Friday, January 10, 2014

Hardening Your Heart - Abortion Mill Update

            Yesterday was the first Thursday we were able to go out to the abortion mill, as we usually have other scheduling conflicts. We were very blessed to join the usual Thursday team out there! The influx of customers that we saw over the turn of the year has quieted down, for which we are very thankful. Yesterday there were a dozen or so women who came.
            Since I was not as busy as I have been the past few times, I did more specific and focused praying, and I also got to thinking about the danger of hardened hearts. The “security” man/bouncer was a bit more vocal and antagonistic due to being intoxicated. As I considered how much truth he hears every day (compared to the women and those who come who might only hear it for a few minutes or couple hours at the most), the gravity of his soul’s condition really hit home.
            At one point yesterday he said to us, “You always say the same thing every time you come here!” And that’s true. We do that because there are new women every time, so we need to present that truth and help to each one. But also, I realized how this is also God’s mercy to him. The Bible says that, “from everyone who has been given much, much will be required” ~ Luke 12:48. This man has certainly been given much, and God is giving him opportunity after opportunity to respond to the call and repent. However, if he does not repent, he is continuing to harden his heart and that is very dangerous, and eventually, spiritually fatal. The Bible has a lot to say about hard hearts. Here are just a few verses:
 “How blessed is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.” ~ Proverbs 28:14
“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.” ~ Ephesians 4:17-19
Because yesterday was our first Thursday out, it was also the first time we saw the Stericycle truck that comes to pick up the discarded bodies of precious little children and haul them away to the incinerator in Haw River, NC. It is extremely ironic that Stericycle’s slogan is “Protecting People. Reducing Risk.” Protecting what people? Certainly not the ones who are most important to protect!
The man who drove this truck also hears the truth week after week, and yet he, too, is hardening his heart. Yesterday we told him that what he was doing was not “just a job”. The same goes for the abortion doctor, the nurses, the receptionist, those who work in the call center, the bouncer, even the UPS man who delivers the packages. Anyone who in any way aids, encourages, or allows the slaughter of these little ones is not just doing a job. They are receiving “blood money”.
Sometimes it amazes me that God still has mercy on us. He must think of the world today as He did in the days of Noah, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” ~ Genesis 6:5. It is only because of His patience with us and His promise in Genesis 9:11, “neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth” that we are spared.
None of our interactions with the women stood out to me quite as much as the two topics I covered above. However, I do want to mention one couple. We could tell from the beginning that they were struggling with their decision, and after she was inside for a while, she came out and got in the car. They sat there a few moments, probably talking, and then started to pull out. Then they stopped, backed up, and pulled into a closer parking space. We began praying desperately! Alas, she got out of the car again and went into the building, despite our counsel otherwise. But in another moment she returned to the car, and this time, they drove away! We tried to ask them on their way out if they had changed their mind, but there wasn’t much response. They never came back. Perhaps we will never know if they go back another day, or if they chose life. But I do know that God’s Spirit was speaking to them, and I like to think that they will soon be raising a beautiful son or daughter together!
“Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts ~ Hebrews 4:7. You will hear His voice, if only you listen!

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