​ I recently listened to an interview, on PBS, of someone who was talking about fish and the new discoveries that have been made about their intelligence and how they feel pain.  The person gave descriptions of the conditions in some of the places where fish are raised and the “inhumane” treatment of fish".
 The person doing the interview was so moved that she said that she would not be able to even look at fish in her freezer the same way, as she did before.
 It was clear that the person being interviewed and then the host were attempting to get the listeners to identify with fish. Once people identify with the fish, they will have compassion on them and not eat them or at least show some concern about the way they are treated. I think of Mary Temple Grandin, an American ethologist, inventor, and animal science professor at Colorado State University, who came up with better ways of treating livestock.
 It was really interesting to me how the people on the PBS were attempting to stir up the same kind of beneficence in their listeners as we abolitionist do. While they are attempting to direct this beneficence toward fish, we are trying to direct it toward the preborn. They even used the term “humane” which caused me to consider what the word means.
 I googled it – “having or showing compassion or benevolence.”
"Regulations ensuring the humane treatment of animals"
 Or “formal (of a branch of learning) intended to have a civilizing or refining effect on people.
"The center emphasizes economics as a humane discipline"
 The use of the word “humane” presumes that we would always want to treat humans with beneficence.  So, to treat a fish “humanely” would be to treat a fish the way that we should treat a fellow human. But if we murder the smallest and weakest of humans before they can even be born or keep them frozen in petri dishes for some undetermined time to be either disposed of, like any other waste, or implanted in the hope that one might survive, then haven’t we so dehumanized humans so that that term can hardly be used to stir compassion? When  the world’s governments not only allow but often encourage the murder of 17,000 preborn babies every hour through abortion and IVF procedures, how can humanizing be equated with improving the way we treat a species or be associated with “showing compassion or benevolence”? Promoting regulation of the murder of the preborn or presenting the mother who has her own baby murdered as a victim also contributes to the verbicide of the word humanize.
 The efforts of the Abolitionists are to cause other human beings to identify with their preborn neighbors, in a more intimate or personal way.  The  good Samaritan identified with the victim in Luke 10 when he “felt compassion” for him. Once any human being, be it the abortionist or the pregnant woman, identifies with the baby in the womb in a way that compels feeling compassion, they will not kill the baby in the womb.
 Would it not be a marvelous thing to hear a PBS interview with an Abolitionist?
Pray for this – “…perhaps the Lord will work for us…” 1 Sam. 14  

The text below is copied from an email from Faye Barnhart from the Human Life Initiative. 
 She writes some of what some others have been saying for years. I pray that Christian Pastors will read this and that their repentance will be manifest by them leading their flocks in this long overdue repentance. 
​
I woke up with Isaiah 59 and Romans 1 on my mind this morning. Isaiah 59: "Justice is turned back And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And righteousness cannot enter." As I woke up, I read the entire chapter. Further up in the chapter it reads, "Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken a lie; Your tongue mutters unrighteousness. No one calls in righteousness, and no one seeks justice in truth. They trust in confusion and speak worthlessness." (see all Isaiah 59) Romans 1: "Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." (see all Rom 1)

It was a restless sleep last night, knowing I had to write this email this morning. This email asking believers across Colorado to please plead for God's mercy and repent for our state. Colorado runs red with the blood of the innocent. We have allowed a holocaust ten times as deadly as that in Germany during WWII. Over the fifty years that we have allowed innocent children to be murdered, we have lost an entire generation. And the generations after them. We have been content to be silent and complacent while real human beings have been slaughtered. And we knew it was happening. We preferred the lie that they were not living human beings, or that, somehow, we were not responsible as "our brother's keeper" (Genesis 4:9). It eased our conscience that we hadn't met them, yet. We didn't know who we were killing. We didn't know what they would grow up to be or the blessing they would be in their families, our churches, and our communities. And all they would have influenced in their lifetimes. We were content to let them be as the character in "It's a Wonderful Life" to have never been born. But it was worse than that, because they were already here. They were already living. They were already going to be born, dead or alive. They were already wanting to continue living. We stole their inheritance from them among the living.

Jeremiah 5:28b-29
They refuse to provide justice to orphans
and deny the rights of the poor.
Should I not punish them for this?” says the LORD.
“Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?

Is it time, yet? 

We have injustice in Colorado and our nation. The blood of the innocent has polluted our land and invited the demonic. This is not politics, as usual; this is a call to the people of God across Colorado to repent of the bloodshed on our hands. The bloodshed from the bodies of innocent children who had their separate blood type from their Mammas, their own little hearts, their own little faces and fingers and toes, their own little lives they wanted to live. Their hugs and their giggles and the love they wanted to give us. This is a call to fervent prayer on their behalf, and ours, who are wanting to stand in the gap on their behalf. 

Part of Awakenings in this country have been an understanding of the judgement of God and fervent prayer. When Jesus' disciples tried to cast out a demon from a man unsuccessfully, Jesus told them it was due to unbelief, and in the King James translation, a need for fasting and prayer. We have the demonic to cast out of our state (and send back to the abyss). Another part of Awakenings is that the actions of those repenting resonated in the public square, in conversations, in laws, and in homes.

This is more than a political process. This is more than just filling petitions with signatures, though necessary. This is about piercing the darkness with the light, speaking the truth into the lies, and raising a banner of what is right. This is a prayer that the blind will see, the dull will hear, and that God would replace our cold hearts of stone with hearts of loving flesh. And that God will reach down with His own mighty hand to rescue those He loves. That He would rescue the widow and the orphan and the stranger that we have failed. And that He would allow us the opportunity to rescue them as He expects of us. 

I don't know if this is like the spies that went into the promised land and only two of them believed that they could take it, while the ten spies said the giants were too big, so that by the time God's people came around to want to take it, it was too late, and they lost the opportunity for another generation. Or, if it is like Moses going before Pharoah multiple times until Pharoah finally let the people go. I do know that if God grants us yet another opportunity to put forward a petition to sign and put before the voters, we best not squander it! It will be the prayers of God's people if we will have an opportunity to give to the voters of Colorado a chance to change our law and put life into the Colorado Constitution in place of death. Because Colorado is as Isaiah 59 and Romans 1. We need the power and hand of God to move from the prayers of God's people to move the ruler's hearts.

This is supposed to be a Constitutional Republic. And this particular process through a people's initiative - not a state sanctioned one - is a democratic process. But the powers that be do not want to give up the practice of idolatry and sacrifice of God's children on the high places. And will not do so easily.

People keep asking when petitions will be out. We have to either pass the Colorado Supreme Court to be able to start printing. Or, we have to go back through the process. We are not in charge. The state is. But the state answers to God and you know Him and may plead with Him on our behalf, and most importantly, on behalf of the children whose lives hang in the balance.

At Planned Parenthood on Friday I saw a woman in a vehicle park where the LoveLife sidewalk counselors usually park so, thinking that it was one of them, I did not approach the car. When after some time another vehicle, with a male driver, pulled in behind the first vehicle they both pulled away from the curb & drove into the entrance to the clinic. I felt terrible that I had misjudged the situation and had not tried to talk to the woman. I hurried to the ladder on the sidewalk and spoke to her as best I could from across the parking lot. I began by asking her forgiveness for not trying to talk to her when she was parked outside and then pleaded with her not to allow herself to be used or manipulated by this man and not to do anything that she would end up regretting the rest of her life. I had some time because she did not get out of her car right away. They both went into the clinic but were not in there for more than 15 minutes and left before the abortionist or the pill dispenser woman had arrived. She stopped in the drive and allowed me to talk to her. I asked if she had received any pills to kill the baby and she said no that she did not do anything. She seemed sincere and took one of my tracts and information on fetal development. I am hopeful that she decided to spare the life of her baby. I am grateful that God continually uses me in spite of my inadequacies and failures. 

Our Pastor recently exhorted the church to stop just huddling up and actually run the plays. Referring to the lack of involvement in ministry outside the church. He said that if this were a football game then we would be getting delay of game penalties for being to long in the huddle. I would carry the analogy a step farther and say that the way things are going with contemporary Christianity we are racking up more negative yardage through delay of game penalties than our total offense (passing and rushing combined).
Nothing new under the sun. I am reading William Wilberforce's "A Practical View of Christianity", written in 1779 in which he has a lot to say about this benign Christianity. Today I refer to this as "Americanized, Study the Bible & have fun Christianity", which is void of persecution, suffering, substantial sacrifice and dying to self. A Christianity that thinks that picking up one's cross means to hang an ornament, on a chain, around your neck or from your rear view mirror. We've seen plenty of parents with these ornaments as they drive into Planned Parenthood to sacrifice their children. May God have mercy on us & grant us repentance.
  The liberals actively support and even encourage abortions and the pietist say "We don't drink and we don't chew and we don't go with the women who do". To which may be asked "What do you do". They are are content to convince themselves that they don't abort their children but the statistics say otherwise.  When asked of any religious affiliation, one third of the women going into Planned Parenthood to abort their babies claim to be "evangelical Christians". I suspect this is because they often don't use birth control and when they do get pregnant they go off and abort they baby rather than face the shame brought on them by their Christian peers. Their peers never know and they face the guilt of what they've done on their own. The silence of Christian churches in regard to this holocaust and the lack of voice that the Pastors give it's victims presents a picture of abortion as something less than the shedding of innocent blood, so the pregnant teen is persuaded that it can't really be murder.  Even in those churches that do mention abortion it is usually presented as some moral wrong on the level of coveting the car of one's neighbor, rather than the murder of one's most helpless neighbors. In relatively few churches are there exhortations to actively intervene on behalf of the victims of this holocaust. The problem is compounded because the women who abort their babies know what they've done and they can't talk about it to anyone. When a post abortive mother can come to Jesus and confess that she had her own baby murdered then she can experience the magnanimous forgiveness of Christ and will subsequently like Mary Magdalene "love much", Luke 7:47.   
  Dietrich Bonhoeffer worked to persuade Christians in Germany to identify with the victims of the Nazi holocaust. 
  William Wilberforce worked for 17 years to try to get Christians to identify with the slaves being shipped through Britain. 
  We must ACTIVELY work to persuade Christians to identify with the victims of this holocaust which has claimed the lives of approximately 100 million of our preborn neighbors. I am including the estimates from IVF where tiny humans are discarded when unwanted and those who are killed through chemicals at an early stage of development, based off of "Worldometer" numbers. This is a worldwide holocaust that claims the lives of approximately 17,000 human beings per hour. And God heard one man's blood crying from the ground for justice when Cain killed Able. 
  

Terri & I went to a place where preborn babies are killed all the way up until birth. I include this descriptor not because it is any more of an offence against God or any l more wrong than taking the life of any innocent human being at any stage of development but rather to help people to see how jaded and callous these moms are who can go into a place while they can feel their child kicking in their womb and have them killed. And how demonic this is that "Doctors" and other "medical Professionals" can also feel these babies kicking and thrashing in the wombs of their mothers. They have to put more physical effort into the murders that they commit. 
 As we sat outside this place and tried to appeal to anyone that may be going in to have their baby killed, two young men came by. We asked them if they were Mormons and they told us they were JW's and were going to see a Doctor about an ingrown toenail. 
  We told them that in that same building babies were being killed all the way up until birth. Their reply was that they needed to get into their appointment. There was absolutely no indication that they cared one bit about babies being killed in the same building where they were obtaining other services. It's like they just have a mission to fulfill in knocking on a certain number of doors each day and promoting their cult and don't want to be distracted by their preborn neighbors being murdered. It's bad enough that they have to take time out to deal with this dang ingrown toenail.   
  Thanks to all the lover's of Jesus Christ who care to include the victims of this current holocaust as neighbors whom they are to love as themselves. 

 In April at our outreach, a woman with her family stopped to thank us for our efforts. She approached Susan and Roberto to say that, about 3 years ago, she was going to Planned Parenthood to have her baby aborted but she changed her mind because of the people out front with signs. Her young daughter, the survivor, was there with the rest of the family and they all expressed their happiness over what God had done. 
  In May, Terri & I were at the abortion clinic in Lowry and a woman stopped to tell me that about 2 years ago she had had her baby aborted at the clinic there. She told me that it was the worst decision she had ever made. Through tears she told me that the people at the clinic told her that they would help her and she did not see help anywhere else. I told her of how God is a merciful God who can forgive any sin if we turn to Jesus and ask Him. While shedding more tears she said that she knows that because since then she has become a Christian. 
  One woman could shed tears of joy because Christians "showed up" in her (and even more so her child's) time of need. 
 One woman shed tears of regret because Christians didn't "show up" in her (and even more so her child's) hour of need. 
  The victims of this holocaust are just as much our neighbors as the Jewish people were in Nazi Germany; as the slaves in the US and throughout the world when it legal; as the guy that was dying in the ditch in Luke 10. 
   The preborn children being threatened with abortion are:
      Our neighbors whom we are called to love as ourselves Matt. 22:39
      Fatherless who we are called to defend PS. 82:3
      Orphans who we are called to "look after" James 1:27
      The dumb that we are called speak out for PS. 31:8
      The innocent being led off to slaughter who we are called to rescue Prov. 24:10-12 

   We often anguish with the decision which place do we go to.
  If we go to the Planned Parenthood at 38th & Pontiac we can be confident that most of the women going in are there to have their preborn babies killed. 
  If we go to the closer clinic in Lowry then we can't tell who is going to the midwife that has a suite there, with love for their baby, or who is going to the Abortionist, in another part of the building with the intention of sacrificing their baby. 
 Lowry offers the additional benefit of lots of public exposure because of the heavy traffic on Lowry Blvd. We are able to put up a lot of signage with the help of the nicely spaced trees. 
 If we neglect to go to Planned Parenthood then, 85 yr old, Terry Sullivan is sometimes by himself between 7:45-9:15+/- unless 70+ Bill comes out. 
 Today we went to Lowry and God chose to bless me the interaction with a woman who stopped to tell me that she had had her baby aborted at that particular clinic over 2 years ago an that it was the worst decision. I told her that there is forgiveness through Jesus. As she began to cry she said that she knows that because since that time she has become a Christian. She has experienced the forgiveness of our most merciful savior but she still grieves over having her child killed. 
  In our discourse she said that they offered "help" and she did not find help elsewhere.
 It seems that if there were anyone out there, 2+ years ago, offering her help and pleading with her not to kill her baby then she quite likely would not have done it. The baby would have been rescued and the mom could have been shedding tears of joy instead of tears of regret. 
  While I am grateful for the new people that we see showing up to intervene on behalf of the victims of this present and ongoing holocaust it is so disheartening to know that most places where these human sacrifices are happening have few & often no Christians there representing Jesus Christ or pleading for the lives of these innocent victims.
​  We need to repent from this absurd Americanized Christianity that has been reduced to "Study the Bible & have fun"; has redefined what it means to pick up one's cross to refer to an ornament that we hang from our necks or our rearview mirrors and has refused to identify with the victims of this holocaust as those whom we are to "love as ourselves".    
 
  
 

 A couple of weeks ago a woman stopped in the drive to Planned Parenthood to receive information. She shared her difficult situation but seemed receptive to our pleas. When Terri asked her if her mother was supportive she said, yes my mother will support me in whatever decision I make. But then the mother points into the parking lot and says "vamanos". The gramma was intent on having her grandbaby killed. I am sure that if the Gramma would have spoke up for her Grandbaby that the child would be alive today. 
  It is disheartening to see so many Gramma's encouraging their daughters to kill their Grandbabies. 
  Proverbs 17:6   Grandchildren are the crown of the old,
And the glory of sons is their fathers.
 But God can intervene in spite of heartless grandparents.  
 Bill Merritt shared how, last week another Gramma had wanted to have her grandbaby killed but God had other plans. 
 From Bill - "Thursday a couple stopped outside Planned Parenthood and asked if it was okay to park in the Planned Parenthood parking lot. Told him that it was and asked if they were there for an abortion and he said they were. He wasn't sure if they should get an abortion but apparently her mother was pressuring her . I talked to them a bit and gave them the materials that I have and they went in. They weren't in Planned Parenthood very long and when they came out he told me that they had changed their mind and decided to keep the baby. Both the guard and the escort were standing a few feet behind the car but neither of them came up to try to get us to leave. I assured the couple I would be praying for them."
  

From Sue Sutherland 

​As we wrapped up our street ministry and were heading over to the group to close in prayer, Roberto and I were waiting to cross at the busy intersection directly in front of a gas station where a young family was pumping gas. A woman rolled down her window and called to us with much enthusiasm. She thanked us for being out on the streets with our signs and our message, saying that she knows hardly anyone will stop to thank us. We were very grateful for her kindness.


She then got out of her car and came to us, pointing back to the passenger window saying, "Do you see that little girl,  do you see her? I was faced with this decision and went to Planned Parenthood for abortion but I saw people like you there and I heard them and I changed my mind." We were momentarily speechless! We then rejoiced with Victoria and thanked her for talking with us. The little girl, maybe three years old, jumped from the car and ran to us as well. We all hugged and praised God! The dad was in the driver seat and he was smiling and waving and honking his horn, yelling to us, thank you, thank you, thank you! 


What a glorious ending to our mission that day. Thousands see our signs which help them to identify with the humanity of the pre-born and many receive the literature, pointing them to Christ through the Gospel. This is baseline Christianity; this is loving God and our neighbor. Come join us in the fellowship of the saints on the third Saturday of the month. 

 On Thursday April 10th we went to Denver South HS to hand our literature about abortion; abstinence; pornography and the gospel. It was the most hostile environment that I have been in for decades. The students, with the participation of some of the school staff, called us names; threatened us; stole our literature and one of our signs worse. These students & staff reminded me of Romans 1:18-32 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged natural relations for that which is contrary to nature, 27 and likewise the men, too, abandoned natural relations with women and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing shameful acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper, 29 people having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unfeeling, and unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them.
 
1 Peter 4:12 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory, and of God, rests upon you. 
 It was a difficult thing to experience. To be somewhere where people are calling your wife a bitch and blaspheming God is trying and affects one’s emotional state for some days to follow.
 When I shared this experience with my oldest son and how these experiences actually bolster my faith because the hostility toward us is so extreme that it seems evidence for a spiritual dynamic, he concurred. Well, that’s at least one more good thing that came out of this, I mean that maybe God will use this to draw my son to himself.
  These experiences seem to be consistent with what I one should expect our Christian experience to include. John 15:18-25
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’
 We need to repent of this Americanized Christianity that has been diminished down to “Study the Bible & have fun” and where people think that picking up their cross has to do with a piece of jewelry that they hang around their necks.
  The miniscule suffering we endured cannot be compared to what happened to my friend Nicholas Heald (knocked out & had his head stomped into the street) or Jim Poullion (shot to death while holding a sign) or that of the early disciples or martyrs let alone Jesus Himself but maybe it will help prepare us for what may be coming. May we be found faithful.
 
 3 of us met with the principal today.
The principal, Rachel Goss, was polite and even apologetic about the way we were treated, but I concur with Jono's assessment that she was just being diplomatic. We think that she politely tolerated us until the meeting was over. I did leave her a flash drive with the video from my GoPro as well as a copy of the 2 magazines that we had handed out and the "What you are worth" gospel tract. As we left, I did ask her to please at least read the "What you are Worth" tract and consider the Gospel. 
 She was not on the campus last Thursday. She asked me to describe the male staff member who harassed us and when I did, she said that she didn't think that she had anyone there that met that description. I told her that the security guard (Robert) would definitely be able to identify the staff member. 
  We stated our 2 core beliefs; every human being is of great worth because they are made in the image of God and that it is never right to take the life of an innocent human being. 
 Then we made the point that regardless of the message that the school should be nurturing an environment where people can offer information and ideas that may be controversial without being verbally attacked, having their material and property stolen from them; being physically assaulted and threatened. 
 She had short purple hair and a lot of rainbow stickers on her laptop etc. We are praying that God will grant her repentance & draw her to Himself. I suspect that the security guard (Roberto) is a Christian. I hope to be able to talk to him in the future. 

   A few days later I read in the Voice of the Martyrs magazine "We cannot serve God well if we imagine that the fallen world will value us as his followers, celebrate us or cheer us on. Too many Christians genuinely think, "If we show forth the love of Christ, we will be winsome and they will want what we have." As Christ's witnesses - collectively "the light of the world" - we must understand that the radiance of His glory shining through us will be opposed and rejected. But we can praise God because He uses such opposition and our resultant suffering to accomplish His purposes. Christ suffered to show us His love, and we are called Christlike to take up our crosses to show His love to others. As we do so in faith, we can, like Chaminda (Pg 5) identify the violent opposition as a great opportunity."