La Grande Vitae

Prayers answered

2012-01-17T20:57:00.004-05:00

cue music... OurGod is an awesome God. HE reigns from heaven above...

THIS NEWS JUST IN -

Eastern Avenue abortion clinic in Grand Rapids is now CLOSEDFOR GOOD!!!!!

God has heard the prayers of his people. ALLELUIA!!!

Now we continue to pray for the conversion of the people'shearts who worked there to come to Jesus and that the Fulton Street clinic willclose in the year to come also.

Keep praying, keep fasting, keep praising and working forLIFE!!

There's a party going on with all the angels and saints. Thankyou, JESUS!

Christ has no body but yours; no hands, no feet on earthbut yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion on this world;yours are the feet with which He walks to do good. Yours are the hands withwhich He blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yoursare the eyes, you are His body. Christ has no body now but yours; no hands, nofeet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks compassion onthis world. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

- St. Theresa of Avila

Spring Campaign

2012-01-10T23:24:00.000-05:00

I have submitted my application to national for the campaign beginning Feb.22 and it has received special attention. We will be praying that Planned Parenthood will not be opening its mega-facility at 1625 Opdyke in Auburn Hills, on the border with Pontiac. If they succeed, it will be the largest facility of its kind in Michigan. They will have easy access to their two target demographics: impoverished women in Pontiac and co-eds on the campus of Oakland University.

I will be coordinating the vigil in my hometown remotely from my headquarters in Alpena. Pray that God will send me leadership who can stand in the trenches. If you know of anyone in north Oakland County with staunch pro-life values who could help with this campaign, please give them my email address.

I'm praying that the walls of Jericho never go UP, and I have been assured that God has already won the victory, for it says in today's Psalm for Vespers:

May the Lord hear your prayer in the day of tribulation,

may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.

May he send you help from his holy place;

from Zion, may he extend his protection.

May he remember every one of your sacrifices

and find merit in your burnt-offerings.

May he deal with you as your heart desires

and bring all your plans to fulfilment.

We will rejoice in your salvation,

we will raise our banners in the name of God;

may the Lord grant all your prayers.

Now I know that the Lord keeps his anointed one safe:

in his sanctuary in heaven he hears his prayer,

and lends the support of his strong right hand.

Some put their faith in chariots

and some in horses,

but we invoked the name of the Lord our God.

They stumbled and fell,

but we rose and we stand upright.

Lord, keep the king safe,

and hear our prayer whenever we call upon you.

Sorrowful day for Auburn Hills

2012-01-10T12:25:00.000-05:00

My hometown is about to be washed in the blood of innocents. Please pray for the appeals process:

Press Release

January 10, 2012

Citizens for a Pro-Life Society

www.prolifesociety.com 248 444-9096

Judge Gives Planned Parenthood Green Light to Open Abortion Facility Citizens for a Pro-Life Society Vows Continued Opposition

On Tuesday, January 10, 2012 Oakland County Judge James Alexander, in a controversial decision, ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan’s interpretation of a deed restriction held by the Comfort Inn Suites essentially giving the abortion provider the green light to open an clinic in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The court’s ruling comes after a 14 month-long battle that pitted the abortion provider against Citizens for a Pro-life Society and other pro-life groups who worked to keep the Planned Parenthood building at 1625 N. Opdyke Road abortion free. In December 2010 Planned Parenthood purchased the Opdyke Road property that sits directly in front of a Comfort Inn Suites hotel. The hotel owners, in an attempt to prevent the clinic from opening in their front yard, threatened to enforce its 12 year-old deed restriction that limits the use of the Opdyke property to retail store, restaurant or office.

Planned Parenthood sued the hotel owners over the interpretation of the deed restriction language. Citizens for a Pro-Life Society spear-headed opposition to the opening of the clinic and for over a year the Planned Parenthood property has stood empty and silent while parties on both sides of this dispute battled the case in court—a case abortion opponents have been watching closely. See prolifesociety.com

Monica Migliorino Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society states: "We are filled with great sorrow and disappointment today. Judge Alexander’s ruling will lead to the killing of innocent human life when Planned Parenthood opens the doors of this clinic. We worked hard to stop the spread of abortion's injustice and hoped to spare Auburn Hills this place of death, lies and sorrow. We are sorry that the hotels in the direct vicinity of the Planned Parenthood building may have to share their business environment with the sordid practice of abortion. I know that the Comfort Inn hotel will appeal this case. And we remain undaunted. We will continue to fight the opening of this death center—and be a voice for those innocent unborn who cannot speak for themselves."

A Short History of this Case:

April 27, 2009: Planned Parenthood of Mid and South Michigan CEO Lori Lamerand announces in Detroit News that PPMSM plans to open an abortion facility in Oakland County.

November 2010: Citizens for a Pro-life Society discovers that PPMSM purchased building at 1625 N. Opdyke Road in Auburn Hills, MI.

December 2010: CPLS launches protest against the establishment of the PPMSM abortion clinic in Auburn Hills beginning with 200 Oakland County residents jamming Auburn Hills City Council meeting Dec. 7, 2010.

With help from Dave Theisen of Real Estate for Life, CPLS talks to all business owners in close proximity to the PPMSM Opdyke Road property and discovers that the Comfort Inn Suites holds a deed restriction on the building purchased by Planned Parenthood.

CPLS learns that PPMSM attorneys at Dykema Gossett sent a letter to the Comfort Inn Suites hotel owners notifying them that they represent a possible purchaser who may want to open a “medical office.” Dykema Gossett did not disclose that their client was Planned Parenthood and that it intended to open a surgical treatment center—i.e. an abortion clinic.

PPMSM are notified that the Comfort Inn Suites will enforce their deed restriction.

PPMSM files lawsuit against the Comfort Inn Suites.

In the meantime numerous rallies, demonstrations and prayer vigils organized by Citizens for a Pro-Life Society joined by Central Oakland Right to Life, Michigan LifeSpan, and several local-area churches take place at the Opdyke Road property. The most recent CPLS demonstration took place Saturday, January 7, 2012.

PPMSM case is assigned to Oakland County Judge James Alexander. The first hearing takes place Sept. 7, 2011 and judge rules for a 60 day extension for discovery.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 court decision to decide future of the Planned Parenthood clinic. Whatever decision is made by Judge Alexander, it is expected that his ruling will be appealed.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 Oakland County Judge James Alexander rules against the Comfort Inn hotel’s deed restriction, thus permitting Planned Parenthood to open an Auburn Hills, MI. abortion center.

For more information contact:

Monica Migliorino Miller    248 444-9096
Attorney James Carey for Comfort Inn Suites 248 605-1103
Barb Yagley—Central Oakland Right to Life 248 703-3577
Attorney Rebecca Kiessling 248 495-2925
Dave Theisen—Real Estate for Life   248 431-1440

Year in Review

2012-01-05T00:33:00.000-05:00

from Students for Life of America

January 2011: A youth organization lead by a former SFLA intern, Lila Rose, took their undercover work exposing Planned Parenthood a step further, releasing 7 videos of Planned Parenthood facilities, some that even receive federal taxpayer funding, aiding actors who were posing as human sex traffickers.

February 2011: The pro-life movement united in the “Expose Planned Parenthood” campaign, calling on Congress to de-fund Planned Parenthood of all taxpayer dollars. On Valentines’ Day, we took a stand and prayed and rallied in-front of hundreds of Planned Parenthood facilities. Then, for the first time in our nation’s history, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to federally de-fund Planned Parenthood. The vote caused so much turmoil in Washington, that the government almost shut down in March as the Senate refused to allow a vote on the issue. Instead of waiting for the federal government to act, numerous states like Indiana, New Hampshire, Texas, and Ohio have now gone on to de-fund Planned Parenthood facilities within their borders.

May 2011: The Gallup organization released a poll showing that for the first-time since they began polling on abortion, America is now pro-life.

August 2011: The Guttmacher Institute reported for the first 6 months of 2011, states enacted a record number of pro-life laws, more than 80, more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010. States like Nebraska, Idaho, and Ohio are three who have already enacted fetal pain laws that protect preborn children from abortion after 20 weeks. Arizona and Virginia have enacted a law to regulate abortion facilities, forcing them to comply with the same set of medical standards that other types of medical facilities must follow. And others like South Carolina and Texas passed ultrasound laws that require abortionists to mothers the opportunity to see her preborn child. All of these laws will reduce abortions, and they enjoy broad support with more than 60% of Americans supporting these laws.

September 2011: For the first timein it’s history, the U.S. House of Representatives launched a formal investigation into Planned Parenthood’s practices.

October 2011: The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protect Life Act, a bill voicing the will of the people not to fund any abortions in Obamacare whatsoever.

The innocent still shed their blood

2011-12-28T20:08:00.000-05:00

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, all those young boys in and around Bethlehem, two and under, whom Herod had massacred in order to kill Jesus Christ.

Today we honor their sacrifice. And through our honoring of them, and worship of God, we seek to atone for the many sins against human life, beginning with abortion, and including other forms of murder, and euthanasia, disregard for the safety and dignity of others, mistreatment and indifference to the plight of others, and all other sins against life.

Where does human cruelty come from? Surely it grows in us by stages, for most of us are not born with murderous fear of others. It is “bequeathed” to us by others, and we grow it in our heart. Hatred, rooted in fear, is handed on down through the generations, and the murderous inherit a thinking that there are some who are not worthy of their respect and love. Perhaps they are a threat, perhaps their relatives did something in the past. Perhaps they may do something in the future. Herod was clearly a fearful man, so fearful that he was unmoved by the cries of wailing parents, or of suffering infants. His heart had grow cruel through repeated insensitivity inflicted on others, due to raging and irrational fear.

An Old Latin Hymn says, Crudelis Herodes, Deum Regem venire quid times? Non eripit mortalia, Qui regna dat caelestia (Cruel Herod what do you fear in the King and God to come? He seizes not earthly things who gives heavenly kingdoms). But in the end it IS his fear that drives him.

We know well that Holy Innocents continue to be killed in our world through abortion. And here too, it is most often fear that drives the killing. How will the baby be afforded?! What changes will this baby bring that I cannot take? Perhaps the prenatal tests show a possible defect. I cannot deal with this! What if my parents know that I am pregnant? How will this pregnancy affect my career?! What if my father finds out I got my girl-friend pregnant!? And society says, What of poverty? What of overpopulation? What of deformity? How can we collectively handle all this?

And thus fear drives the current bloodshed. Fear makes us focus on our self, such that we think too little of what we do to others. Abortion thus becomes an “abstraction,” an “issue” that is debated, a “choice.” Abortion, to many, is anything but real. The reality of fetal pain is out of sight and thus less real than the fear. What abortion is doing to our world, that too is less real than the fear. It is the fear that is real, and the fear eclipses everything else. And fear desensitizes, and thus the killing of the innocent becomes plausible, a woman’s “choice,” reproductive “freedom.”

The only solution to fear is trust, faith in God. God alone can set us free from the awful fears that currently drive abortion. We in the Church must be realistic about the fears that many face before the mystery of new life and we must provide reasons for hope and trust. Fear is a cruel task-master and it drives us to do some pretty awful things.

One of the most common lines in the New Testament is “Do not be afraid.” Hope, trust and Faith are important to us on this feast of the Holy Innocents.

There is also this dangerous thought on this Holy Feast.

I’ll explain what I mean by “dangerous” in a moment. But for now consider some biblical facts with me.

When God was drawing close to liberating his chosen people from slavery in Egypt there occurred the order to murder of the all the baby boys among the Hebrews. It is almost as though Satan sensed that God was up to something good, and Satan raged, through Pharaoh, in murderous anger driven by fear. Thankfully the actual numbers were reduced since the Egyptian midwives engaged in civil disobedience, refusing to allow the practice to continue.
At the time of Jesus, when God was preparing to liberate his people from sin, there also occurred the murder of innocent baby boys. Here too, it is almost as though the Devil sensed that God was up to something good and, he once again raged, this time through Herod, in murderous anger driven by fear. Thankfully too this infanticide also ended at some point.
Notice the pattern. When God prepared a great liberation, the Devil, raging in fear, went after the babies. In our time, on a scale as never before, the Devil is going after our babies in murderous anger driven by fear. What is he afraid of? Is God planning something big in the near future? Is there a great liberation at hand? Is there a great advancement of evangelization and conversion in the offing? We can only speculate. But patterns are patterns and Scripture has a way of repeating its patterns and echoing down through the centuries.

Why is this a dangerous reflection? Because I want to make it clear that abortion, the killing of the innocents in our age, is NOT, and never can be, considered something good, or a “positive sign.” Such a speculation might cause some to wrongly conclude that abortion is part of God’s plan or something we should see “positively.” We should not. It must be fought. It is of Satan, it is rooted in fear.

End the Massacre And the Glory follows – I want to conclude by reminding you that the great liberation that followed the past infanticides did not occur until AFTER those murderous rages were stopped. Hence, to follow the pattern established in Scripture, and to see a potentially great and liberating act of God, we must first see an end to the slaughter. Work and pray to end abortion. May the Holy Innocents pray for us!

read the rest of this reflection here.

ArtPeace 2012 coming soon!

2011-12-28T20:04:00.000-05:00

To all who participated or will be participating in the ArtPeace Project:

After displaying the ArtPeace Project since Oct 4, 2011 in 6 storefront windows on Fulton Ave, in Grand Rapids, the ArtPeace Project has been taken down.

pictures and videos are on the web
www.facebook.com/40daysGR
www.artsignup.weebly.com

The K of C will be auctioning off the art very soon with the proceeds to go to charity.
If you have any art pieces to submit (or wood to return) please do so soon! Email or call.

Some that I have spoken to plan to participate in this fund-raising, with no renumeration, however, if you do want a percentage, could you let us know? Please choose 10%, 30% or 50%. Which leads me to the next question, can you send a short paragraph about your art piece with your name, city, email, tel. Some of you are professional artists, would you please tell us what to start the pricing at? Also, if you need more than a paragraph to describe your art, please take as much as you need. TEACHERS: Please tell your students we need this. If we do not hear from you, we will wing it.

We are planning for ArtPeace 2012, and are discussing an upright square "temple" with the Heart Sail in the middle, to give the look and feel of Solomon's Temple with the Heart Sail being the "holy of holies" inside the square enclosure. Displaying the art vertically is definitely better. We will need about 5000 art pieces, and will be needing a venue, structure design and the materials to make the structure, which we will handle. We plan to obtain more cedar wood tiles. Please participate again!

Please share any ideas. Please feel free to comment, send suggestions, etc.

Please feel free to call/text me anytime 980-6031

Patrick Keeley
Publicity Coordinator, Fall Campaign 2011
Grand Rapids 40 Days for Life
www.40daysforlife.com/grandrapids/
www.artsignup.weebly.com

Also, Member K of C #7761, life events coordinator for the ArtPeace Project

from David Bereit

2011-12-25T23:35:00.001-05:00

“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

These words spoken more than 2,000 years ago by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds tending their flocks remind us that when God chose to come to Earth in human flesh, He did so through the womb of a mother.

During this Christmas season, we give thanks for the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ … and we count the many blessings God has showered on 40 Days for Life through your prayers and efforts:

1,633 individual campaigns have taken place in 422 cities across all 50 American states and 13 countries
More than 500,000 people have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
More than 14,000 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
More than 1,800 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programs
Reports document 5,045 lives spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about
Thousands of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, and many have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery
61 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
19 abortion facilities have shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns outside their doors

Has the tide turned?

2011-12-20T13:10:00.000-05:00

Jen Fulwiler thinks so:

As you’ve probably heard by now, the Duggar family lost their precious daughter Jubilee Shalom on December 8th at 20 weeks gestation. They held a memorial service for her last Wednesday, which has generated even more discussion than the original announcement that they were expecting their 20th child. At the service, the Duggars chose to display some professional photographs of the baby’s hands and feet.

Someone leaked the pictures to the media, and the blog world has exploded with conversations about it.
As I made my usual rounds on the internet this weekend, it seemed that I everywhere I clicked there was someone writing about this. The secular blog world seemed particularly interested in the issue: TMZ posted the leaked pictures, and was flooded with hundreds of comments. Posts at Babble, the Stir, the Daily Beast and Jezebel also generated a ton of responses. [Note: Click through at your own risk, since some of those posts and comments have not-safe-for-work language]. At first I moved on from these posts with nothing more than a glance; I didn’t want to dampen the Christmas spirit by reading the inevitable vitriol about those wacky pro-lifers and their obsession with “fetuses.” But then I noticed something shocking:

Wait a sec…nobody is denying that this is a baby!

I went back and read each of the posts, then scanned through comment after comment, hardly able to believe my eyes. The debate that all of these people were having was whether or not the Duggars had disrespected their child by showing pictures of her deceased body at the funeral. Of the hundreds of comments I read, nobody suggested that this was not a full-fledged child. The cause of contention was the issue of whether they had respected their daughter’s dignity, not whether she had dignity in the first place. Her worthiness of respect was taken for granted.

I have been reading sites like this since I first got online. I have been following this kind of subject for years, both when I was pro-choice and now that I’m pro-life. And I can say with certainty: This would not have been the tenor of the conversation 10 years ago—or even five. Even as recently as 2006, there would have been a flood of “it’s just a fetus, who cares?” remarks, and the debate would have centered around whether the child was even worthy of a funeral.

The old myth about unborn life being “just a clump of tissue” has been under attack since the advent of the ultrasound machine, and now it would seem that it’s finally been relegated to the dustbin of history. And, after reading all of these internet discussions, I know that more than a few people are going to be thinking hard about the fact that abortions at this point of gestation are all too common. (As for the myth that abortions at this age are extremely rare: Here’s a video in which an abortion doctor casually mentions women having abortions at 20 weeks because their boyfriends left, or at 24 weeks because it took them a while to collect the money. Also, a quick Google search of second trimester abortion certainly doesn’t seem to indicate that this is a rare or inaccessible procedure. And, if my math is correct, according to this Guttmacher data, over 60,000 babies were killed after 16 weeks gestation in 2008.)

I’ve thought for a long time that the pro-life position will be the default position in the future. I fully believe that 100 years from now, the vast majority of people will consider abortion morally wrong—modern technology has made it too hard to deny the dignity of human life within the womb. The only question was when the shift would finally happen, when society would finally stop clinging to the antiquated, unscientific ideas about unborn children. Survey data has been looking promising for a while, but the internet reaction to the Duggar photos seals it. There is no question that our society has far more respect for unborn human life than it used to.

Ten years ago, the average person would have felt uncomfortable admitting it if she thought abortion were wrong; in the future, I think that public opinion will have shifted to the extent that it will not be socially acceptable to be in favor of abortion. And I believe that history will point to 2011 as the year the balance of public opinion tipped, and the momentum began moving in a pro-life direction.

I believe that we have just witnessed the tide turn.

Revealing

2011-12-18T12:56:00.003-05:00

excerpt from this article at LiveAction:

Here are some examples of actual texts people have sent containing this word:

“So I decided to start saving money for my abortion in a tomato sauce jar because it says ‘Prego.’ I know I thought it was f-ing genius!”

“they had a keg party to fund her abortion.”

“Just paid for that girls abortion on my dad’s black card. I feel like P-Diddy.”

“Only mom could turn an abortion day into a shopping day”

What does this tell us about the attitudes some young people have about abortion?

Granted, these few texts are not necessarily representative of an entire generation. But this is just a sampling. There are four pages of texts containing the word, and they’re all along the same lines as these. And these are just the few random kids who know about the site, decide to submit a text, and have theirs chosen. Each one of these text messages could represent the attitude of thousands of kids.

A lot of “pro-choice” people like to say, “Look, I think women should have a choice, but I don’t think it should be used as a form of birth control.” How many times have you heard that? Personally, at least a hundred.

If it’s not a form of birth control, then what is it exactly?

To the young person living in the age of the hook-up and embracing casual sex as a way of life, abortion is a matter of course. It has to be, in order for them to continue with the lifestyle they enjoy. These values are probably passed down from their parents in a lot of cases. Note two examples above: the young lady whose mom takes her shopping after an abortion, and the young man whose dad lends his credit card to pay for a girl’s abortion.

from our allies at Stand True

2011-12-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

So it begins – this January 22 will mark the beginning of the 40th year of government sanctioned, protected and funded child killing in America.

I know it is Christmas season (yes, I refuse to call it “the holiday season”). I know we are mostly thinking about joyous and happy things this time of year, and I really don’t want to spoil that for you.

But as much as I enjoy Christmastime, it also brings another season along with it for me to begin preparations. Every year at this time I kick into full gear with my planning and for the annual March for Life in Washington, DC.

This year is probably one of the most significant I have ever planned for as we are entering the 40th year of the decriminalization of abortion in America. I was 4 years old when the Supreme Court once again decided to strip the personhood from a group of people, as they did back in 1857 with the Dred Scott decision. I don’t have much memory of life at 4 years old, so in my lifetime I have never really known a time when babies were not being slaughtered.

Anyone who knows me knows I can be a very emotional person and I am honestly fighting back the tears right now as I am typing these words. 40 years! It is so hard for me to grasp the fact that we as a society are still justifying the systematic slaughter of sector of society as some even fight for it existence as a human rights issue.

I have noticed over the years while doing outreach at abortion clinics that the pro-abortion volunteers get most angry with me while I am praying or reading my Bible. They hate it when people gather and pray a rosary or the Psalms. They hate when preachers will just read out loud the word of God; it simply drives them insane.

The spiritual battle does not just exist outside of the abortion clinics; the war is raging inside the churches as those who call themselves followers of Christ continue to ignore this battle. The spirit of apathy is alive and well inside of churches and it is winning.

Can you imagine if those of us who called ourselves Christian and claimed to be pro-life actually stood up and said, "No More"? What if the pastors and priests led their congregations to the gates of hell, the killing centers, and got on their faces before God to cry out about this blood being spilled in the streets? What if every singleperson in each city where these death camps existed marched to the front doors and said, "No More"?

Maybe you are one of those who think that this is just too big of a hill to climb, just as some thought that William Wilberforce could not climb the hill to abolish slavery? Maybe you are one who thinks that we must just accept the way things are because they will never change, just like those who thought Martin Luther King, Jr. would never change things?

I know how big God is. I know he is bigger than abortion. I have seen God take a scumbag like myself and allow me to go out and help lead a generation of the most amazing young people to take a stand against the killing of their generation. I still believe God is bigger than abortion and that we will win this battle.

This generation also believes that and that is why this is the generation who will end abortion. This will be the next William Wilberforce generation; they will take action and be the generation to usher in the abolition of the worst human rights tragedy in history, abortion.

As we enter the 40th year of decriminalized child killing in America it is time for Christians to break off the chains of 40 years of apathy and rise up, stand true and cry out for the abolition of abortion.

Are you with us?

For Christ I Stand,

Bryan Kemper

from our allies in Southfield

2011-12-13T11:35:00.000-05:00

After the 40 Days for life campaign ended, I took a few weeks off to take a mental and physical break from it. Sometimes when you take a break from something, it can be hard to get back into the groove again.

So yesterday I went out around 10:00 a.m., just planning to say a rosary and then leave. The clinic had a few cars there when I arrived, but it was not busy. I saw a few familiar faces, who were happy to seem back. As I was about to finish my Rosary, I noticed a group of 4 cars lined up to turn into Womancare. I first thought this was strange, and then it hit me. Our Veritas member Claudia had invited her students to come and pray. I had forgotten about it, and left my phone at my home. It was so great to see Claudia and about 10 of her students praying together while walking around the abortion center. What

You never know the suprises (gifts) that God presents to you when you least expect it. The even better news was that there was a possible turn earlier in the morning (the woman decides to keep her baby).

The Christmas season can be so busy on all of us. Work, life in general can take it's toll. I know speaking for myself, when we get free time, we just want to take a break. Do something fun, rest, watch football (ok atleast me), be with friends and family. Those are all great things and we need them in our life.

Our group would not be the same without your support. Everyone reading this is apart of what we are trying to do. To save lives and hearts.

For me, it's easy to be caught up in everything you need to do, and you can get comfortable in that cycle. When you're not at the abortion clinic, it can lose a little meaning of exactly what is going on there, and the emotional hurt taking place.

We need to rejoice this advent in preperartion for Christmas. But during reflection please think of the women, and men struggling with these decisions they face. People who may be leading a lifestyle that will bring them more hurt and less fullfillment in life. We never know who the people we are in contact with at work, in our churches, at the grocery store, at a family christmas party could be going through.

Thanks you as always for reading this. May everyone have a truly wonderful Christmas.

James

Please pray!

2011-11-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

After praying for an end to abortion with 40 DFL in Ann Arbor, Southfield, and Grand Rapids, I have moved to a city where abortions don't take place: Alpena, MI.

My heart grieves, however, because Planned Parenthood is targeting my hometown of Auburn Hills, MI, where I was born and raised. They intend to build a flagship facility on the border of Pontiac, halfway between the economically depressed African American population in that city and the college coeds at Oakland University. If they succeed, it will be the largest abortion mill in the state.

They are trying to target the two customers they prefer most: minority women and college students. Ask yourself why those two groups would be a crucial demographic for PP?

Monica Miller, of Citizens for a ProLife Society, has led the charge against PP. There is currently a deed restriction in effect that may prevent this facility from being built. But prayer warriors are needed, all over the state of Michigan!

If PP wins, it will affect Grand Rapids and Lansing and all of us. Please pray for Monica Miller and the campaign in Auburn Hills. They have a long road ahead of them, and it will last longer than 40 days.

The results show

2011-11-07T20:53:00.003-05:00

Dear Faithful 40 DFL Pray-ers,

Yesterday we concluded our 40 Days for Life campaign.

Thank you to all of you who prayed, fasted and kept vigil during these
days. You provided a powerful witness on the sidewalk and we know we
can claim victory in the name of the Lord!

During this, the fifth and largest 40DFL campaign in Grand Rapids, 36
churches, several Knights of Columbus Councils and various area youth
groups, enlisted 100's of pray-ers to participate. There were babies
saved from abortion (at least 4 that we know of, and probably more),
the clinic was unexpectedly closed on an abortion day, and on a
miraculous morning, an ultrasound tech showed up unexpectedly just
when she was needed - Praise God!

For those who are moved to continue praying, the clinic does abortions
on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, from 8 am to 1 pm. You are
always welcome to come to the sidewalk during this time - and this
witness offers special encouragement to the sidewalk counselors who
continue onsite every week throughout the year.

Once again, thank you!

God bless you for your commitment to life,
Lisa Peters
Adminstrative Coordinator
Fall 2011 Grand Rapids Campaign

Victory day

2011-11-06T20:50:00.001-05:00

40 days ago ...
... there were children scheduled to be aborted who
are alive today -- 508 that we know of!

40 days ago ...
... women were making abortion appointments -- but now,
they're preparing their lives to welcome a new baby boy
or baby girl.

40 days ago ...
... cold hearts that were annoyed at your peaceful
presence at the abortion facility are now open to
joining you in prayer.

40 days ago ...
... you may have doubted what God could accomplish; and
yet through your prayer, fasting and vigil ... YOU have
been spiritually blessed.

Babies ... women ... workers ... hearts ... minds --
these are all impacted when we pray and bring light
into the darkness!

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and
the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all
that is in heaven and in the earth is Yours.

We pray for your continued guidance and protection
throughout the remainder of this 40 day campaign. May
we be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in Your
work, knowing that our labor will not be in vain. We
pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.

from Human Life Intl.

2011-11-05T20:58:00.000-04:00

According to many population experts, humanity reached a milestone this week as the world's population reached seven billion people. Every life is a blessing and a miracle to be celebrated, but as we saw in many of the news reports of baby seven billion, this miracle and milestone is being used by some to push even harder for the depopulation of the world, and the further devaluing of life.

In what I think could fairly be described as a questionable PR strategy, the "Day of 7 Billion" fell on Halloween, yielding tales of fright of "overpopulation" for many anti-life activists. But like most of the stories we hear around Halloween, the overpopulation bogeyman is a myth designed to scare us.

Many major news sources focused on Danica May Camacho, a 5.5 pound baby girl born in the Philippines, as the symbolic birth of the world's seven billionth person. It is not certain who the actual seven billionth person is, but United Nations officials were on hand at Danica's birth to present her and her family gifts to mark the occasion. Of course, for those who are familiar with the UN's programs designed to reduce the number of children in the developing world, the specter of UN officials on hand to "welcome" a young Filipina really is enough to send shivers up your spine.

News reports quoted Dr. Eric Tayag of the Department of Health in the Philippines as saying that Danica's birth came with a warning: "Seven billion is a number we should think about deeply," he said. "We should really focus on the question of whether there will be food, clean water, shelter, education and a decent life for every child. If the answer is 'no,' it would be better for people to look at easing this population explosion."

"Easing this population explosion." That's an interesting way of putting it, especially since fertility rates in the Philippines and in much of the world have already fallen so dramatically over the last few decades. Rather than focusing on creating stable, efficient governments that foster economic development and the responsible production of resources, there are many who would rather focus on preventing children from entering the world. Indeed, if the Reproductive Health Bill that Philippine President Aquino is supporting passes, taxpayer money will be used to fund programs pushing contraceptives and abortificacients on Filipinos to destroy the next generation, instead of funding services to improve the lives of the current and future generations.

Even while warning of the "challenges that a growing population poses" in a statement about the "Day of 7 Billion," the UN issued a report that points out the decline of many countries' populations around the world.

The report, published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), known for promoting contraception and abortion around the world, said, "With the declines in fertility in most of the world, the global growth rate of population has been decreasing since its peak of 2.0 per cent in 1965-1970." The UNFPA also points out that in "developed countries, the average fertility rate is about 1.7 births-below the replacement level of 2.1 births."

There are solutions to the problems of economic development around the world, but purposefully preventing human life is not one of them. Especially in nations where children are the "social security" for their parents as they age, to eliminate children is to put the parents' own future at risk.

The future is bright

2011-11-05T18:43:00.001-04:00

from Students for Life:

I wanted to take a few minutes this morning to share with you a wonderful article that was published in The Weekly Standard earlier this week.

Is it an interesting read about the state of the current pro-life movement and exciting to see Students for Life’s work mentioned by name. However, what was most thrilling to me was the theme present through the entire article: We are winning, and the youth of America are leading the charge.

"Opponents of abortion are rarely interviewed on television these days. iIt’s much harder to get on TV than it used to be,' says Charmaine Yoest, who heads Americans United for Life. Bookers of guests for news shows tell her, 'We don’t want to talk about abortion. We’re tired of it.'

Perhaps the mainstream media are simply incapable of covering more than one social issue at a time. For the moment, the conflict over gay marriage and gays in the military is monopolizing media coverage, TV and print alike. Abortion is barely an afterthought.

There’s an upside to this for the pro-life movement, a benefit of benign neglect. Foes of gay rights are now seen by the press as fighting the bad war, roughly analogous to Vietnam. Pro-lifers are waging the good war, like World War II. 'You get much less grief fighting against abortion than you do fighting to preserve traditional marriage,' says Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List.

If only the media knew. They have missed the most important breakthrough in the struggle over abortion in years: the resurgence of the pro-life crusade. The press elite was beaten on the story by publications such as Christianity Today ('The New Pro-Life Surge') and Baptist Press ('5 Reasons the Pro-Life Movement is Winning')." Continue reading...

The article repeats what I often say, that this new generation is the most pro-life generation since abortion was legalized in 1973. And they see abortion not just as a political or religious issue, but rather a fundamental human rights violation.

And while this article highlights how far our movement has come, it also reminds me of how much work is still left to be done.

Polls confirm that America’s young people ARE pro-life but thanks to radical professors and targeted Planned Parenthood campaigns, they, more often then not, find it hard to stand strong for their beliefs.

Lord have mercy

2011-11-04T18:39:00.004-04:00

There’s a lot of pain out there. Women and men. Regret and sorrow. But if you’ve participated in an abortion in one way or another, you can heal. There is mercy.

That’s the message of Christianity, and it’s for everyone, even the mom who went through with an abortion. Even a baby’s father who pressured a woman to get one because he didn’t know how to or want to acknowledge that he was, in fact, a father.

Theresa Bonopartis is director of Lumina/Hope & Healing After Abortion, a post-abortion ministry in New York, a project of Good Counsel Homes. At the end of Respect Life Month, she talks about her work, exposing the pain to daylight, so that others may seek God’s healing love.

Life = Opportunity

2011-11-03T12:23:00.002-04:00

The 30-second spot Little Rascals celebrates the simple fact that life equals opportunity. The ad playfully reminds us that each life is special.

Accusations, a 30-second ad, which is also airing on statewide television reinforces that no matter what obstacles are in your path, life is the best option. Each ad ends with the Right to Life of Michigan web site address, RTL.ORG.

Take a one-minute break and watch the ads.

7 Billionth Baby

2011-11-02T12:23:00.000-04:00

from Students for Life:

The United Nations Population Division projected October 31st 2011 as the day on which the world will be home to seven billion people, and while there have been rumors for decades surrounding a global crisis rooted in overpopulation, Steven W. Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, thinks otherwise.

“This is a happy occasion,” says Mosher, a leading population expert and best-selling author. "The world's population has more than doubled since 1960, and humanity has never been so prosperous."

According to Mosher, "contrary to what you might hear, the most pressing problem in country after country today is not overpopulation, but underpopulation. In a time of fiscal austerity, the last thing that we need to be doing is spending more tax dollars to drive down the birth rate, reducing the amount of human capital available, and making us all poorer in the long run.”

"We are grateful that Baby Seven Billion will come into this world,” Mosher says. “Baby Seven Billion, boy or girl, red or yellow, black or white, is not a liability, but an asset; not a curse, but a blessing for us all. Humanity's long-term problem is not going to be too many children, but too few children."

Mosher's analysis of world population trends stands in contradiction to the United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) report on The State of World Population 2010, which Mosher contends is misleading. Further US funding of the UNFPA is presently in jeopardy because of UN population control agency’s continued involvement in China’s coercive one-child policy.

To watch the Population Division's newest video on the myth of overpopulation and the world's seven billionth person, click here.

Fr. Pavone Prayer 2

2011-11-01T14:53:00.002-04:00

O God, who adorn creation with splendor and beauty
and fashion human lives in your image and likeness,
awaken in every heart
reverence for the work of your hands,
and renew among your people
a readiness to nurture and sustain
your precious gift of human life.

Echoing the imagery of Psalm 104 and drawing from Genesis 1:26, this prayer focuses on how human life itself reflects the image of the Creator, and therefore should evoke in our hearts a reverence and awe which should outweigh any fear in welcoming or defending human life.

This prayer is especially appropriate to use in gatherings of those who assist moms and dads in pregnancy centers, and who do spiritual and educational work in the pro-life movement. The reverence for the work of God's hands feeds the love which is expressed in that "readiness to nurture and sustain" human life. As Blessed Teresa of Calcutta said, "The mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts" (Prayer Breakfast, 1994).

Fr. Pavone Prayer 1

2011-11-01T14:50:00.001-04:00

God our Creator,
we give thanks to you,
who alone have the power to impart the breath of life
as you form each of us in our mother's womb;
grant, we pray,
that we, whom you have made stewards of creation,
may remain faithful to this sacred trust
and constant in safeguarding the dignity
of every human life.

Drawing images from Genesis 2:7 and Psalm 139, the prayer affirms that only God can create. Parents cooperate with his creative power, but the conception of each new life is a direct choice and act of God. He alone owns human life -- not parents, nor doctors, nor government -- and he alone can take it.

Our role, as the prayer indicates, is to carry out a "sacred trust" as "stewards." In "The Gospel of Life," Blessed John Paul II said it this way: "Yes, every man is his 'brother's keeper', because God entrusts us to one another" (EV, 19). Some think it's none of their business to defend the life of someone else's child. But God Himself makes it our business. The child scheduled to be killed today by abortion is our brother, our sister, our sacred trust.

We safeguard human life in a variety of ways, including speaking words of encouragement, teaching, assisting parents, and shaping public policy.

The Eve of All Saints Day

2011-10-31T02:31:00.049-04:00

The next three days will be a big deal in my household.

Nov.1 is the festival of All Saints Day, when we remember all those who lived lives of heroic virtue and sanctity, those who were "washed in the blood of the Lamb."

Nov.2 is the commemoration of all the souls of the faithful departed, all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.

Halloween is the day when we celebrate Christ's victory over sin and death by making fun of Satan, his ghouls, and all those St. Michael drove out of heaven.

I've never understood the injunction that Halloween is not a Christian holiday. People celebrate Christmas without honoring Christ, but it's still a Christian holiday. Here are two quotes that explain what Halloween is for Christians:

"If you persevere in the love and grace of God, you too shall be a saint. The whole point of "All Hallows" is to remind us to be "hallowed" or "sanctified". Most of us won't have our own particular feast day and so All Saints Day will be our feast day (if God willing, we go to Heaven). It is the feast day for most of the Church's saints, those who lived peaceably, followed Christ, loved their families, accomplished their duties in life and passed on to the next life. May their prayers be with us."

"So witches, wicca, witchcraft--all that stuff. Yes, it's real...Remember in all the fun that the purpose of Hallowe'en is to scare the spooks away--not invite them in. Dressing up as monsters has the same purpose as putting gargoyles on cathedrals--you're supposed to be scarier than the devil in order to give him the creeps and send him running. So when you carve a jack o'lantern, make him scary as you can; but say a prayer as you put him out, that he might keep away the real monsters of the night. And if you dress as a ghoul or a ghost or a witch or a warlock, remember that you are doing so to creep them out; and say a prayer of deliverance from all the dark forces of the world."

What better time than these three days to be praying for an end to abortion. We honor the memory of these innocent babies washed in the blood of the Lamb. We plead that the holy angels of God will vanquish the culture of death and lies in facilities such as the one at 320 Fulton . We pray that our souls will be united with Christ in heaven on the day of our death.

So have a Happy Halloween, and continue praying & fasting for an end to abortion. (Perhaps offer up a different form of fasting if your kids want to share their candy with you! or ask them to offer their candy for the sake of the children who will never get to go trick-or-treating)

ArtPeace needs your help

2011-10-30T11:22:00.000-04:00

We are planning for ArtPeace 2012, and are discussing an upright square "temple" with the Heart Sail in the middle, to give the look and feel of Solomon's Temple with the Heart Sail being the "holy of holies" inside the square enclosure. Displaying the art vertically is definitely better. We will need about 5000 art pieces, and will be needing a venue, structure design and the materials to make the structure, which we will handle. We plan to obtain more cedar wood tiles. Please participate again!

Please share any ideas. Please feel free to comment, send suggestions, etc.

Please feel free to call/text me anytime 980-6031

Patrick Keeley

Publicity Coordinator, Fall Campaign 2011

Grand Rapids 40 Days for Life

www.40daysforlife.com/grandrapids/

www.artsignup.weebly.com

International

2011-10-29T14:55:00.018-04:00

Sean Carney's reflection from today's devotional reminds us that people all over the world are standing in solidarity with us when we stand and pray at 320 Fulton. He includes messages of solidarity from people praying in Germany, Argentina, and Vancouver.

I especially liked the imagery in today's prayer:

O God, from generation to generation, you have called
your people to be the very aroma of life amidst a
culture of death. Now it is our turn. Prepare me.
Send me. Use me. I am eager to do my part. Stir your
people everywhere to take up this great work.

Isn't that lovely? we are called to be the aroma of life in a culture of death.

That aroma has spread around the world. It doesn't need to be pungent; it simply needs to be wafting into people's consciousness. Let the Holy Spirit do the work, and your silent prayer on a cold, lonely sidewalk will reverberate around the globe!

Only 10 more days

2011-10-29T01:12:00.000-04:00

Dear Faithful 40 DFL Pray-ers,

We are now just 10 days away from the culmination of our 40 Day
Campaign of Prayer, Fasting and Vigil on Sunday, November 6.

This fall our Grand Rapids campaign has been filled with miracles -
mothers and babies saved from the tragedy of abortion and clinics
unexpected closed. All attest to the power of God at work in our
midst in response to our pleas - praise Him!

Please join us for the Victory Rally on Sunday, November 6 - the 40th
Day!

This is always a very moving event as participants are able to share
their experiences from the sidewalk, so please mark you calendars:

Where: Life International, 72 Ransom St., Grand Rapids.
When: Sunday, November 6, 2 pm
What: Open mike sharing, Prayer, Music and Refreshments

We will walk the 3 blocks to 320 Fulton for a closing prayer in front
of the clinic, and then return to Life International for refreshments.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

God bless you for your commitment to life!

Lisa Peters
Adminstrative Coordinator
Fall 2011 Grand Rapids Campaign

God with us

2011-10-28T22:34:00.000-04:00

Very briefly, for 15 minutes, I got to stand on the sidewalk and pray. I'm in town for the weekend, and I had a moment to stop by and pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, asking God to pour out His Mercy upon 320 Fulton.

I've been asked, "Where do you find God?" And while most times I experience God in church, I also find God at 320 Fulton. I know that one day it will just be an ordinary building again. I have only rarely felt the presence of God in a non-sacramental setting, and standing on the sidewalk is one of those settings.

I am so blessed that I got to stand there and pray one last time before the 40 days conclude next weekend. I hope all of you go to LifeInternational for the victory celebration, and know that I am with you in the solidarity of the Holy Spirit, as we are all one body in Christ, poised to witness God's victory over the sin of abortion just like we have witnessed victory over the sin in our own hearts.

Peace be with you!

The Abortionist's Wife

2011-10-28T01:18:00.002-04:00

A vigil participant was noticing that nearly all the
cars in the abortion center parking lot were parked in
the staff area -- very few were in the area reserved
for those with appointments. And that was good.

The volunteer was soon deep in prayer when the
abortionist drove up -- with his wife and their
teenager. He got out of the car and headed toward
the building while the wife and teen drove away.

The abortionist's wife pulled up next to the vigil
participant, rolled down her window and asked, "How
are you doing?" The surprised volunteer answered,
"Good! How about you?"

She responded, "I just wanted to tell you that I so
appreciate what you do and how you are always so nice
and respectful." That simple response turned out to
be the opening line in a very lengthy conversation.

The wife expressed her gratitude for the way the
40 Days for Life vigil is conducted. In another city,
there is a group outside the abortion center that
yells at her husband.

Here, however, he's been told that the vigil
participants are praying for him. "He just can't
understand how you can be so against what he does
and yet so nice to him."

She explained that her husband grew up in a home that
had no use for religion -- the concept is totally
foreign to him. The volunteer promised to pray that he
would be able to grasp -- and eventually embrace --
faith. The teen blurted out, "Please do!"

"I asked the abortionist's wife to pray for me," said
the volunteer, "and she said she would."

The wife said, "I'm really impressed that you believe
in something so strongly and passionately that you’re
willing to be here every week for years in every kind
of weather."

"There is much to meditate upon from this conversation,"
said the 40 Days for Life volunteer. "It confirmed the
constant presence, the peaceful method, the prayerful
attitude. It helped give me a renewed sense of
dedication to continually trying to get people to
sign up so that we can have a constant presence on the
sidewalk. We never know who will see us and when they
will see us.

"God gave me an awesome story in order to ask once
again for you to join us for 40 Days for Life. Please
keep praying for an end to abortion and for ALL those
involved. God is using us to help bring His children
to Him -- ALL of them!"

- as told by David Bereit

Prayers answered

2011-10-27T02:26:00.001-04:00

Just thought you should all know....the doctor was NOT in this morning. No abortions done today, Wed. Oct. 26!!!!! May God be praised. Mary Verwys was there and she said this almost never happens.

Yours for Life in Christ,
Jane

One more link

2011-10-26T16:20:00.001-04:00

about Fasting 2011

How to Stop Abortion

2011-10-25T16:14:00.000-04:00

Claiming Our Victory Over Satan

"Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb." —Psalm 139:13

SPIRITUAL WARFARE

I have been praying publicly before abortion chambers for over 25 years and have been privileged to see babies saved through our prayers. In these years, I have not had the slightest regret about my public witness for life. I am more convinced than ever of the power and fruitfulness of publicly waged spiritual warfare. Millions of babies have been killed, but millions of babies have been saved. We will eventually bring down our "culture of death," but we have a long way to go. To accelerate our victory in Jesus, we must realize we should not be fighting primarily abortion and abortionists. Rather, our battle is not against human forces, but against the devil (Eph 6:12).
When we know our ultimate enemy, we can choose the appropriate weapons. "The weapons of our warfare are not merely human. They possess God's power for the destruction of strongholds. We demolish sophistries and every proud pretension that raises itself against the knowledge of God; we likewise bring every thought into captivity to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor 10:4-5). These weapons are invisible and are directed against an invisible enemy, Satan. They are wielded by faith (see 2 Cor 6:7).

FAST AND PRAY

To enlist as a soldier in God's army (2 Tm 2:3), we must accept Jesus as Lord and Commander-in-Chief. Then we receive the power of the Holy Spirit and, as a part of His body the Church, are given authority over all evil spirits (Mt 10:1). We exercise this authority by wielding several weapons, especially prayer and fasting. Pope John Paul II has taught: "Jesus Himself has shown us by His own example that prayer and fasting are the first and most effective weapons against the forces of evil (cf. Mt 4:1-11). As He taught His disciples, some demons cannot be driven out except in this way (cf. Mk 9:29). Let us therefore discover anew the humility and the courage to pray and fast so that power from on high will break down the walls of lies and deceit: the walls which conceal from the sight of so many of our brothers and sisters the evil of practices and laws which are hostile to life" (The Gospel of Life, 100).
When we pray and fast in faith, we can move the mountain of Planned Parenthood and the international system of abortion (Mt 17:20). The power of our prayer is much more than we can ever ask or imagine (Eph 3:20). Our fasting sets the captives free (Is 58:6), even babies captive in the womb-tomb of an aborting mother. Our prayer and fasting are like loaves and fish to be multiplied to transform the masses and save babies throughout the world.

DIE TO SELF

The devil will attempt to rob us of the "fire-power" we have through prayer and fasting. He will tempt us to sin by focusing on ourselves. To save a life, someone must usually die to self. We know this from Jesus' crucifixion and death. We must die to ourselves, or babies in the womb will die. We must resist temptation, accept persecution, and make sacrifices. "Continually we carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed" (2 Cor 4:10). If we die to self, we bear much fruit (Jn 12:24).

LOVE AND FORGIVENESS

Another way the devil tries to sabotage our power in Christ is by taking away our love, for if we refuse to love in God's unconditional way, whatever we do profits us nothing (1 Cor 13:2). To beat the devil and save lives, we must have four loves:

We are to love God with our whole heart (Mt 22:37). This is the first commandment and the basis of the Christian life.
We must love the babies in the womb.
We must love our enemies (Mt 5:44). This includes forgiving those who have had the abortions. They are often more victims than victimizers. Furthermore, we must love and forgive even the most unscrupulous abortionists.
We should also love our co-workers, others standing for life and fighting against abortion. The devil tries to get us fighting among ourselves. We all have different callings. Even though we advocate spiritual warfare against the demons of abortion, we must respect those fighting abortion in other ways.

OBEDIENCE

In spiritual warfare, obedience is of utmost importance. Often God call us to wage war publicly, to do our praying and fasting in the open, on the street, in front of the abortion chamber. We must obey His calling and prophesy through public witness in the tradition of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Francis of Assisi, and Mother Teresa. When we obey, Goliath falls; the walls of Jericho come tumbling down, and Satan is quickly crushed under our feet (Rm 16:20).

Fasting tutorial

2011-10-24T12:54:00.000-04:00

Campus Crusade for Christ has a Personal Guide to Fasting available on their website.

Here's some good advice:

Fasting is not just denying yourself food. It is exchanging the needs of the physical body for those of the spiritual. Long times of prayer and reading God's Word will be very essential if you are to enter into a more intimate communion with God to maintain your fast to its completion. While fasting, if you dissipate your energy on numerous errands or busy-work to the neglect of spending special time with God, you will starve both physically and spiritually. You will find yourself becoming discouraged and frustrated with your fast instead of being benefited and uplifted and blessed. I don't want that to happen to you.

The more time you spend with God in fellowship, worship, and adoration of Him, and the more you read and meditate upon His Word, the greater your effectiveness will be in prayer and the more meaningful your fast will be. So I encourage you to arrange your schedule accordingly!

David Bereit on Fasting

2011-10-23T16:10:00.000-04:00

The scripture verse most often cited in relation to
40 Days for Life offers a classic if/then statement.
IF we humble ourselves and pray, God tells us in 2
Chronicles 7:14, THEN He will hear from heaven and
heal our land.

There is a reward, but there is also a price. If we
focus on the reward, but neglect to pay the price…
well, in the end there is no reward.

God has promised to heal our land, but FIRST we must
humble ourselves and pray.

That is the primary focus of 40 Days for Life –
prayer, coupled with fasting.

Prayer, because with God all things are possible. And
fasting because scripture tells us that some demons
can only be driven out through prayer AND fasting.

Prayer and fasting can be humbling experiences –
especially prayer offered in a public location such
as the sidewalk on a busy street in front of an
abortion facility.

But it’s worth it!

It was worth it for the volunteer who had no car, but
who regularly took public transit to pray at the
abortion facility — a route that required transfers
to four different trains and finally a bus — because
he was called to action on behalf of those who
couldn’t help themselves.

It was worth it to the man who lost his job right
before a 40 Days for Life campaign, and took it as
his duty to stand vigil at the abortion center for 19
hours a day to challenge the evil taking place in his
community.

It was worth it to the campaign director whose family
lost their home to foreclosure during a 40 Days for
Life campaign. However, she kept her commitment to
keep speaking out for the unborn and was able to help
save many lives.

At the center of the call to participate in 40 Days
for Life is a call to sacrifice. It’s hard. But it’s
necessary — and it’s worth it. God has promised
victory… IF we will humble ourselves and pray.
—————————————————–
SCRIPTURE
—————————————————–
“If My people who are called by My name will humble
themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from
their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and
forgive their sin and heal their land.”
– 2 Chronicles 7:14

from Facebook

2011-10-22T21:39:00.000-04:00

In case you can't read the text on his poster, it says: "I may not be perfect but I'm happy. I am God's handiwork and I bear His image. I am blessed. I am the 10% of children born with Down Syndrome who survived Roe v. Wade"

from Sean Carney

2011-10-22T15:50:00.003-04:00

Lisa from Grand Rapids sent me a note about Pete, a
10-year-old who's come up with his own unique concept
of fasting for 40 Days for Life.

During this campaign, Pete's mom said he is fasting ...
from warm baths! From Day 1 through Day 40, it's only
cold water for Pete.

"I was speechless," his mom said. She has been fasting
from chocolate. "Here I am whining inside about my
chocolate withdrawal -- and my 10-year-old is taking
cold baths for an offering!"

Lisa said, "Clearly, Pete can teach us all something
about fasting!"

Leave a comment and let us know what God has taught you about fasting

Facebook

2011-10-21T22:04:00.012-04:00

Did you know Laura updated our Facebook page so you can find it more easily?

Go to and it will be more direct than searching for it.

While you're there you might notice we have a Victory Celebration scheduled on Nov. 6 at Life International.

Until April 2004, the largest abortion clinic in West Michigan operated within a converted 19th century church in the heart of Grand Rapids. An estimated 20,000 children lost their lives in the depths of 72 Ransom Avenue. After years of ceaseless prayer by the community of believers, God redeemed His house by allowing the building to be purchased by LIFE International to be restored as a place that brings the light and life of Christ to the nations.

Starfish caught

2011-10-21T15:29:00.000-04:00

Dear Faithful 40DFL Pray-ers,

Another mother and child spared from abortion....Praise the Lord!

Jackie acts as a 'hostess' every Thursday during abortion hours, from
8 to 1. Here is her account of what happened this morning.

God is so good!

Lisa Peters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Thurs a.m.

Hi Lisa,
This morning a couple was in the stairwell, the young lady was sad &
her husband (?) was hugging her, looking at us & shaking his head. I
motioned for him to come out, they were there for a short time but
finally went in. I knew she did not want to go in so we all stood
together & prayed. I even went & got Megan, the sidewalk counselor,
but Ruth said we can't do anything but pray. A short time later they
came out told the counselors she would not have an abortion & told the
40 day for life prayer warriors the baby would not be aborted.

This lifted my spirits also, I was struggling going in this morning my
husband was complaining he did not want me driving in the dark in all
the rain, my daughter needed me this afternoon I was discouraged on
the way in thinking what is this all for? Seeing that mother's
beautiful smile of happiness was worth it. I will be back next week
with a renewed spirit. Praise God!!!!!!!

God Bless,

Jackie

Ethical Clarity

2011-10-20T19:43:00.000-04:00

A professor of philosophy in Los Angeles, Christopher Kaczor is the author of the new book The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice. He talks to National Review Online’s Kathryn Jean Lopez in a five-page interview. Here's a sample, but do read the whole thing:

LOPEZ: What is the sum of all personhood debates? And why does it matter?

KACZOR: The debate about “personhood” is really the debate about who will be included in the human community, who will be respected, and who will receive legal protection. This debate goes back over the centuries, throughout which various classes of human beings were excluded from the human family. Those excluded tend to change over time but have been at various points Native Americans, Africans, Catholics in Protestant-dominated countries, Protestants in Catholic-dominated countries, non-Muslims, Jews, the handicapped, and women. Every single time we’ve said, this or that class of human beings does not merit protection and respect, I think we’ve made a terrible mistake. Today, I believe we’re making another terrible mistake in excluding from full protection and respect human beings prior to birth.

...remember that we are part of an Abolitionist movement!

LOPEZ: Congresswoman Jackie Speier made headlines this year when she emotionally talked about her abortion on the House floor, supposedly having the rhetorical effect of shutting down pro-life congressman Christopher Smith? Can you bring some ethical clarity to that episode?

KACZOR: After hearing Christopher Smith describe the gruesome reality of an abortion procedure, Congresswoman Speier said, “I really planned to speak about something else, but the gentleman from New Jersey just put my stomach in knots, because I’m one of those women he spoke about just now. I had a procedure at 17 weeks pregnant with a child who moved from the vagina into the cervix.” She continued, “I lost a baby,” she said, pausing again. “But for you to stand on this floor and suggest, as you have, that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcomed or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous.” I’m not sure that Congressman Smith claimed that this was welcomed or done without thought. I also don’t think that Congresswoman Speier can generalize from her own case and say that all abortions are similar to hers. But what is at issue is not whether abortion is done thoughtfully or cavalierly, but whether what is done is intentionally taking the life of a human being prior to birth. The implicit and fallacious argument of Congresswoman Speier seems to be, “Abortion isn’t bad because I did it.” She is confusing a judgment about persons — this person is bad — with a judgment about actions — this act is wrong. We can and should refrain from judging people who have had abortions, since we do not know their mind and heart. We cannot judge their culpability for their actions. But at the same time, we can and must judge whether particular actions are just or unjust.

The Day After

2011-10-20T18:40:00.002-04:00

Bryan Kemper shares an invigorating blogpost about the ProLife Day of Silent Solidarity, which took place this past Tuesday. Here's an excerpt:

This year as I was reading the reports starting to come in and looking at the pictures, I was intrigued by some of the trends I was seeing. The first thing I noticed was how many pregnant girls were writing in about participating in this year’s event. Of course, I am not celebrating teen pregnancy, but I was thrilled to hear them talk about why they chose life for their child and chose to be a voice for others.
Some wrote about how someone first talked to them about life and convinced them to keep their child. They knew that their choice for life was important and that they must take a stand for other young girls who are facing teen pregnancy. They were so passionate about being moms and the choice they made and they wanted to share that joy and passion with this generation.

Another thing that struck me this year was how many first-time participants we had who were taking on this day alone. I read about how nervous they were as they walked into school not knowing if anyone else would be taking the vow of silence or how their friends would react to their stand.

Many of these kids faced some heavy persecution from both their peers and school faculty as they went through the day. Students told me about dirty looks, rude comments, eye rolls and outright harassment — and this was from teachers. They talked about how other students would make comments about how they should have been aborted or how stupid pro-life was, but no matter what they faced they took a stand and shined a light in their schools.

While there were stories of harassment there were also many stories of solidarity and support from unexpected places. One student told me about how one of the most popular boys in school read her flyer and then joined her for rest of the day. Others talked about how they brought a whole roll of duct tape to school and by the end of the day it was depleted from the number of kids who joined them.

This dovetails nicely with today's devotional:

Therefore, His love for us is greater than His love for a plant, an
animal, or any other created thing.

And the book of Jonah tells us that He loves even the
most sinful people and seeks to bring them into His
merciful arms. And it's a love that seeks to touch
all of his created children: that desperate teenager,
the baby growing in her womb, even tyrants and
terrorists.

So it's up to us to imitate God's merciful love by
helping and praying for those who persecute us, and
those who don't love us back.

Voices from the Womb

2011-10-19T23:14:00.001-04:00

The ground-breaking project called ‘Voices From the Womb,’ which brought live ultrasound to the U.S. Capitol Thursday, was a stroke of brilliance that will now be repeated across the nation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, issued the following statement about “Voices from the Womb,” a project that gave federal lawmakers an opportunity to see babies in the womb via ultrasound.

Fr. Frank said, “The ground-breaking project called ‘Voices From the Womb,’ which brought live ultrasound to the U.S. Capitol Thursday, was a stroke of brilliance that will now be repeated across the nation. It should be required viewing for lawmakers in every state that has yet to pass a bill ensuring that a mother has an ultrasound before aborting her child.

“Abortion supporters claim these laws don’t respect the woman’s ability to make informed choices,” Father Frank continued. “But on the contrary, they precisely enhance that ability, by helping her see what she often finds out too late, that the baby is far more developed than her abortionist admits.”

Father Pavone applauded the National Pro-Life Center (of which he serves as Pastoral Director and which he helped develop) for organizing “Voices from the Womb,” together with the Stanton Project, the Christian Defense Coalition and the Knights of Columbus, which supported the project financially.

“When pro-life groups work together, we can change hearts and minds, and laws,” he said.

To hear the sound of a baby’s heartbeat at various stages of development, go to http://www.priestsforlife.org/ultrasound.html

Rest in Peace

2011-10-19T21:58:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

The team at SFLA is beyond saddened by the news that Jon Scharfenberger, Pregnant on Campus Coordinator and Campus Support Coordinator for Students for Life of America, passed away this morning due to complications from injuries he sustained from the same car accident that claimed the life of SFLA leader Kortney Blythe Gordon and her pre-born daughter, Sophy, on October 8th.
Jon had many successes in his short time with us at SFLA, including establishing a pro-life campus group at Florida International University that was successful in saving the life of a pre-born baby, a mere one week after its creation. You can read more about this incredible story here: http://studentsforlife.org/2011-2012-success-stories/
We continue to offer prayers of support for Jon’s family and friends and grieve during this incredibly difficult time for our organization and mission.

-Students for Life of America

Do a 180

2011-10-18T21:17:00.012-04:00

Watch the video wherein someone on the sidewalk turns from pro-choice to pro-life.

Too good to be true? See for yourself.

It's an emotional appeal, which isn't lasting, but it makes a good point:

we should never be afraid to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Day of Silent Solidarity

2011-10-17T20:42:00.000-04:00

Are you willing to give up your voice for a day for those who will never have one?

Tomorrow,October 18th, marks the 2011 Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity.

Students from across the country and at over 1,800 participating schools will give uptheir voices in support for the 50,000,000 children who have been silenced by abortion since January 22, 1973.

If you haven't yet talked to your campus group about the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity,

we encourage you to take part in this incredibly moving and solemn tribute.

Students will wear red duct tape over their mouths and on their arms to sacrifice their voices for those who never had the opportunity to "choose" whether to live or die. They will also be passing out literature and fliers to explain their silence and educate others about the injustice of abortion.

This year, the Pro-life Day of SilentSolidarity is dedicated to our friend and Abortion Abolitionist, Kortney Blythe Gordon and her pre-born daughter, Sophy Joy. As many of you already know, Kortney and Sophy were killed on October 8 in a car accident in Macon, GA after speaking at a pro-life conference. Please continue to keep her family and the mission of Students for Life of America in your prayers as we continue to grieve during this difficult time.

Registration is FREE and so are the fliers. Make sure you and your group:

Register for the event.
Promote it to your friends.
Let your teachers know you'll be silent tomorrow.
Make a red arm band or use red duct tape.
Print out our FREE fliers.

For more information, visit www.silentday.org.

This is an Abolitionist movement

2011-10-17T01:06:00.000-04:00

A Southern California abortionist, James McMahon,
once explained how he justified killing children
after 20 weeks gestation by partial-birth abortion.
He did not deny that this was a child, but rather
asked, "Who owns the child? It's got to be the
mother."

Did you catch this little tidbit from a recent 40 DFL daily devotional?

I have said on more than one occasion that Roe v.Wade was all about the right to privacy, which means the issue of abortion is an issue of property, not propriety.

Everyone knows slavery is wrong. But until the law recognizes what science already has proven, that conception results in a genetically distince human individual, the courts will continue in its miscariage of justice.

Right now in this country, we are promoting slavery through legalized abortion.

Let us pray for freedom- for children in the womb.

Let us pray for their parents, who ought to protect that freedom as they would for themselves.

ArtPeace

2011-10-16T00:39:00.009-04:00

To all who submitted art for the ArtPeace Project:

Check out 144 Fulton before we have to move out! There are more than 650 individual art pieces on display in 6 storefront windows lining the street between Jeffererson and La Grave, right where Ransom Street ends on Fulton.

Also

Please go to Facebook, search for 40 Days for Life - Grand Rapids and check out the video on the visit by National Director David Bereit. The 4 min video has shots of the art on Fulton.

I am collecting ideas for a large display for the ArtPeace Project to be built for next year's ArtPrize.Please let me know if you have suggestions!

David Bereit was super impressed with your efforts in the success of the ArtPeace project. Thousands of people saw this during ArtPrize.

-Patrick Keeley

from LifeNews.com

2011-10-15T00:47:00.002-04:00

Lord Nicholas Windsor, the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, is creating a stir in England...with a new opinion piece in the London Telegraph newspaper calling abortion a form of eugenics.

Windsor said his commitment to opposing abortion originated in his realization that an abortion means the destruction of a human being, saying, “the cost [of abortion] is too high because the cost is paid in innocent human life.” In a critique of the 1967 Abortion Act in The Daily Telegraph, he states, “It hit me in the stomach that terminating a pregnancy equaled none other than the destruction of a human being. It knocked the wind out of me the first time, as it does every single time I think about it.”

read the rest here. Never undersetimate whose hearts and minds can be reached!

Lord Windsor is also promoting the San Jose Articles to defend the right to life internationally.

In God We Trust

2011-10-14T20:41:00.002-04:00

More photos like this can be found at this link

Facts, not fiction

2011-10-13T23:36:00.000-04:00

------------------------------

PLANNED PARENTHOOD FACTS
-------------------------------------------------------

You may have been told that Planned Parenthood provides
healthcare for poor women and prevents abortions -- and
that abortion accounts for only 3% of its services.

That is hardly the case.

Nearly every Planned Parenthood "service" may be
obtained from a county health department, community
clinic or private physician. All except one -- abortion.

How can an organization that, by its own admission,
carried out 332,278 abortions (the annual total
increases EVERY YEAR), claim to prevent them?

Planned Parenthood says abortion comprises only 3% of
its services. That's true -- IF you use a definition of
"service" that treats abortions, birth control
prescriptions and STD tests as equal.

However, when you look at clinic income, you get a
much clearer picture regarding the importance of
abortion to Planned Parenthood.

According to their own annual report, Planned
Parenthood's clinic income was $405 million. As noted,
they performed 332,278 abortions. Assuming an average
cost of $500 per abortion, that means abortion brought
in $166 million.

That figure represents 41% of Planned Parenthood's
total clinic income. As always, follow the money.

I could say much more about Planned Parenthood. But
for today, I would just ask you to please PRAY.

* PRAY that the light of truth shines on this
organization and its activities.

* PRAY that the people who work there will see that
light -- and seek honorable work elsewhere.

* PRAY that the women seeking abortions there will
understand -- and choose life for their babies.

* PRAY!

Bereit there!

2011-10-13T00:41:00.000-04:00

You have to go see David at noon today on the sidewalk, because I won't be able to.

I got to see him last year, but I'm still jealous. He's amazing! Tell him Seth says hello.

Seriously, be there or be square.

Midpoint Rally

2011-10-12T20:21:00.003-04:00

Mark your calendars!

What: 40 Days for Life Midpoint Rally with David Bereit
When: Thursday, October 13, 12 noon.
Where: On the sidewalk in front of 320 E. Fulton, Grand Rapids

Come meet David Bereit, founder of 40DFL at our Midpoint Rally!

All are welcome to come and hear David's reports of stories from
around the country during this campaign. We will also be sharing with
him the reports of our Grand Rapids campaign, including our many
miracles!

Please pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested in
meeting David. Also, feel free to contact me with any questions.

God bless you for your commitment to life,
Lisa Peters
Adminstrative Coordinator
Fall 2011 Grand Rapids campaign

Another reason to celebrate

2011-10-11T20:18:00.003-04:00

Gov. Snyder has signed the partial birth abortion ban into Michigan law. Hooray!

Birthday?

2011-10-10T20:10:00.014-04:00

Today is the day I was born.

Was it the day my life began? No.

My earthly life began the day I was conceived.

But my life with God began before then.

So how do we measure a life? I have lived thirty-onederful years outside my mother's womb. But I have been alive for 381 months, not 372. And I was known by God before then, which can't be numerated at all.

Therefore, every human life is really a precious mystery that begins and ends in the mystery of God, who is all in all. That's something worth celebrating.

Tragic news

2011-10-10T18:26:00.007-04:00

from the HLI newsletter:

Today we heard the news of the death of Students for Life of America (SFLA) field director Kortney Blythe Gordon and her preborn daughter Sophy in a tragic car accident in Georgia, and of the critical injury of SFLA coordinator of the Pregnant on Campus Initiative Jon Scharfenberger. The prayers of the staff and pro-life missionaries of Human Life International are with Kortney's husband Benjamin, with the Blythe and Gordon families, and with all the great champions for life at Students for Life of America. We also pray for the full and speedy recovery of Jon, and for his family.

From our staff who have worked with Kortney, I have heard nothing but wonderful things about her courage, her creativity and her determination to save every unborn child. Kortney was truly an exceptional young woman, working tirelessly to make the world safe for the unborn. All who knew her had great respect and admiration for her.

from the website of SFLA:

On Monday, we hosted a national webcast to honor the lives of Kortney and Sophy and to offer intercessions of prayer on Jon’s behalf. Pro-life leaders and students from across the country joined us in prayer and discussion, including representatives from Rock for Life, Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, Claude Allen of the Gerard Health Foundation, Reverend Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, and Jeff White of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust. Hundreds of listeners offered their words of support and praise for the lives of Kortney and Sophy and for the work that both Kortney and Jon have accomplished within the pro-life movement, and we were overcome by the beautiful words from friends and families of our dear friends. For those who were unable to listen in on Monday night, the recording of the webcast is available here: http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=23295666. The webcast focused many prayers toward Jon and his family and helped greatly in his healing.

And although Jon has made various, gradual improvements, he has a long road of recovery ahead of him. His stability has fluctuated since the accident and, despite making a number of medical advancements that keep us all optimistic about his recovery, his condition continues to rise and fall throughout the day. We are beyond thankful to Our Lord for delivering Jon from the horrible accident that took the lives of Kortney and her daughter, but Jon is in need of many more prayers from us all to recover fully from his near-fatal injuries. Please make time to keep him in your thoughts and check back with us for details on his condition as we receive them.

Heartbeat

2011-10-09T02:14:00.035-04:00

It's strange for me to think that some people have to hear the heartbeat before they commit to carrying their pregnancy to term.

Whether or not I heard my child's heartbeat at the OB appointment last month would not have determined whether or not my wife and I would be in a delivery room in March. It was just a nifty bonus.

Not even seeing the ultrasound at the end of this month is going to determine anything other than provide us with a souvenir to add to the baby album.

So it's weird to think that something as innocuous as that would be the one factor that would determine a child's life or death. Seriously, lives are hanging in the balance over something so...expected.

I suppose people have forgotten that all living mammals have cardiovascular systems. If they didn't, they'd be dead.

Oh...now I get it.

I used to lay next to my mother at naptime and listen to her heartbeat. It was soothing.

Before I kissed my wife for the first time, I was profoundly aware of my heartbeat and the pulse in her wrist as we held hands on the bridge over the Grand River.

When the OB slid that little microphoney thing around, there was lots of static. I didn't expect to hear so much static, but I very much was straining my ears to detect a heartbeat.

What else do you expect to hear emanating from a womb? Violin concertos? a tap dance number? silence?

Silence would mean...well, I shudder to think what silence would mean. I was overjoyed not to hear silence in my wife's womb. Are there truly people in this world who feel the opposite?

It's essentially a glorified stethoscope. Its sole purpose is to help you detect the presence of a cardiovascular system in operation. If you never listen for a heartbeat, you can tell yourself there was never a heartbeat there to hear in the first place.

And, oh, what you'd be missing.

Evidence of love. That's what I heard in my mother, in my wife, in my heart, in my daughter, in her sibling: love. Why would you want to close your ears to love?

The Lord provides

2011-10-08T02:08:00.003-04:00

Dear Praying Friends,
"A day like no other"..."did that really just happen?"..."will we ever
experience something like this ever again?"...these are some phrases
that have rolled around in my head today. At about 8:30 this morning a
dear prayer friend who comes faithfully almost every week all year,
was nearest to a distraught client and her mom as they came out of the
abortion clinic doors. She compassionately brought them to us in the
back parking lot and together we determined that the young woman
really wanted to go to a crisis pregnancy center for a free
ultrasound. They don't open until 9:00 so we decided a run through
McDonalds for breakfast would serve two purposes. It could calm her
down and stall things until the center opened. Our dear friend
personally took this young woman with her.
There was one problem...we weren't sure an ultrasound tech could be
found. As the rest of us stayed to pray and wait, a car drove into the
Omega House parking lot. I had never seen the woman before. She got
out, came up to my prayer partner and I and said basically "I'm an
ultrasound tech and have nothing to do today...do you know of anyone
that could use my skills?" Seriously...just like that.
My prayer partner showed her the way to the crisis pregnancy center
where the young woman had barely arrived!
Within the hour, another couple arrived. They had doubts about going
through with their abortion. They had been offered a free ultra sound
like we so often do. They came to the wall and said "Can you get us an
ultra sound right now?" Ah, yes. That would be affirmative. We know
just the place.
Literally, as I was talking to them the next shift's sidewalk
counselors had arrived and were talking to a third couple. She called
me over to join in the conversation and took over the first couple.
And yes...couple number three wanted a free ultrasound too. So we
basically had two and three follow each over to the center!
I call this "pre-provision"...before I knew the difficulties of this
day, God had planned for our needs to be met. Three couples who had
planned on ending their baby's life today, are still pregnant
tonight...praise God.
Client "C": Daughter of a pastor. Many other kids at home all with the
same dad. Shocked at this turn of events. Both she and the baby's dad,
without work at this time. They have a small house and needed more
room even before this pregnancy.
Client "E": They were told that the baby has a severe deformity. They
are married and this is their first baby. They are devestated but
someone told them to come to the clinic to abort the baby.
Client "M":Young, dabbles in drugs, fears she may lose the custody of
this baby. She is who we "battled for" in the early hours of the day.
Her countenance brightened at the thought of leaving the clinic and
seeing her baby.
Each couple is in great need. Money and jobs are issues. But everyone
of them displayed care for their baby.
At the end of the morning I was in the prayer room of the Omega House
when the director of the center all three women were brought to, came
through the door. We hugged, cried, thanked God, and prayed together.
Three "turn-arounds"?...an ultra sound tech showing up just when
needed?...friends of the ministry being willing to be used in ways
they didn't expect? It had been a morning when every single one of
those involved in these amazing events were stretched in their faith
and lavishly blessed by God. The overwhelming feeling tonight is one
of both personal humility and awe for our God Who did so much today!
And get this...there were nine staff people and only three "customers"
left. The abortions of those that left would be a $2,000+ loss for the
clinic, plus paying staff that certainly wasn't busy today. All that
to say...keep praying:). We are grateful to have the onsite prayer
team of 40 Days for Life being on Fulton, 24 hours a day. too. What a
blessing! We praise and honor the Creator tonight...He has done
marvelous things!

Pro-Life across America

2011-10-07T10:44:00.000-04:00

Are you pro-life all over?

Do you put on your proverbial 'pro-life hat' when put on your 40DFL pin, and then take it off again when you finish your hour of prayer?

I have a bumper sticker advertising 40DFL on my car. I sometimes worry that my driving habits may not be consistent with the message I am trying to propose to those in traffic behind me.

But it's not just traffic laws I have to obey. Am I following God's laws in every aspect of my life? How faithfully do I live out the Golden Rule each day?

Being deprived (actually it's a kind of reward) of prayer in front of an abortion clinic up here in Alpena has forced me to consider how many other ways I live out my commitment to being pro-life. I volunteer at the Baby Pantry, where mothers can get free diapers and 'shop' for free clothes.

I could also volunteer at a soup kitchen and value the human dignity of homeless people. I should check in with my wife and ask her how much she feels valued by her husband. Do I reverence her dignity? Do we speak ill of other people? Do we guard our tongues, our thoughts, even when we're not in public?

The beauty of this vigil is that it forces us to look within ourselves. What must you and I do to make God's love more apparent to those who know us? If the women choosing abortion at 320 see us and our loving peacefulness, don't you think that will make an impression?
But what if only God could see us, deep in the silence of our hearts- would we want God to see in there too? Would God like what we do when we're not standing on a sidewalk praying?

Let's ask God to make our hearts as open to every human life we meet as we expect these mothers to be to the life of their child. Let's begin to look on every person as one made in the image and likeness of God.

Envision

2011-10-06T10:31:00.000-04:00

a world without legal abortion.

This will be the theme for the annual Students for Life convention.

Can you picture it?

Some people in our nation can still recall growing up under segregation, with blacks using separate drinking fountains and separate entrances, as depicted in the film "The Help". They never thought they would live to see the day when we would elect a black president.

What did they do? They prayed. They turned from evil (they did not use violent means of civil disobedience). They humbled themselves.

And what marvels has God wrought within the space of one generation?

We too are being called to humble ourselves through fasting and pray for an end to abortion. We are asked to bear our grievances peacefully while we stand on the sidewalk, neither carrying signs nor engaging people in debate. Simply stand and pray.

What will God accomplish? Will 320 close? Will all human life be protected under the law?

If you can imagine it, can you also ask God to make it so? Can you offer your own hardships on behalf of the children whose lives will be snuffed out today? Can you be there on the sidewalk to honor the death of these tiny innocents and love them? Can you stand there and love those who discarded the dignity of these children? How big is your heart today? Is it as big as your imagination?

Heartbreaking

2011-10-05T22:11:00.032-04:00

Did y'all read Sean Carney's post from today? It just breaks my heart.

As the abortion center closed for the day, one of the
employees came out and threw eight small plastic babies
on the ground.

"I don't know how long you people plan to be here,"
said the worker, "but this is how many we did today."

"Our group remained silent," said Ryan in Tuscaloosa.
"We watched the staff member leave, and prayed for
the eight babies and the staff."

The local team decided it would be best to distribute
the plastic babies to vigil participants to carry as
a reminder to pray for all the unborn, especially the
eight from this particular day.

"We all deal with trials at our vigils," Ryan said.
"We have faith that God is using us to do His work.
This trial and others are proof that God is at work
in these clinics."

The team in Tuscaloosa sent a photo of the plastic
babies. To see it, please go to:

http://40daysforlife.com/blog/?p=2303

Then I received an email from Students for Life in Buffalo reporting an act of vandalism in which one of their pro-life memorials was carefully destroyed. then there was more to follow:

"after the events of Monday, members of the UB Students for Life kept a watchful eye on the display throughout the day on Tuesday, and, at one point, they witnessed a small group of angry women forming around the display.  Two began to rip up the crosses, and someone described as 'older, at least 40 years old, and possibly a faculty member' reportedly yelled 'Hey ladies, let's start a riot.' This incited six more people to begin tearing up crosses, and they continued until campus police arrived.

    In total eight people were caught vandalizing the display Monday and Tuesday and at least one of them is facing criminal charges - the arresting officer insinuating that they might be charged with a Hate Crime."

    If so that would be the first time - that we're aware of  - in which individuals would be charged with committing a hate crime for vandalizing a pro-life display.

I know that Mary Flegel has had to replace our sign more than once in the course of our annual vigils. I have this encouragement to share:

Elijah Lovejoy (1802-1837) was an important abolitionist. He published a newspaper, The Observer, which attacked the evils of slavery. His views were unpopular in his home state of Missouri. His printing press was destroyed, and he was forced out of St. Louis. Across the Mississippi River, at Alton, Illinois, Lovejoy set up a new press and renewed his attacks on slavery. Businessmen in Alton, under pressure from those in St. Louis, again threw Lovejoy’s press into the river. In the fall of 1837, Lovejoy angered local pro-slavery forces when he co-founded the Illinois Anti-Slavery Society. The group resolved to buy a new press to continue Lovejoy’s work. While Lovejoy and his abolitionist friends kept watch over the new press in an Alton warehouse, an armed pro-slavery mob gathered to demand Lovejoy turn over his press. Lovejoy refused and the mob prepared to set fire to the building. Lovejoy ran out of the warehouse in an attempt to stop the fire, but was killed by gunfire. Several others protecting the press were injured and eventually fled the warehouse. The mob then seized the press and threw it out the third-story window of the warehouse.

That was an excerpt from this website. People used to defend mob violence against abolitionists in court, believing they were on the side of true justice. We know better now, thank God.

Let's pray that one day in this nation people will look back on this era as a time when ignorance of truth masqueraded as the moral highroad. We are on the good side of this fight when we stand at 320 Fulton and silently, peacefully pray for an end to abortion and its attendant evils.

The gift of life

2011-10-05T01:04:00.022-04:00

Today is my mother's birthday.

Her due date when she was pregnant with me was Oct.5, her birthday. I was born five days later. So she really gave me a gift on her birthday, by choosing life.

Of course, she would tell you that it was God who gave me the gift of Life, and that she and my dad simply cooperated with God's plan.

I sure am blessed to have a mom like her. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Good news for Pro-Lifers

2011-10-04T21:59:00.000-04:00

Planned Parenthood is having a hard time of it these days, with a congressional investigation and statistics revealing 'unintended' pregnancies actually increased with more government funds, not decreased (I put that word in quotes, because clearly a certain Someone intends them).

The bad news?

320 Fulton is not a Planned Parenthood clinic (that might actually be good news). Even if that evil empire finally met its demise, there would still be Heritage Clinic and its staff. So let's continue our fasting for an end to abortion. Because 40DFL is actually seeing results. If we give God an inch, God will go the extra mile.

Missing links

2011-10-03T22:43:00.000-04:00

As I stood with my daughter at yesterday's LifeChain, holding my 40Days For Life sign, a pedestrian approached me. He told me we also have to legalize marijuana, because keeping it illegal is as bad or worse than abortion. He also told me I should be opposed to capital punishment if I'm pro-life.

I could follow his line of thinking in regards to the second proposal. But that first one was entirely lost on me. He said marijuana contains omega 3 fatty acids, and withholding these health benefits from decent people is no different than abortion. Yeah- no matter how many times I type it, I still can't make heads or tails of it.

This is why we ask you to focus on silent prayer when you stand at 320. We're doing you a favor. Trust me.

Respect Life Sunday

2011-10-02T14:00:00.022-04:00

The pastor of my church here in Alpena, who is from Africa, preached this morning about the tragedy of taking innocent human life or abusing men, women, and children made in the image and likeness of God. He said it is terrible that we allow babies, who are vessels of the Holy Spirit, gifts from God made in His image, to be dumped in dumpsters. He said we all of us must preach that God is good, and that all human life come from God. He said he did not know, until he read about it the other day, that some oral contraceptives result in the death of an innocent human life in the womb. He said we must all pray for forgiveness that we allow these things to take place. We must pray for our sisters, daughters, brothers, boyfriends, parents and grandparents who may have been involved in the tragedy of abortion. It affects all of us! None of us want to have the Kingdom taken away from us because we failed to seek forgiveness for our sins. God says, "If my people, who are called in my name, will humble themselves, seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven and bring peace to their land."

One way that many people in Alpena, including my family, will be joining in solidarity with all of you in GR is through participation in the annual LifeChain that will gather along US23 this afternoon.

Let us all pray that healing will come to our land, the peace will be restored to our nation, that forgiveness will be sought by men and women who have given over to sin and death. Let us pray for an end to abortion and all other acts of violence against those created in God's image and likeness.

Here is the prayer from today's devotional, written by Fr. Ben Sheldon of Presbyterians Pro-Life:

Gracious and merciful Father, we gladly embrace your
Word that counsels us to care for the least of your
children, and we renew our dedication to defending
the unborn and all whose right to life is compromised
by our godless society's selfish lack of concern.
Free us from our own failures and sins so that we
will be truly pro-life in every area of our lives.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

National news

2011-10-01T14:11:00.023-04:00

Our local ArtPeace Project caught the attention of Sean Carney, the national director of 40DFL. You can read his post on the national blog by clicking on this link.

Here is a photo of one portion of the project, made by Grand Rapids schoolchildren to support our local campaign of fasting & prayer.

We are so blessed that Patrick Keeley has made it his mission to get this project going. you can learn more about the ArtPeace Project by following this link. It will be submitted to ArtPrize next year, and that will allow even more people to learn about our efforts to pray & fast for an end to abortion at 320 Fulton.

Remember to check it out on Facebook!

Human Life is Sacred

2011-09-30T14:23:00.014-04:00

Fr. Shenan, the president of Human Life International, has this beautiful wisdom to share with all of us. I have pasted it here in full so that you may know how many people around the world are standing with us when we stand at 320 Fulton:

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said, "I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"

Blessed Teresa understood well the crisis facing America and every nation that freely embraces the killing of the most innocent and vulnerable among us. She boldly and courageously challenged all of us, from the powerful to the lowly, to make atonement before the Heavenly Father and mend this festering wound. Her remedy was love and acceptance for every child regardless of the circumstance in which he was conceived. No one child should be marked as "unwanted or undeserving" of life. Every life is precious and sacred!

Only true love for God and neighbor could pierce through the most hardened of hearts. Consider Blessed Teresa's reflection from the 1997 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington:

How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love - that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

We are often uncertain of what we can do to change the grappling hold of evil in this world. Promoters of the Culture of Death would have us believe that we are helpless in changing the current momentum, but this is a blatant lie. We are not alone. Jesus is with us! Jesus, the one Who conquered death, removes our fear. As Saint Paul in his Second Letter to Corinthians beautifully encourages us:

But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)

Recognizing our unity and strength in Christ, we step forward to join the fight. We realize the fight is not fought only upon the temporal plains of this world, in courtrooms, legislative halls, branches of government or town squares; but also, and perhaps primarily, in the hearts of God's people. It comes to us to cooperate with Our Lord, who is always offering us a true renewal of our hearts, and asking us to help him reach the hearts of others: "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26).

The darkness of the Culture of Death must be confronted with the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot win this battle merely with our own gifts and efforts; but we absolutely can win with the help of the One who is Freedom, Truth, Light and Life.

Wednesday, September 28, marked the beginning of the Fall 2011 40 Days for Life Campaign. 40 Days' mission is to draw attention to the evil of abortion, and to unite the Body of Christ while invoking God's power through prayer, fasting and peaceful vigil. Thousands of pro-lifers throughout the world are wedded through prayer as they witness the power of Love - one "drop" at a time.

Mother Teresa gave us that powerful image in her famous quote:

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.

One drop of love joined with other drops can change the world. The fruit of 40 Days for Life has become more evident with each passing year and its powerful influence is breaking through the hardened barriers promoted by the Culture of Death.

I am asking you to join me in this great crusade, and to encourage others to join us. I need your help, your brothers and sisters praying in front of abortion clinics need your help, and most importantly, innocent babies in the womb need your help. Please locate a 40 Days Campaign in your area and actively participate.

Get involved. Stand with me and your brothers and sisters. This peaceful activism, with a spirit of repentance at its core, seeks the Almighty's favor in transforming the hearts and minds of His people, especially those supporting the Culture of Death.

While we are praying for the unborn, and for conversion of those who facilitate or perpetrate the horror of abortion, let's also remember each other, and pray for joy, strength and perseverance as we keep up the fight for life.

"I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you, praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you because of your partnership for the Gospel... I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:3-6).

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Father Shenan J. Boquet
President, Human Life International

"Life is the first good received from God and is fundamental to all others; to guarantee the right to life for all and in an equal manner for all is the duty upon which the future of humanity depends" Pope Benedict XVI

Archangels

2011-09-29T00:15:00.019-04:00

Today is the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel.

Michael means "Who is like God?"

Raphael means Medicine of God.

Gabriel means Strength of God.

Can you think of anyone better to have on your side while praying for an end to abortion? As we ask God to bring healing, we can know that Raphael is at our side. As we ask God to help us persevere, we have Gabriel at our side. As we pray for victory, we know that Michael is winning the battle as recorded in the Book of Revelation:

⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

May God's holy angels heal your heart, bring you strength, and teach all of us that nobody is like God! To God be all glory, laud, and honor~

News from the Front

2011-09-28T20:37:00.001-04:00

Our God is so good! Today, in the first hour that the abortion clinic
was open after 40 DFL began at midnight, here is what happened to one
of our Core Team members....
"I was at the abortion clinic at 8 am this morning and soon after I
arrived, a girl around 20 yrs old arrived with her mom.
They were in the clinic for close to 1 1/2 hrs. when they came out and
went to their separate cars. The mother's car was parked by the wall
and Mary, the sidewalk counselor, again asked if there was any help
she could offer. The mother said she wasn't going through with the
abortion. The young woman was parked across the lot and overheard the
conversation and shouted that she wasn't going to have the
abortion. Mary offered the woman a baby gift bag and she
walked across the parking lot to receive it!"
We will keep you updated of our stories 'on the sidewalk' as the
campaign progresses.

Let it begin! Let it begin!

2011-09-28T11:40:00.013-04:00

Today we begin our fall 40 Days for Life campaign, with peaceful vigil and prayerful fasting until November 6.

Today we join over 300 cities around the world in praying for an end to abortion.

Today we claim 320 Fulton for Christ, asking that His healing and light and truth may prevail here, in the hearts of those who seek to end human life, in the budding hearts of these children, in the hearts of those gathered to pray on their behalf.

Peace be with you these forty days~

Praying for those we can't see

2011-09-28T11:25:00.001-04:00

Fabi at VirtuousPla.net writes about something all of us in 40DFL have experienced when praying on the sidewalk:

On Being a (Spiritual) Friend

The foundation of friendship is secret. It is not boastful, but quiet. It does not seek compensation, but pours out love as readily as a mother gives her child milk. I’m speaking of prayer and fasting. Both of which Jesus asked us to do without anybody noticing.

Few things show more profound love for another human being than time taken out of the day to pray for them. Heaven is listening but your friend is not and so there will be no “Thank you” or embrace from him or her. In this way you are strengthening your bond with another person and you are striving for a selfless love.

To take it a step further befriend your friend’s guardian angel. In this way the things you cannot do the angel will do for you.

Fasting is something that is relatively new to me. I usually just feel grumpy when I set my expectations too high, but offering up even the smallest sacrifices of your day for a good friend is a pain in the devil’s side. If you could actually see your friend’s spiritual battles in all their horror and magnificence you’d be throwing some pretty [bad] blows, making demons flee. It is exhilarating to think of this but also daunting. I think of these things and I don’t know if I truly love my friends this much, to sacrifice my comforts for the love of them. So when I do challenge myself I start small, because I am a spoiled child. I remind myself it is better to start small than not to start at all. Better to begin a squire then never be out on the battlefield defending not only myself, but those I love from evil.

In the eyes of the world keeping the foundation of friendship rich is a thankless job. Prayer and fasting are so hard to grasp for our modern go get ‘em minds. We want results and fun or nothing at all. But a true spirit of friendship is so much deeper than even I am able to grasp at this moment. It goes beyond the vain superficialities that we sometimes think make up our relationships.

If prayer and fasting is all you can do that is a great thing. Sometimes it is not practical, wise or mutually edifying to be in physical contact with a friend, but what can the devil do with your eyes lifted up to heaven and your hungry body ready to be fed by God?

God grant us all the grace to love with pure hearts and be living sacrifices for those we love, so that in the end we might be called True Friends.

Wish I was there

2011-09-27T01:08:00.042-04:00

I'll be fasting in solidarity with all of you beautiful people from my home in Alpena, where I moved at the end of last year's vigil.

At first I was sad to leave Grand Rapids. There isn't a 40 Days campaign in Alpena because there are no abortion clinics in that whole county. Which is a very good thing! yet, it left me twiddling my thumbs: how shall I show my commitment to children in the womb and the pro-life cause?

God didn't leave me asking that question for long. I was hired by the Alpena Child Abuse/Neglect Team as a Coordinator. We are the local council of the Children's Trust Fund, supporting programs in our county that work towards the prevention of child abuse/neglect. As coordinator, I take minutes at meetings and submit reports to the state detailing our use of their money. One program we support directly is the Alpena Baby Pantry. I am now a co-coordinator of the pantry, where parents can receive free diapers, wipes, formula and browse our clothing racks for all the infant clothing they could possibly need.

We respect the dignity of the parents in allowing them to choose what they like. We meet a physical need that will help support the parents, and parental support is one of the factors in preventing abuse.

God also blessed me with the opportunity to stay at home and show my pro-life commitment in raising my daughter well. She's now 20 months old, and soon to be a Big Sister in March. We are praying for our child in the womb as we continue to pray for all children in the womb.

I will be praying with you long-distance. I will depend upon all of you lovely people to be my hands and feet on the ground, braving the cold and taunts at 320 Fulton. God bless you abundantly!

Some advice

2011-09-26T00:51:00.002-04:00

for the trepidacious:

What Jen Fulwiler Learned About Praying in Front of an Abortion Clinic

1. The pro-life movement is well organized.
2. Average people are getting involved in the pro-life cause.
3. Communities don’t want abortion facilities in their neighborhoods.
4. Pro-lifers care about the mothers just as much as they care about the babies.
5. Spiritual warfare is real.
6. Prayer works.

She discovered this during her community's 40Days for Life campaign.

You can join us in prayer outside 320 Fulton. You have the option, of course, to pray at home in the safety of your living room; I will be fasting in solidarity with you all the way up in Alpena.

But nothing can really replace the experience of standing there on the sidewalk, fully aware of the Lord's presence and the power of the heavenly host at your side, completely naked in your commitment to the pro-life cause...

...which is the lives of innocent fellow human beings and the persons who hold these lives in their hands.

We have liftoff!

2011-09-25T23:14:00.000-04:00

I was providentially blessed to be able to attend the kickoff rally at Loosemore Auditorium today on the campus of GVSU.

Amy Oatley & Amy Launiere were the keynote speakers, and they both provided personal testimony that illustrates the ripple effects that take place when you stand at 320 Fulton to pray for an end to abortion.

Very often when we stand there, it might feel initially like we're not really doing anything. In fact, Mary Flegel made it clear that we really don't want you to do anything but stand on the sidewalk and pray!

Don't park at Omega House, don't walk along the wall, don't hold signs, don't talk to the people going in, don't engage the protesters in conversation- simply pray & fast.

It might not seem like much, but in our peaceful, vigilant prayer we have all the power and effectiveness we need- because when we stand and pray, we stand with God, who is the only One who will conquer. Our signs won't conquer, our righteous arguments won't conquer- only God will conquer. Prayer conquers. Fasting conquers. It's the sidewalk counselors job to reach out to the women, and we needn't interfere with their job.

Our job is to fast, to stand, to pray. I dare you to tell God that's not enough.

Because what we learned at the rally is that peaceful vigil shuts down abortuaries, it causes abortionists to quit their job and join us in prayer, it causes women to choose life, it causes people's hearts to change. Abortion will end, and it will be God's victory. We'll be able to praise God knowing we did our part:

Fast. Stand. Pray.

Kickoff tomorrow

2011-09-24T12:41:00.002-04:00

I will be attending the kickoff event tomorrow in Loosemore Auditorium. Will you be there?

I'm very excited to see the ArtPeace Project unveiled. As a team, we discussed last year the possibility of entering some piece in ArtPrize as a means of drawing attention to our peaceful vigil. I'm so glad that someone finally took this idea and followed through with it for this year's vigil.

Be on GVSU's campus downtown from 2-3:30 in the Loosemore Auditorium (same site as last year).

Pray for All Nascent Life

2010-11-25T20:50:00.000-05:00

The Pope has invited the Bishops of the world and all people of Good Will to join him on Nov.27 in a prayer vigil for the recognition of the sanctity of all human life coming into existence.

You don't have to be Catholic to make the day before Advent a time to recall that Jesus came into the world as a fertilized ovum that became a zygote and an embryo and a fetus and was born of a Virgin. That recollection should reinforce that as Christians, we believe that all human life is sacred, because the All-Holy Incarnate has rendered it so.

In fact, that recollection should give us pause to consider: Christ was sacred even before he was a fertilized ovum, when he was yet a promise on the lips of a messenger of God, "Emmanuel".

So, too, God loved us before he knit us in our mother's womb. He loved us into existence.

Thus we are invited to make this prayer on the night before the season before Christmas. Let's begin at the beginning of all things, with the Word.

Nov.27 2010, 7pm.

33rd

2010-11-18T15:38:00.000-05:00

In a recent Men's Health survey ranking the most religious cities in the country, Grand Rapids came in at #33. The results were based on number of churches, attendance, and financial contributions combined.

As the City of Churches, do we live up to that ranking? Do we not only attend services faithfully but also live the Gospel faithfully? Do we give God our full allegiance, even more than we pledge as citizens?

Something to think about.

You wouldn't know it from the news media

2010-11-05T15:47:00.000-04:00

but this election was a victory for the Pro-Life movement.

According to their website, "Overall 240 out of 280 Right to Life of Michigan Political Action Committee endorsed candidates won their races. Twelve out of 12 RLM-PAC state-wide endorsed candidates won their races!"

I think we all know why this election registered such a loss for pro-abortion candidates.

The good news keeps coming, this time from Omega House: "Just thought that you would all like to know that there were 10 pray-ers at Fulton yesterday! There were NO protesters! How encouraging to have some of our 40 day prayers extend 40 days!!!"

Keep up the fasting and the prayer!

The Finish Line

2010-11-01T13:17:00.000-04:00

2 Timothy 4
1	I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2	preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching.
3	For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings,
4	and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.
5	As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.
6	For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come.
7	I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8	Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

As David Bereit says, may we one day tell our grandchildren, "I fought the good fight, I prayed for an end to abortion when it was still legal" and they will bless us for it.

Vessels of Hope

2010-10-29T22:43:00.002-04:00

-----------------------------------------------------
DAY 38 INTENTION
-----------------------------------------------------

Pray that we become vessels of hope to all around us,
especially to those who minister in the pro-life
movement.

-----------------------------------------------------
SCRIPTURE
-----------------------------------------------------

On the first day of the week, very early in the
morning, the women took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled
away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did
not find the body of the Lord Jesus. "Why do you look
for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has
risen!"

-- Luke 24:1-5

-----------------------------------------------------
REFLECTION by Fr. Frank Pavone
-----------------------------------------------------

This meditation, based on a sermon I once heard, is
adapted for pro-life concerns.

It's Friday. Jesus is on the cross. He has been
killed by his enemies; he is off the scene. But
that's because it's Friday. Sunday's comin'!

It's Friday. Abortionists continue their work 3,300
times a day, tearing off the arms and legs of little
babies and crushing their heads. But that's because
it's Friday. Sunday's comin'! It's Friday.
Pro-abortion groups receive blood money from
billionaires who are as deceived as they are. But
that's because it's Friday. Sunday's comin'!

It's Friday. Liars attempt to speak for all women and
hide the pain of abortion, and ignore the evidence of
how it harms women, and call abortion a blessing. But
that's because it's Friday. Sunday's comin'! It's
Friday. People of hardened hearts guard the clinics
and usher desperate women in to have their abortions,
while keeping them from the pro-life people who want
to give them hope. But that's because it's Friday.
Sunday's comin'!

Hope does not mean that we ignore or minimize the
evils around us. It means, rather, that we see the
whole picture, which is that evil is conquered
because of what happened one Sunday morning. The
power of sin and death has been broken by the
Resurrection of Christ. We are called to proclaim,
celebrate, and serve that victory, waiting in joyful
hope for Christ's return and the full flowering of
the Culture of Life! Indeed, Sunday's comin'!

-----------------------------------------------------
PRAYER
-----------------------------------------------------

Lord, fill your people with new hope. Make us vessels
of hope to all around us, especially to those who
minister in the pro-life movement, that as we engage
in the difficult work ahead, we may experience the
peace and joy that come only from you and that nobody
can take away from us. We ask this through Christ our
Lord, Amen.

Lift every voice and sing

2010-10-28T12:51:00.000-04:00

Kathy Proulx & Co. have graciously agreed to sing at our Victory Celebration this Sunday at 1pm.

I doubt you'll be hearing any of these ditties then, but they gave me pause to reconsider how we can transform our culture in myriad ways, and often unexpectedly:

“PAPA DON’T PREACH” BY MADONNA
Read lyrics | Watch on YouTube
EXCERPT:

You always taught me right from wrong
I need your help, daddy please be strong
I may be young at heart
But I know what I’m saying
But I made up my mind, I’m keeping my baby

“ICICLE MELTS” BY THE CRANBERRIES
Read lyrics | Watch on YouTube
EXCERPT:

How, how could you hurt the child,
How could you hurt the child?
Now, does this make you satisfied,
Satisfied, satisfied?
I don’t know what’s happening to people today,
When a child, child, child, child, he was taken away.
There’s a place for the baby that died,
And there’s time for the mother who cried.

“SLIDE” BY THE GOO GOO DOLLS
Read lyrics | Watch on YouTube
EXCERPT:

Don’t you love the life you killed
The priest is on the phone
…May put your arms around me
What you feel is what you are
And what you are is beautiful
May do you wanna get married
Or run away

“THE FRESHMAN” BY THE VERVE PIPE
Read lyrics | Watch on YouTube
EXCERPT:

When I was young I knew everything
She a punk who rarely ever took advice
Now I’m guilt stricken, sobbing with my head on the floor
Stop a baby’s breath and a shoe full of rice

There's even more such excerpts from pop music melodies at this link.

Do you know a lyric that has given you pause to wonder if the singer was meaning to be pro-life?

Come to our Victory Celebration on Sunday Oct.31

2010-10-27T20:05:00.000-04:00

1:00 Gather at LaGrave church parking lot

1:10 Music

1:20 Welcome-

Opening Prayer-

Testimonial stories-

Closing Prayer = Walk to 320 Fulton Clinic; Pray Fr. Pavone's prayer all together

Reception with cider and doughnuts back at LaGrave

Take courage

2010-10-25T13:32:00.002-04:00

Never prayed at an abortion center before?

If you're still not sure about this, please read
these stories before you take that leap of faith that
thousands are taking right now.

"I thought I SHOULD go and pray," Pamela wrote,
"but I always found an excuse not to do it." Then
she listened to the 40 Days for Life countdown
webcast before the current campaign.

"What struck me was that they said they were actually
blessed by praying," she said. "Any resistance I had
was overcome."

So she went -- and got hooked. "Every single
experience I had -- whether praying alone, with my
daughter, with others ... was really inspiring. I
think if you can at least go one time ... you will
also get hooked."

Theresa is a first-time 40 Days for Life prayer vigil
participant this fall.

"I felt nervous energy all morning," she said, but
"once I was there and began to pray, I immediately
felt the grace of the Holy Spirit. At times I would
be alone physically, but I always felt safe and
empowered."

At first, Mary didn't want to go pray because she
didn't want to offend anyone. Eventually, she got
over it and went to the vigil.

"I may be saving the life of a child -- a child like
any other child," she said, "deserving a chance
at life. I pray for courage and boldness, and it is
granted."

"I was very hesitant to pray at our local abortion
provider, and declined for several years out of fear,"
said Pia. "I have three children, and felt extremely
nervous about praying outside this facility, which
is not in the best part of town."

When she explained her fear to the local 40 Days for
Life coordinator, he said he understood -- but he
also reminded her to "be not afraid."

It was the encouragement of her 14-year-old daughter
and her daughter's friend that convinced Pia to go
pray at the vigil. "Locally we have had several saves,
and there is no doubt in my mind of the power of
prayer," she said, "especially that of our youth."

"I, too, was one who was scared to go to the clinic
to pray," wrote Kris. "But God spoke to me and told
me 'Go, I will give you the words and protection.'
Thank God I listened!"

This particular prayer vigil was being held at an
abortion center that was under construction. It
wasn't yet open, but the vigil helped draw public
attention to what would soon be happening at this
building.

"One morning when I was feeling very anxious, I went
and a young girl -- about 17 -- stopped and wondered
if the clinic was open yet," Kris said. Her boyfriend
was pressuring her to have an abortion.

"My blessing -- that still keeps me going today --
was her deciding not to have the abortion," said Kris.
"Have courage and don’t fear, because God is with each
one of us."

from a valiant man on the Knight Shift

2010-10-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

================
With all of the spiritual skirmishes going on lately, I thought it necessary to report on positive experiences that a couple of us had in the wee hours of the morning.

Last night, I was with two other guys from the Knight Shift. Shortly after I got there, a van pulled into one of the driveways close to where we were praying. A man got out of his van and asked if we needed coffee or hot chocolate or anything like that. He said that he’d seen us praying the nights that he’d driven by. He’d seen the people praying and doing spiritual battle with the protesters during the day. He felt compelled to stop and encourage us. After a few minutes of conversation he thanked all of us for taking a stand against this terrible tragedy and then left.

About an hour later, a young man was walking down the street. As he passed us, he made a point of patting each of the three of us on the shoulder. One of my fellow Knights observed that there are a bunch of men who appreciate what 40 Days is doing.

There are many people watching us pray. It’s difficult to see the effects of what we’re doing especially when horns are blaring and signs are being waved and we’re being mocked. Our silent prayers in the middle of the night and humble postures of prayer during the day remain in stark contrast to the hoopla that our friends are generating with their signs, coat hangers, show tunes, dancing and cheering. Seems that this is pretty characteristic of spiritual warfare. The most logical and rational arguments will not achieve what is possible with prayer and humility.
================

God Bless,
Michael A. Dupont

Foment is momentum

2010-10-19T18:24:00.000-04:00

When you get a scraped knee, what do you do? You pour some hydrogen peroxide on it and it foams and stings at the site of the wound. The fomentation is a signal that cleansing is taking place. When a wound heals, it expels pus, also a good sign, however icky it might be.

Likewise, when Christ began his public ministry, espcially as recorded in the Gospel of Mark, each time he set forth, he cast out demons. It was such a commonplace activity that the Gospel writer stopped mentioning it or seems to toss it in with other healings, almost with a nonchalance, as though that's just an average day in the life of a Messiah.

Think about that for a minute. Wherever Christ went, what announces his arrival in many cases is the screaming anguish of a possessed individual as the demons flee. There were some dramatic scenarios in which the person foamed at the mouth, yet in every instance, the demons cowered before the God-Man, acknowledging His power over them.

It had to have been quite a spectacle, not unlike what some of us have witnesed at 320 Fulton. People screaming, confrontations, all signals that healing work is being done. As the Body of Christ, we should come forward expecting these kind of results. It's what happens when Christ steps into a place of sin and woundedness. He heals, He casts out demons, and there may be fomentation, but that precedes the miracle of healing that follows.

The dispossessed in Mark's Gospel not only were restored in their body, they were now cleansed, free to move about society once again, restored to personhood, with dignity. They could stand whole and hale once more.

We yearn for this outcome at 320 Fulton- do we dare question God's ways when our prayers are clearly being answered? Healing will come. The restoration of dignity and personhood will come. The demons will be driven away and their wrath will be powerless. Let us continue to invite the Prince of Peace, who no power on earth could overcome, to restore 320 and the souls therein. May His will be done! AMEN! Peace be with you~

Salt & Light

2010-10-17T22:11:00.000-04:00

Our prayer vigil has begun to attract a great deal of attention. There is one young man who regularly protests our presence. Please pray for him, that his conscience will be illuminated and the Holy Spirit's gifts come upon him. We have had some pro-abortion mothers of infant children denounce what we are peacefully doing at 320. We have had some emails from people wrestling with this issue and offering various kinds of feedback, along the lines of, "What's the point of praying?"

All of these are opportunities to invite another soul into the radiance of our Loving Creator's affections. No response is needed except our continuing to quietly pray. That's precisely why we are there. If praying calls forth the anger of others, pray for healing and balm. If it calls forth fear, pray for trust. If it calls forth support, praise God! Everything that takes place on the sidewalk is cause for prayer, and every moent is one for which we should give thanks to Almighty God who has formed each of us and guides each of us and asks that we draw others to the Peace which surpasses all understanding.

Peace be with all of you at 320. Peace be with those who see you praying. Peace be with the souls affected by our prayers.

From the National website

2010-10-12T14:25:00.001-04:00

One of the most joyful things about a 40 Days for Life
prayer vigil is the sight of a family praying together.
We see it all the time. And because Jesus asked the
disciples to let the little children come to Him, we
are sure that He is most attentive to their prayers.

One family prayed at a 40 Days for Life vigil recently
... and then wrote about it on our blog!

"During 40 Days for Life, I went to a prayer tent,"
said 6-year-old Glory. "We prayed out loud from 9:00 to
10:00 so abortion will stop. We had to wake up at 7:00
in the morning. I was so sleepy, but I had to eat. Then
I brushed my teeth and changed my clothes. I am fasting
from rice milk so babies won't die."

"40 Days for Life is praying and fasting to end
abortion," said Mary Jane, who is 8. "I am fasting from
bagels because I eat them a lot. So I am fasting from
them. I think God will help us, and abortion will stop."

"For 40 Days for Life, I’m fasting from bananas because
I really like them, and we eat them a lot," wrote
10-year-old Parker. "When I want to eat them, I pray
for mothers that are pregnant so that they don’t have
an abortion and for all the people that had an abortion
so that they don’t have another one."

Thanks to Glory, Mary Jane and Parker for their
sacrifices -- and for the parents who are raising
children with a love for God

Some ideas for fasting

2010-10-07T14:10:00.000-04:00

from one of our prayer volunteers:

1. Wake like a hero. Get up the first time the alarm goes off. Don’t hit the snooze button, instead practice “the heroic moment"-- Roll out of bed, kiss the floor, and offer your day to Jesus.

2. Be on time. To everything . . . Punctuality shows respect for others and yourself. It’s a perfect fast because it’s a small thing, but hard to do.

3. Be cheerful even when you don’t feel like it. Every one you meet is engaged in a great struggle, not just you. Offer it up and be friendly. You might feel like an old shoe, but your attitude doesn’t need to smell like one. Smiles are free, they’re easy, and they go a long way towards boosting morale—maybe even your own.

4. Order a smaller size. This is a ridiculously simple mortification, but a surprisingly hard one to do. For whatever reason, Americans feel entitled to jumbo-sized beverages and meal portions—they don’t even have small drinks at McDonald’s anymore—so this is a meaningful act of self-denial.

5. Don't eat meat on Friday, the day our Lord gave up his life for us on the Cross.

If he can do it, so can you

2010-10-04T16:22:00.000-04:00

I’ll be honest: Pro-Lifers annoy me sometimes...

I wish some Pro-Lifers didn’t play fast and loose with their figures, or quote their enemies out of context. I wish some of them could afford websites that didn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out in aesthetic horror, or proofreaders for their rambling, poorly-spelled emails. I wish some of them didn’t post twenty articles to Facebook a day, all on the same subject, using an overabundance of capital letters.

[snip]

Anyway, for all of the above reasons, I was kind of surprised with myself when the email I got about 40 Days For Life somehow got me to register for a time slot in front of Planned Parenthood.

Because, you know, it’s not really my scene. I’m pretty content with just throwing out a stray Hail Mary for the cause now and then. I’ve been to these things before, because people have dragged me, but never on my own initiative.

[snip]

Pro-Lifers annoy me, sure; but, as my family will tell you, that’s not terribly hard to do. Just chewing the wrong way might be enough.

And they might have terrible grammar (some of ‘em), but while I’m sitting at home and looking at FAIL Blog, they’re out fighting the good fight. And unfortunately for me, I’m pretty sure that excellent grammar doesn’t count for much, Judgment-Day-wise. (“But Lord! When did I ever see thee dangle a preposition, or misplace a modifier, or misuse an apostrophe, and not correct thee?”)

You may want to read the rest of his entry here. I think it speaks to the magnitude of 40Days that it can draw slackers like this blogger against their baser inclinations. I think all of us can relate to his desire to simply shrug it off, that sense of responsibility, that prick of one's conscience.

40DFL succeeds because it allows people to step in quietly and do their part to help a cause that the majority of Americans know in their hearts is just. Not all of us want to be "one of those pro-life people", but all of us know that abortion is wrong. If we give God an inch, even begrudgingly, He will take us miles beyond what we thought we were able to do.

I really like this one

2010-10-03T19:06:00.000-04:00

-----------------------------------------------------
DAY 12 INTENTION
-----------------------------------------------------

May the King of the Universe, who entered this world
as a helpless infant, give us the humility to be
healed.

-----------------------------------------------------
SCRIPTURE
-----------------------------------------------------

My power is made perfect in weakness.

--2 Corinthians 12:9

-----------------------------------------------------
REFLECTION by Kevin Burke, Rachel's Vineyard
-----------------------------------------------------

The great mystery of the Humility of God is very near
and dear to the mission of those serving in pro life
and in a special way, post abortion ministries across
this nation.

For those wounded by their participation in abortion,
the door to healing often feels like crossing an
abyss of great fear: fear of judgment, fear of being
torn apart by the pain, by self hatred and rage at
those who hurt and abandoned you, and manipulated you
in your time of temptation.

For men in particular, entering the unknown waters of
emotional vulnerability, so necessary to healing
calls for a different kind of courage that feels
deceptively like weakness.

The door to healing is humility. It is born in the
inability to no longer control the pain, to live with
the consequences of that tragic decision to reject
life. The hearts cries out, "I have committed a grave
offense against my Creator and I am consumed by
regret, grief and sorrow!"

During these forty days let us pray for all who have
participated in abortion and with love call them to
healing and reconciliation. With healing these women
and men can become as John Paul II proclaimed in the
Gospel of Life, "the most eloquent defenders of
everyone's right to life."

Jesus proclaimed, "I am the Vine, you are the
branches" (John 15:5). To bear the greatest fruit,
the branches must be pruned. Each level of pruning of
the vine requires a deeper level of humility so that
we can abandon ourselves to His will.

This is not a lofty theological concept as much as it
is an earthy experience of pulling weeds, tilling
rocky soil, pruning and healing the vines. "If a man
wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self,
take up his cross, and begin to follow in my
footsteps" (Matthew 16:24).

-----------------------------------------------------
PRAYER
-----------------------------------------------------

Lord, during these forty days, we ask that with each
day of this sacred vigil, everything in us that
separates us from your perfect will would be pruned
from our hearts and souls.

In this blessed freedom may we experience a powerful
anointing of your Holy Spirit. Filled with confidence
and trust may we proclaim with the mother of Jesus,
"Let it be done to me, according to your Word."

-----------------------------------------------------
PRINTABLE DEVOTIONAL
-----------------------------------------------------

To download today's devotional as a formatted,
printable PDF to share with friends:

http://40daysforlife.com/docs/fall2010day12print.pdf

Note from a former team member

2010-10-01T18:47:00.006-04:00

I went to pray at the clinic at about 4:30 p.m. today. There was a protester with a sign "Pro-Child, Pro-Choice". The protester stood directly in front of the clinic. I took my position west of the protester - closer to the clinic drive. I stood there and prayed, and must admit to feeling slightly discouraged by the drivers who honked and waved in support of the protestor.

I continued to pray. A car pulled into the clinic drive and stopped right at the entrance. A young woman got out and addressed me. She said she wanted to thank us for being there. Four years ago, she came for an abortion and did not go through with it because we were there praying. She pointed to her son in her car. Then she hugged me. Praise God!

We all know that our presence and our prayers and fasting make a difference, yet we don't always see it. Four years ago was the first 40 Days for Life campaign in Grand Rapids - and now we can count one more save that we didn't know about.

And isn't it just like Him to reveal this to me today, when I was feeling discouraged! What an incredible grace! (Or maybe He's just showing off!)

Thank you to all of you who continue in your faithfulness. And a special thanks to the team from 2007 who brought 40 Days to Grand Rapids!

@ 320

2010-09-30T16:29:00.004-04:00

You never stand alone!

Abby Johnson

2010-09-27T23:07:00.000-04:00

I had the unique privilege of listening to Abby speak twice today: once at 320 when she joined David Bereit and some twenty of us in prayer, and later at the Focus on Life dinner.

I've come away from listening to her with a renewed appreciation of the need to pray for conversion.

This afternoon at 320, she acknowledged that we get a lot of obscenities thrown at us from hecklers. She reminded us that there are so many hurting and wounded people out there, and they deserve our more fervent prayers. She said it can be hard to respect someone who is employed by the abortion industry- as she was prior to her conversion- but respect them, continue to demonstrate your peaceful witness to them.

At the dinner, she spoke about the motive for her conversion: watching a child's life get snuffed out in an instant of suction on an ultrasound. Her heart was changed, and she knew she could join David Bereit and the 40Days people that gathered outside her clinic for 8 years because she knew they would treat her with respect, because they had been doing exactly that for 8 years.

We won't get respect for life if we don't exude respect at all times to everyone, even those who hate us and hold us in contempt. Our conversion is the beginning of the end to abortion. Not the 320 employees, not the hecklers-- it starts with you and me and whether we are the most life-loving, people-cherishing, evildoer-respecting people we can possibly be (and we can all work harder at this).

Have you asked the Lord to change your heart this first week of prayer and fasting?
...or are you focused on the splinter in your sibling's eye?

David Bereit!!!

2010-09-27T11:54:00.000-04:00

He's here!!!

Yay!

Can you tell we're excited?

Silent no more

2010-09-27T11:09:00.001-04:00

It has come to my attention that some people praying on the sidewalk have been responding to the catcalls and the hecklers that like to shout discouraging words as they pass by us on the sidewalk.

We are a peaceful prayer vigil. Even if our response is a cordial one, like "God bless!" as the heckler cruises away, it's really not appropriate for us to respond at all. We are standing in solidarity with children who have no voice. Their screams go unheard.

Our loudest statement is peaceful, prayerful silence. That's what makes them heckle, makes them uncomfortable: our quiet witness to the truth that here die children, fellow citizens with rights. The children of 320 do not die alone, as long as we are with them in prayer.

Remain in prayer as you stand at the sidewalk. Give your focus and your heart to Jesus, not the hecklers.

Christ knows betters than any of us what it was like to be unjustly jeered at or spat upon. Will we accept no less as we stand witness to the trial and crucifixion of thousands of children in the womb?

Let your every action radiate peace. His peace as He bore the weight of our sins.

from the AnnArbor campaign website

2010-09-25T00:41:00.001-04:00

“One of the most difficult forms of fasting is
fasting from talking.”
-Msgr. Philip J. Reilly, Founder of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants

“The most important thing to happen outside of an abortion clinic is for people to be there in prayer.

When a pregnant woman in difficulty approaches the abortion clinic and she sees people praying outside the mill, whether as part of a prayer vigil or as sidewalk counselors praying, the pregnant woman immediately- consciously or subconsciously- thinks of God.

God is made present through your prayerful presence.

And the existence of her hidden unborn baby, the potential victim, whose existence our society forgets or denies, is also made present through your prayerful presence.
Moreover your prayers are obtaining from God for the frightened mothers the trust and courage to choose life for their unborn children.

To be effective the vigil participants and the sidewalk counselors also need each other and should act as one.... It is difficult to maintain silence and prayer over a long period of time. Yet every woman is equally important whether she comes early or late. She must not be deprived of your prayerful presence.

If a volunteer or volunteers need to talk or relax, ... the person or persons should take a brief walk away from the group, rather than turning the prayerful presence into a coffee break.”

Did you hear the news?

2010-09-24T10:28:00.000-04:00

This is one sound bite the forces at work in Planned Parenthood don't want you to hear:

After the New Jersey state Senate defeated an attempt to override the decision of Gov. Chris Christie to cut off state taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood abortion businesses, the first facility run by the national abortion giant is closing.

Praise God!!! May this be the first of many cracks in their foundation. Blow the trumpets in Jericho! The walls will come tumbling down!

Does popcorn count as fasting?

2010-09-24T00:56:00.005-04:00

Praise God!

2010-09-23T21:21:00.000-04:00

Here is a message from the Omega House sidewalk counselors:

On this beautiful summer-like day we were able to see God working at the Fulton Clinic. This was the second day of the 40 Days For Life which meant there were more people than usual at the Omega House. It was the change of shifts for the Life Counselors and we heard someone ask a couple who had gotten out of their car if they were here to pray. Immediately when I turned around to look and saw the confused look on their face, I knew these were not people here to pray but were people coming to the abortion clinic and had parked in the wrong parking lot. We then switched gears and took our information and discussed why they were there.

They had come all the way from Traverse City and the reason was financial. She had a job but did not have a place to live. Later when I went up to her car, I saw all her belongings, pillow blankets, clothes, etc packed high in the back seat. After a discussion about the help available, the option of adoption, the effects of abortion and giving her the Pause DVD and all the information and Bible that we give, they still said they wanted to go inside. BUT within 10 minutes we saw them walking down the Omega House driveway with a much happier attitude. When I asked if they were ready to accept help she shyly said yes. I expected they would then follow me to a local crisis pregnancy center but they didn't want to and got in the car and shut the doors and windows. A little confused but certain their mind was changed, I walked up to the car with a beautiful gift bag and knocked on the window. At first she wouldn't acknowledge me but then I held up the bag and the guy motioned for her to open the window. When she looked into the gift bag the tears started but they were tears of joy and gratitude. With a hug and a promise to help they left with smiles and waves. I also told them 500 people would be praying for them!

Please pray for J and J that God would give them the courage to call and seek out help because many are ready and willing to help them, and that God would use His Word to give them Hope and show them His tremendous love for them.

Another praise - The clinic was slow today and by noon everyone (except the dr and workers) was gone and even the nurse that assists the dr. left. That too, is an answer to prayer.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Shoo, fly

2010-09-23T12:27:00.000-04:00

Last time I challenged you to do the Daniel fast for the entire forty days. Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness and afterward, was tempted by Satan (Matt 4:1-3; Luke 4:2). Moses fasted 40 days on Mount Horeb before he was given the Ten Commandments (Exo. 34:28-29). Elijah fasted for 40 days during a trip from the wilderness to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8). But forty days has biblical significance beyond this.
The flood, which cleansed the earth of wickedness, lasted 40 days. Besides Moses fast, his life could be divided into three periods of forty: 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert, 40 years bringing the Israelites to the Promised Land. Jonah told Ninevah they had 40 days to repent or expect judgment from God. The people fasted (Jon 3:5).
It is interesting to note that pesticides are put on crops for forty days in order to destroy flies. If applied for less time, the next generation of flies lives. We read in Matt 12:24 that the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. Beelzebub means “lord of the flies.”
So how does this all relate to Forty Days for Life? Flies are just one of the animals the Bible uses to represent demons. Like the need for 40 days of pesticides, if we fast for forty days, we may help destroy the demons in our society which are destroying the unborn. Consider fasting for forty days to help destroy the “flies” in our city,
Franklin, Jentezen. “Fasting.” Charisma House, 2008. Chapter 5.

Let the trumpets sound!!!

2010-09-22T09:37:00.000-04:00

The day of the Lord is here!

We have that blessed assurance that the victory already belongs to Christ.

Yet, the powers of darkness have not relinquished their hold in our temporal sphere.

They have not relinquished their hold of 320 Fulton.

So we must meet them head-on, face to the Son, with love in our hearts.

As you stand at 320 [persons with special needs may bring a chair, but they must neither obstruct the sidewalk nor infringe even one centimeter into the property of 320] ask the Lord to bathe the soil of your heart, to nourish it with the seeds of his Word, and ask that it bear fruit worthy of praise. Let YOUR light shine by allowing HIS light to shine in you as you peacefully pray for an end to abortion.

The imagery of land, soil, earth came strongly to mind as we gathered early this morning for the first prayers at 320. We prayed for all of you, dear readers, whether you stand at 320 or stand in solidarity from your living rooms, we prayed that the Lord would bless and protect you, that your heart would be the first place to heal.

320 Fulton is a plot of earth like any other, and we pray it return to mundane purposes once again. We pray that 320 become a nondescript office building where people do normal, everyday, non-perfidious activities like process mortgages or sell plastic pencaps, or whatever. That's how it looks to the average passerby.

But we know differently. What goes on at 320 is not mundane. It's a travesty. It's sinister, and it should frighten us were it not for that blessed assurance.

Jesus will reign here once more. Jesus will reign. My scripture verse this morning was from Isaiah:

"No more shall men call you 'forsaken' or your land 'desolate'
but you shall be called 'My Delight' and your land 'espoused'.
For the Lord delights in you, and makes your land his spouse."

The land in question isn't merely Israel, which was suffering after the Babylonian captivity from homesickness.

No, this land is the soil of your heart, dear reader, and the Lord wants to espouse your heart.

I thought of the plot of earth known as 320. I prayed this morning that the Lord would espouse this plot of earth, resurrect it, and claim it once again for His purposes.

We know it is not being used for His purposes- far from it!

So let's continue to pray for an end to abortion. Pray for an 'end' to 320, that a new life, a new city, a new espousal will take place here. Pray that the powers of darkness will be banished from this place. Another verse comes to mind, this time from Ephesians 6:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on
the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the
devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.

For that armor-plating to happen, we must examine the soil in our own hearts. We cannot pray for healing to come to 320 if we have not accepted this healing within our own soul, within our own hearts. God must reign here, at the core of our being, in the solitude where there is no solitude, for God is with us there.

Have you nourished that soil with the Word?

Have you tended the secret recesses of your heart?

Today is the beginning of 40 days. You have plenty of time to begin the Beginning.

"Behold, I make all things new," says the Lord. Let it be ever so~

May the Lord delight in you, dear reader, and rest assured that I delight in you also. Peace!

How to stand at 320

2010-09-20T22:19:00.001-04:00

I'm not talking about keeping your toes off the grass or the driveway (you should).

I'm talking about how your heart should be as you stand.

Stand ready. Stand because you love. Most importantly-- stand because you are called.

Abbot Joseph, who publishes the Word Incarnate blog, explains:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, says the Scripture several times, and it is also the beginning of our understanding of who we are before God. It is not the fullness of understanding, since it does not yet convey the tenderness of God’s compassion and love. Yet it is essential that we have something of this holy fear in our experience of God, for if we don’t we will never truly understand or fully appreciate the mercy and love of God. If we only project upon God our own concept or experience of human compassion and love, we will never properly know God and hence will not relate to Him as He desires. It is only when we experience that standing-in-awe before the Holy One, the trembling awareness of our sinfulness and radical insufficiency before the Mysterium Tremendum that is the ineffable glory of the Divine Nature, that we can begin to grasp the magnitude of mercy and God’s limitless love, and the incomprehensible gift of God’s desire to enter into a personal relationship with us in love and joy.

There are many who believe in God’s transcendent glory but not in his desire for intimate communion with us. Two Iranian women who became Christians were recently put on trial and imprisoned simply for converting. One of their “blasphemies” was believing that the transcendent God actually spoke to them. The Muslim prosecutor bellowed: “It is impossible for God to do such a thing!” They replied: “So are you saying, then, that God is not Almighty?” The prosecutor changed his tactic and then said: “You are not worthy.” They responded: “It is up to God to decide whether or not we are worthy.” So it precisely because God is Almighty that He can lower Himself to speak with sinful creatures. And it is not for sinful creatures to decide their worthiness or unworthiness to stand before God. We come because He calls.

Do not stand in doubt of yourself or your reason for being there. Stand boldly, in humility.

"For if my people humble themselves...then I will hear from heaven."

Praise God

2010-09-17T17:50:00.000-04:00

We hear that phrase often enough. But do we heed the imperative?

We should praise God at all times. Praise Him in the morning, the evening, and just around suppertime, right?

Do we praise God when we feel low? When we've been wronged, or when we've done wrong? Or do we only praise God when good comes our way or we feel on top of our game? God should be praised no matter what else is going on in your life.

40DFL provides numerous opportunities for me to sit back and marvel anew at the glories God has gained for us.

The efforts put forth by such a multitude of people cause me to marvel.

The peace I feel in prayer causes me to marvel.

The kindness of strangers causes me to marvel.

God is so dear, so precious, like a child. That's how God came into the world: as a little miracle of cellular activity, forming the tiniest peep of a heart.

Did you know that God's heart was once the size of a single grain of sand, pulsing with a love greater than all the encompassed universe?

Isn't that marvelous?

I look forward to fasting with all of you. I look forward to praising God with all of you. I look forward to all the marvels that God has in store for us.

40 Days is fast upon us

2010-09-15T10:03:00.000-04:00

   So the question no longer is, “Do I need to fast?’ but rather “How long should I fast?’ and ‘How should I fast?’ There are three types of fasts found in Scripture. There is an absolute fast. With this type of fast, you don’t have any food or water. Esther called the Jews to this type of fast before she approached the King about Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jews. (Esther 4-7) This type of fast should only be done with the approval of your doctor and with supervision.
    A normal fast is when you go without any food for a length of time. Depending on the length of the fast, you can choose to add juice or broth to your water intake for more energy. We know that Paul fasted for three days and fourteen days. Peter fasted three days. These may have been normal fasts.
   We know that Daniel did a partial fast twice. The first was ten days (Daniel 1). Daniel and his three friends did not eat the choice meats and sweets from the king’s table. They had only vegetables and water. Daniel did a second fast (Daniel 10), where once again he ate no sweets, no meat and no wine for three weeks. During this time he prayed. After the three weeks, his prayer was answered by an angel. There will be more information on the Daniel fast next time.
    As you can see, the length of the fasts varied. There is no right or wrong length of time. Start with a fast from the time you get up until sunset or bedtime. Remember, the intent of the fast is what is important. Without prayer and reading the Bible, a fast is really just a low-cal diet.
    The purpose of fasting with the 40 Days for Life vigil is to combine fasting with prayer to better focus on God. Think about how much time you can focus on God if you spend your lunch and dinner times praying instead of eating. Embrace this opportunity to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death to a culture of life.
Franklin, Jentezen. “Fasting.” Charisma House, 2008. Chapter 3.