and our knowledge to help other countries achieve a greater quality of living. What an historical achievement that would be!

Instead, the leading nations of this conference chose to spread the sins of their own nations to encompass the entire globe. These nations included, among others, the United States, Canada, Germany, and France. Abortion and contraception were the answer to all problems, disguised with words such as "reproductive health services" and "family planning." There was never any mention of Natural Family Planning, although I picked up a newspaper with an ad for "National Family Planning" submitted by Planned Parenthood. (What a coincidence on name similarity!)

This was only the beginning of the deception. On the third day of the conference, Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, began the day proclaiming rights for women and ensuring all nations that the "morning after" pill is not an abortifacient. It is simply a birth control method for "women who are unable to control their pregnancy." She gave examples of "in case a condom were not available the night before" or "a young girl who had been raped." She said that the "morning after" pill was simply a contraceptive and did not interrupt a pregnancy. How can she say this? This conference had defined "pregnancy" as "implantation," not "conception." Since the "morning after" pill prevents implantation, it does not interrupt (their definition of) pregnancy. Another pro-life colleague saw a delegate from a developing country pick up a flyer on the "morning after" pill and heard him say, "Just because we are poor, they think we are stupid." Well said!

Not only are they destroying women and killing babies, but even the adolescents will suffer from the implementation of this program. The Programme of Action addresses adolescent reproductive health education and services. Further in the document this is defined to include access to condoms. It also defined an adolescent to be as young as 10 years old! There was much discussion as to parental rights with regard to the implementation of reproductive health services and education. The U.S., Canada, and European countries were attempting to delete all references to parental rights in the documents. On the other side, though, were many countries fighting hard to establish the rights of each country to implement programs with full respect for the religious, moral, and cultural beliefs of their people, which includes the rights and responsibilities of parents over their minor children. The Ukrainian delegate believed that adolescent reproductive education should include the moral teachings that he, as a parent, would expect. "You can’t separate the physical from the moral," he said. "They are one." These same beliefs were shared by many of the delegates from the Islamic countries.

A youth was selected by the conference to represent the views of the young people. This youth, claiming to speak on behalf of "3 billion" young people, stated that sexual and reproductive health services, including emergency contraceptives, be provided to all young people. He stated that these services must be confidential, accessible, free, non-judgmental, and most of all designed, composed of, and evaluated by young people in collaboration with trained professionals. The very next day we had 20 young college students lobbying the delegates to say that these statements did not represent all youth. They presented their view of chastity, responsibility, and the fostering of whole and healthy relationships with their parents, family, and friends. (Way to go!)

There is much evidence to call into question the effectiveness of the reproductive education programs that have been implemented. The Russian delegate stated that a reproductive education program was implemented three years ago in her country. Since then, they have seen an increase in STDs and HIV/AIDS rather than a decrease. A number of countries have implemented sexual health and reproductive education programs that do not provide for parental involvement. Many of these countries are also experiencing epidemic rates of STDs and HIV/AIDS infection. These include Jamaica, the United States, South Africa, and Russia (as previously stated). Jamaica is currently combating the high disease rates by promoting abstinence programs among their young people. (Bravo!)

Jana Bartosiewiczova, the delegate from the Slovak Republic, stated that sex education starts around the age of 14. She also stated that since the onset of freedom in 1989, the ideas that have come in from the western nations have resulted in a diminishing influence of the family over their children. She believes that freedom is a good thing, but it has come to them with a price. Drug and alcohol abuse by youth is on the rise. She attributes this to the decline of parental involvement. This reinforces the statement by the Coalition for Women, Children, and Family: "Research across cultures consistently shows that the best way to protect adolescents against all risk behaviors – including premature sexual activity – is to maintain the supervisory roles of parents and to protect the parent-child bonds."

I was quite distressed after the first day of this conference. I determined that our government couldn’t change the laws on abortion here in the United States because we are the ones pushing this concept on the rest of the world. Then the Lord pointed out to me – "We must fight all the harder to change the hearts (laws) of our country so that we can stop abortion, not just in our country, but around the world." After all, God’s children are not just in our town, our state, or our country; they are spread through all the nations. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to attend this conference. I now know that fighting abortion just in my own town, state, and country can eventually have an affect around the world. Praise God!

PRO-LIFE CHECKS, A POWERFUL WITNESS

George and Marliss Johnson have been friends of Rescue for a long time, and I would encourage you to get your pro-life checks from them. We receive no money from this but we believe with all our hearts that this is just one more way to speak the truth and open doors to present the Gospel of Christ! Please keep Marliss in your prayers as she is going through chemotherapy and radiation for cancer. Call 1-847-PRO-LIFE for more information.

Keep pressing the gates in Jesus' name,

Flip Benham
Director

UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE GATES:

GOD IS GOING BACK TO SCHOOL March 1 - June 3, 1999

THE WATCH BLITZ, WICHITA, KANSAS June 2 - June 6, 1999