"Children are a gift from God, a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is His reward..."

Small Victories Speaks for Life at Illinois State Capitol

A Recommitment to Life

January 28, 2009

Written by Angela Michael

Psalm 37:5-6 “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

As impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, soon to be toast in political realms “Lego-my-Blago”, was doing a last-ditch media blitz in New York City , we were speaking at the historic State Capitol Rotunda where his impeachment trial is now underway. As a matter of fact, since this political travesty was unraveling, state officials attempted to cancel this pro-life rally due to impending hearings inside the Capitol, but persistent coordinators of this

event pressed on, praise God!

We headed up to Springfield with threatening weather. A severe ice and snowstorm was expected by evening. We noted groups of people bundled up for the inclimate weather heading inside the capitol building. Yes, this must be the place. We went through security, as if I didn’t have enough patted down and x-rayed from the March for Life DC trip...oh well. The first floor was packed out; there was standing room only. We were whisked away to another room where we met clergy representation. After a quick introduction we prayed for this day’s ceremony and speech.

Seven of our quiver of 12 accompanied us. They were seated in the reserved seating area. It always helps and it keeps us so humble to see their shiny faces as we share our testimony with others.

This setting was full of history. Former President Abraham Lincoln spoke on these very steps. He fought slavery in the name of “a just God” without embarrassment or apology. He confronted an America in which Black Americans were not considered “persons” under the law, and were thus not entitled to fundamental Constitutional rights. Today, the children of all races who are fully viable and only minutes from being born are also denied recognition as “persons” because of the Roe v. Wade regime.

After music and children placing roses at the foot of the podium where we were speaking, the Springfield Right to Life Coordinator introduced us and gave a brief synopsis of our work and we took the stage. We held up our sign we displayed outside this historic building when we had a divine appointment back in February 10^th, 2007: “What if his Momma had ABORTED Obama?” That was a day of infamy. Then Democrat Illinois Senator Barack Obama was announcing his bid for the presidency. God gave us this message and asked our ministry to deliver His mail to Springfield that day in the 2 degree blizzard type weather as Mr. Obama compared himself to Abraham Lincoln. The media and secret service went ballistic after cameras panned to our sign.

This past August, the Obama campaign once again stood on the Capitol steps to introduce Mr. Obama’s VP running mate, and again God told our ministry to deliver His mail and we did. And again the media went nuts and the secret service tried to get our sign. Unbeknownst to us, Daniel’s sister operates a boutique just down from the Capitol building. We ended up ducking inside this cute little shop browsing as the federal agents ran by pursuing us. Who knew? It was a God thing. The audience clapped with laughter.

We then shared how the only pregnancy center on the other side of town in Granite City forced us to turn our family van into a mobile pregnancy resource center embedded outside the largest late-term abortion mill in the Midwest where no parental consent is necessary. “This center was only open a few hours during the week and when we did talk an abortion-bound mother from aborting, the director refused to help us with showing the mothers an ultrasound picture of their babies, and she had four sonogram machines. So instead of worrying about what this Mosaic (formerly New Beginnings) pregnancy center was not doing, we equipped ourselves to be the Red Cross on the frontlines of the battle. We and our family have been doing this for the past 15 years, daily.

  “We soon realized abortion-bound women are not walking into pregnancy centers for an abortion. But, every woman walking inside Hope Clinic was there to kill. So we have had to be there every day as an alternative to abortion, and by God’s grace we have witnessed over 3000 babies saved since keeping record in the past 9 years, of those 27-28 have been adopted, including our youngest daughter. We shared her testimony of how her birthmother was addicted to drugs and was 34 weeks pregnant and there to kill. We were able to talk her into adoption; little did we know this would be our baby three nights later. But God did. He had a plan and made a way, just like we share with the mothers walking inside this abortion mill, ‘He has a plan for your baby and for your life to prosper. He only asks that you choose blessings this day and not curses.’”

We gave statistics and how God has been moving in Granite City’s little slaughterhouse the past year with the killing numbers having been cut in half, employees quitting or being fired, and numerous lawsuits against this abortion mill having been filed.

“We have seen employee conversions. The only licensed nurse inside blind-sided me several weeks ago by putting her arm around me and whispering this was her last day; our ministry has had such an effect on her she was, ‘quitting and going off to do what real nurses should be doing.’ Praise God! She was won by love. That’s what God calls us to do. Hate the sin, but love the sinner. Love them right out of this bloody business.”

I spoke briefly on my recent trip to the March for Life in Washington DC . “It was awesome to see over 300,000 marchers, but as I spoke to thousands of youth groups I asked, ‘What are we going to do after the March?’ You see, we will never win in DC. Politicians will never end abortion. You can’t fight the battle from the top down. You have to fight it from the bottom up to win. That means we have to go where we can really save babies and convert hearts.

“Unfortunately, most in the church do not believe that it is our responsibility to take the giant of child sacrifice down. We have left that battle in the hands of conservatives and Republicans and, because we have, the murder continues. Politics has always been the art of compromise.

“Only the Church can end abortion. It is not a political issue; it’s a moral issue. You can’t expect politicians to do what the Church has been ordained to do. That is you and I. We have got to rebuild our nation into a culture of life and restore respect for one’s self and one another and bring morality back. The devil comes to rob, to kill, and to destroy. Satan wants our children and, from the looks of things, he has a pretty good grip on them right now.   

Daniel spoke on, “Psalm 78: The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle…” God equipped the men of Ephraim with all the weapons they needed to fight the enemy, but they turned their backs on the battle. Today, God has given us all of the tools and weapons we need to fight the giant of abortion, but we aren’t doing it. We must show up for the battle! We have everything we need to win the war.

            I shared the rescue analogy: “It’s 2 a.m. and you wake up hearing the screams of little children. You look out the window. Flames are consuming your neighbors’ house where the children are trapped. Do you just stay in bed and say, ‘Oh, well, I’ll pray for them,’? No! You jump out of bed, race to the house, and do everything you can to save those kids. Proverbs 24:11-12. Your neighbor’s toddler falls into the pool. ‘Help! Help!...he’s drowning!’ What do you do? Tell them you’ll do a diaper drive? No! You dive into the pool and rescue. Proverbs 24:11-12. That is what we do everyday.

“In closing, I want to encourage and thank all of you for coming out in this cold weather today. This past Sunday was declared Sanctity of Life Sunday by President Bush some years ago. I applaud those courageous pastors and priests in the audience who had a backbone and preached in defense of the pre-born, the aged, and disabled. These men of God who were not afraid they would lose their buildings, livelihood, or church members.

“Any pastor or priest who cannot openly condemn murder in the womb or speak the truth on abortion has no right to be in the pulpit. He might as well hang a beer sign off his building or just close the doors. As the church goes, so does our nation. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

“And my suggestion to pastors for their daily sermons and intentions is to include saying ‘Happy Birthday to anyone celebrating a birthday today and let us also remember the unborn babies that want to celebrate their birthday’s.’ This should be included every week from every pastor.

“Remember, a movement begins with one person. You have a choice: you can listen to your conscience and work to secure the rights of the unborn to share in the fruits of our hard won liberty, or you can choose to turn your back on them. As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord and continue rescuing, and rescuing often.”

After a standing ovation we were whisked off the stage. A local television crew wanted to interview us for the evening news, which we obliged to. After the interview, o ur youngest tried out the tile floors of the Capital building.
We ended the afternoon attending the overflowing reception where we shook hands and posed for photos with members of the audience and the president of Springfield Right to Life. It was such an honor and blessing to see so many who took the time to come out, and after our speech complimented us.  One of the organizers came up to us and reported many of the audience were telling her, “They were the best speakers we ever had.” A lot of the people came up to us saying, “That needed to be said, especially the part about the Church.” I knew I hit them with the velvet hammer. Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like fire,” declares the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” It was the right message for a time such as this. Thank you Lord for making us Your messengers.

Be Encouraged~ Angela