In Willful Sin

Frustrating Monday. Gorgeous weather, however.  Seventy degrees in December! Perfect day to be outdoors getting cussed at, screamed at, or ignored while pleading for life on the sidewalks of the Charlotte abortion mill. It was a strange day. We had plenty of interactions, unlike some days when no one will stop to talk with us. Our hopes were raised many times.Lots of people stopped, engaged in discussion with us, and seemed soft-hearted. Many said they were sorrowful, and knew abortion was wrong. Many said they believed in God, and knew He did not approve. Many felt guilt and sadness already...even before aborting. Many took our literature. One had even already had an ultrasound and had heard the baby's heartbeat.
"Was it the heartbeat of a frog?" I asked.
"No, of course not...I wouldn't conceive a frog."
"What was it the heartbeat of?"
"A baby, of course."
"A human?"
She looked at me with a bit of incredulity over how daft I must be.
"The heartbeat of your baby?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Like that child in the back seat whom you seem to love very much once was?"
"Yes."
"But you are going to stop that human heartbeat, the heartbeat of your own child anyway?"
"I've made up my mind."
"We've already sinned," said the man in the driver's seat, "By not being married. But God forgives."
I am not sure what his point was. I guess if sin is already rampant, what is one more?
"Here is what the Bible says about that," I  said, and read a verse from a list I have titled "How does God feel about continuing in willful sin?"


No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.(1 John 3: 6-10)
 
 "I see that," he said, shaking his head sadly.
"Does God want you to continue in sin?"
"No."
"Then take one first step. Pull up to the mobile RV with our free ultrasound. Look at your baby. Talk to the nurses there. See the resources available that can help you."
"We drove 90 minutes to get here. We can't just waste that time and turn around."
"It will be the best time you ever wasted."

All to no avail. The couple took our literature but pulled into the abortion mill parking lot.

One young man walked over to me and fellow counselor, Joe. He told us he loved God with all his heart, that the woman was in the mill to kill his baby, and he knew it was wrong. We begged him to bring our literature in to his girlfriend. Finally we convinced him he should try. He prayed with me and Joe,  and again, said he knew it was wrong, but he was not responsible. We could not convince him that driving his girlfriend there made him responsible. As far as we know, the woman went through with the abortion. Interestingly, his car died when it was time for them to leave, and he had to get a jump to get it started. Fellow counselor Chrissy and I debated if we should point out that this was just the beginning of woes when one defies God.

Later, Chrissy and I were begging another man in his car to go in and try to bring his girlfriend out. He was a  big guy, which we discovered when he told us to shut up and then came roaring out of his car towards us. I thought we were dead, but he veered off to get something out of the trunk. He had approached us in attempt to intimidate and silence us. It did intimidate, but it didn't silence.
"Whew, I thought we were goners," I told Chrissy, as he closed his trunk without pulling out a Bazooka.
"Oh I never worry about that," she said.
Next time, I will hide behind Chrissy.

We stayed till about a half hour after the abortionist arrived. I would like to be able to stay the entire afternoon till every car leaves, to see if some of the women had the courage in the end to leave that place. It would have been encouraging to know that at least one had. The others had to go however, and it is a hard place to be alone. It is also hard to be there at all. Three hours is a long time to stand so close to such evil.  So we left while there were still some cars there. The young couple whom I had counseled the longest were still in there when I left. I pray a seed was planted that grew...in time. 

When I got home, I had a message from an acquaintance. She told me that many years ago she had made the terrible choice to abort. It broke her heart still. She had told no one, and suffered terribly from what she had done. She told me if only one person had been on the sidewalk begging her to turn away, she thinks she might have chosen life. She urged me to continue speaking up, for women like her. It was a great encouragement to me, after such a difficult day.

There was also a message regarding the new proposed NC abortion clinic rules: 

But under the new rules, which are set to go into effect April 1, 2015, three significant rules governing post-operative care have been removed. Women are no longer required to stay at the abortion clinic at least one hour after their abortions to make sure no complications arise, like uncontrolled bleeding. The abortion doctor or a nurse is no longer required to accompany a woman in the ambulance to the emergency room following a botched abortion. And abortion doctors are no longer required to do a detailed examination of the aborted fetus' remains, to make sure all "products of conception" have been removed from the woman's uterus.
There are no penalties for violations.

One of the six people who helped to revise these rules is the medical director of an abortion clinic closed twice by state regulators for posing "an imminent threat to the health and safety of patients."
Dr. Stuart Lee Schnider, medical director for A Preferred Women's Health Center in Charlotte, was among six "stakeholders" that DHHS consulted in revising the abortion clinic rules.

That is the abortion clinic on whose sidewalks I stand....

One final message greeted me at the end of the draining day. A woman who I helped counsel who ultimately chose life, had her baby, and prayed to accept the Lord with me is being baptized in 3 weeks. A church miraculously offered, and my dear friend miraculously accepted. The day ended with a miracle of one who had chosen to walk in obedience and faith rather than willful sin.

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Hebrews 10:26-27 

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

1 Corinthians 10:13 

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 John 1:9 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:3-6 

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.