Staying Safe in the Battle

0:00 Their swords clanging against shields and and all of this battle stuff going on right. And what does the Lord do? He sets a table right there on the battlefield. I'm yours, I'm yours, I'm yours, and me, Lord, I'm yours, I'm yours. I'm welcome to the Gospel centered pro life podcast, a podcast designed to equip, encourage and challenge you in pro life ministry, and always with a focus on the Gospel. Stay tuned. I felt your past touch your hearty welcome to the Gospel centered pro life podcast.

0:46 Appreciate you guys joining us and we appreciate if you guys would share this podcast episode with others, if you would leave us a review. Also want to keep you guys in on the fact that we revamped our website. That has to do with this podcast. It's called Gospel centered pro life dot Com. So you get a gospel centered pro life dot Com. We made a website. Created a website some months ago. It just wasn't as good as it could be, so I revamped that and it should be easily um accessible to you guys. Should easily excess episodes with certain subjects and certain keywords in them, so you know if you wanted to see what we had done, maybe episodes we've done about adoption or something like that. You can put that keyword in there and or shave the episodes. Our previous website didn't really do that very well, so this one does. There's also some other cool features on there. Just so I encourage you, guys, take take a look at that website, Gospel Center Pro Life Dot Com, and share the episode from there. Yeah, that's great, because we put these out to equip and encourage sidewalk counters. That's all we do. That's what the every one of those articles and podcasts that we put out are are to help you, and so they're very they're really helpful, I think. I think so.

1:57 Yeah, that's why we do it. So wait, take advantage of that and again leave us a review. I think you can actually leave a review on that website. Oh, that would be good, because I've heard leaving reviews it's not super easy. Yeah, so I do that, guys. We appreciate it. So let's jump into our episode. We know that we're doing this after Roe v Wade has been overturned. So we're in the post row America, as many folks have called it and we just did an episode about where we were kind of rejoicing in what the Lord has done, of like remembering the day that Roe v Wade was overturned and that impact that had on us. Many of you guys remember that too. We want to remember that for generations to come. I'm sure it's amazing, really unprecedented and miraculous what the Lord did, Um. But because of that there's certainly been an escalation of threats from pro abortion people. There have been one group in particular that said that they were going to begin to vandalize churches pregnancy centers. Um, they've been spray painting on the side of buildings and pregnancy centers and churches.

3:05 If abortions aren't safe, then neither are you, and so they want to instill fear and a lot of it's just empty threats. We know that, um, but there are some deranged people out there. I mean these are the people that support the murder of children inside the womb. So there's obviously things that are darkened in their hearts and they need Jesus. And so we thought that we would do an episode about staying safe, in particular on the sidewalk. What are some things that you can do to stay safe. Now, first and foremost, start out with the fact that we do not operate in a spirit of fear. The Bible says God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love and a sound mind. Right, so we're not to operate in fear, but we are to operate in wisdom. The Bible says that we should not be ignorant of Satan's devices.

3:52 The devil uses people. Bible says that the spirit, the spirit that's at work in the sons of disobeing. It's this demonic spirit. Um, I can't quote the scripture exactly because I don't remembered exactly, but basically, this demonic spirit does all kinds of demonic things and this spirit is at work in those who don't know God. So the devil demons, they work through people. And so these people are not our enemy. We don't war against flesh and blood, right, we have to remember that. But we do need to be aware of their capabilities and we do need to be aware of their tactics and we do need to be aware of our surroundings so that we can not fall prey to any of their tactics. If they their tactics turn violent.

4:34 Yeah, I think if I could summarize in one word, be be vigilant, be vigilant with because they there have been obviously threats throughout the nation and we are in a very exposed place and we're right on the front lines. So so we wrote this article and we're doing this podcast to kind of outline just some basic, major things that we thought were useful for people to know in trying to Um, keep the environment peaceful, b peace makers and Um and safe. Yeah, yeah, I want to define what it means to be vigilant for you guys. What does that mean? To be vigilant, because we've talked about that. You mentioned it before. Be Vigilant, in essence, what it means? It's it's kind of a battle term.

5:24 Actually, it means to have your eyes wide open, peering across the horizon, being ready, right, not being in fear, but being aware. It's it's this battle readiness, this battle awareness that if something's coming at you, you need to be vigilant, you need to have your eyes wide open and aware so that you can respond appropriately. So that's kind of what we're talking about. We're talking about being vigilant and all of these points sort of have to do with that, with being vigilant. Yeah, they do. Uh. And one of the first points, I think, is that we don't want to be the problem, in other words, do not be the source of escalating emotions. Emotions are heightened out there right now. I actually have not seen it so much, which is very surprising and actually raises my radar a bit because I'm not seeing it and I definitely expected it. But Um, but we should not be. We've talked another podcast. We should not be gloating. We certainly should not be responding to their despair, anger whatever, with matching them with anger. Yeah, yeah, and so de escalating as much as possible. Because the atmosphere and because of this kind of heightened angst and anger against pro life people, all the more we're gonna see dads that come to the abortion center and yell at us you want to take away my girlfriends or my wife's right to choose or whatever, and get in

6:55 your face. Do the best you can just to de Escalate, and the way that we deescalate is we're not going to respond to anger with anger. Normally I'll put my hands up and just say, man, I'm not your enemy. That's probably my most common phrase. I'm not your enemy. I'm just here to offer help and also understand. You don't always have to respond. You know, if someone comes at you angry, maybe they're angry. Sometimes it's anger because we're trying to take away their their right to choose. A lot of times the anger does come from the boyfriend or a friend or a parent. It's not always, as a matter of fact, it's almost never the woman that's having the abortion. She's already broken, she's already you know, there's a lot of confusion there. Sometimes it is, but for the most part it's it's other people or it's pro abortion people. You know, quote counterprotesters or whatever. But if someone comes at you and they're angry because we're trying to take away their you know, somebody their cousins right to choose or whatever, and their cousin is going through a very difficult situation, we want to respond with compassion. I'm sorry that she's going through that, but we're here to all for help. We're not here to protests. We're just here to a soft answer. Turns Away Round, it does, it's and and it's unexpected. I think they do expect us to just be like them and the more that we are more like Christ and uh, you know, and I think the more likely it is it's going to throw them off their game and reduce, uh, the desire for violence. But one of them that I wrote, Um, that I brought up that I don't think

8:28 I've heard you mentioned, Daniel, so maybe you don't agree with it. But, Um, I think that it's important that we re we remind them in some way that we're human beings just like them. So I I phrase that as remind those in opposition of our joint humanity. We're both groups of humanity and we may have opposing points of views, but there's a lot that we hold in common. We're both made in the image of a holy God. We all have struggles, Um, and we all hold a world view of viewpoint that, Um, it may be in stark contrast, but it doesn't mean that we should devalue them or that they should devalue us as fellow human beings. And I think if there's way, like just very simple ways to do that, um, say good morning when when you see them.

9:18 I sometimes I think I should just ignore them, but I I and I do for the most part, because they're trained to distract us. But I think I've I've maybe aired too much on the side of that Um that just saying good morning is acknowledging there you're a fellow human being and you know, and I'll often say lately I'll say nice to see you. Not Nice to see you here, not nice to see what you're doing, but it's nice to see you. You don't want to agree with what they're doing. Right, right, right, yeah, I mean, I think reminding them by being kind as much as you're able to, yeah, but also reminding ourselves that they're also human beings exactly, even as misguided and as misdirected and as full of demons as they might be, they're still human beings made in the image of God, and if they would repent and turn to Jesus, he would save them in an instant. Right we at one time we're dead in our trespasses and sins. Our minds are the Bible says. Our our minds were darkened and so we were captive to our sin, just like they are.

10:24 We're no better than them, apart from Christ. And again, if they would come to the Lord, he would save them an instant. So we need remind them of our humanity, but also we need to remind ourselves in each other, of their humanity, I think exactly. The next one is a really important one. report any aggression, however minor, to the police. If there is any aggression against a sidewalk team, it needs to be reported. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And that's like threats against you, like direct threats. I'M gonna come over there and beat you down, or I'm gonna I got a gun, I wanna shoot you, anything like that. Um, of course, any physical aggression, if they push, if they take a sign out of your hand, whatever, you need to report it. You need to call the police. Now there are situations, many of these situations, of the police either won't or can't do anything because they didn't see it, um or because it was not maybe a direct threat. Communicating threats can be a little that can be some gray area there and so, but it's still good to hold them accountable. It's still good if there's something that's over the top aggression, it's good to call the police. The worst that could happen is the police come out and do nothing.

11:33 At least it's been documented and they've been at least held accountable for that moment. Right. And then the next thing that we wrote is press charges, because the police sometimes won't do anything, but it is within your rights to say I would like to press charges. Yeah, yeah, and you should. You should if there's especially if there's any touch, any physical aggression. Yeah, if there's physical altercation, if there's something they did, you push, you hit you. We did have an end in it in California a couple of weeks ago the young lady hit one of the sidewalk counselors out there. Thank God, the team reacted pretty quickly. One of the team members actually got in his car and followed the lady who got in her car and left. Followed her and was on the phone with the police from understanding, and ended up finding her and press charges against her and she's been held accountable. Good, and you have to do that, if not for yourself, I you know, we we've talked about this many times, if not for yourself, for your team members. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, because there can be this tendency. Of course we want to be forgiving. You can forgive in your heart. You can say I forgive you for what you did and not hold it against him, and you should. You should have a posture of forgiveness toward anyone that does anything to you. Um, but that doesn't mean that you don't hold them accountable and you don't let the law do its job hold the evil doers accountable. Romans Chapter Thirteen tells us that it holds evil doers accountable. And also, again, it's not for your sake only, it's for the sake of those because you let that person get away with hitting you or smacking a sign out of your hand or whatever.

12:58 Um, then the next time they come around, maybe it's a passer by, maybe it's somebody going into the clinic, but either way, the next time they come around they might do something even more violent to someone else who's not able to bear with him. Maybe it wasn't a big deal for you, but it might be a big deal for someone else. So yeah, it is. It's an accountability thing and it's also kind of a team morale thing. Like your team, especially if you're in leadership, your team knows that you got their back when you press charges rather than just letting that stuff go. That's right, and one of the things that we did here in Charlotte, our city director did contact the police department proactively regarding our concerns because there had been nationwide threats of violence. We asked, could there be a patrol? Could they could at least an officer do a drive by every now and then, because we are concerned that there is going to be that there could be violence? And I've noticed that they have been doing that. It's it's not constant, but I'll see usually once a day I'll see them drive by and that presence, I think is important and that any any city could, could do that, anyone with a sidewalk team, and I think it's probably a good idea. Yeah, yeah, it's good just to reach out to the local precinct and ask them. All they can do is say no, Hey, can you have an officer out here these hours? We're out there from nine to twelve. Could you have an officer? At least have an officer job by, because there's some heightened tensions because of the Rovie Wade being overturned decision and so Um, yeah, you have not, because you asked not. Worst they can do to say no, that's right, and

14:28 praying and fasting. Right. It's the next one. We wrote, and that's so important. I really believe that. First of all, that is a big part of why Roevie Wade was overturned, but I also believe why things have been, at least here, relatively calm. I know there is a huge number of people that are praying and fasting for peace and our protection. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, again remembering this is a spiritual battle. We need to be in prayer. I encourage you guys like on your way to the abortion center. I say you don't need to be listening to country music, you don't need to be listening to talk radio, you need to be in prayer and fasting. Maybe have some worship music on, worshiping the Lord, but you need to be in prayer, putting on the armor of God, understanding that this is a spiritual battle. This is not just an ideological battle, this is not just a Democrat Republican battle, this is not a pro life pro abortion battle, this is a light in darkness battle and because of that we need to be in prayer. We need to employ the tools that God has given us to fight this spiritual battle. Prayer and fasting are key. Worship, proclamation of the word, those are other keys to really waging this warfare. And so, Um, yeah, be in prayer and fasting. God can do what you cannot. God can see what you can't. There may be some pro abortion person on their way to the abortion center planning some kind of evil, some kind of you know, whatever evil they might plan against you, and somehow, because you've been in prayer, prayer and fasting, God's supernaturally behind the scenes made it where their car wouldn't

16:02 start or whatever. Who knows? But God can work behind the scenes. We just need to be in prayer and fasting and kind of giving it over to him and put it in his hands and let him cover US and protecting. Yeah, and I've been very specific in my prayers, praying for protection for our teams, which is something I probably had not done a lot prior to Roe v Wade, but but now I'm I'm very intentional about praying that our teams would be protected. Next one is a pretty common sense one. Have a camera going all the time? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we have cameras that we use pretty much nationally. All of our teams use these cameras that we get off Amazon. There kind of expensive, about a hundred and fifty hundred sixty bucks. But they have a battery inside of it, so you charge it overnight, you get it out and the battery last probably three four and you can have shift. Yep, you can have it continuously recording and recording on a loop, so it kind of records over the previous thing if you haven't stopped the camera. Um, I won't get into all the kind of ways that you use that and as far as all the ways that it works, I'm sure it comes with an instruction booklet Um, but it's a very useful tool. If an incident does take place, you can stop record on that. You can call the police, show it to them and, Um, they can the person that did whatever they did that you recorded can be held accountable, right, and it can be a deterrentent and of itself if they see the camera going. And if you don't have one of those, always at least have your own phone camera ready to record if

17:34 you're seeing something that looks like it could, you know, boil over. Yeah, absolutely, and I do. Just as a little side note on the camera, always encourage people not to have it on your body because it can be a deterrent from people going into the abortion center actually coming and talking to you. You know, these women want to hide their scent. They don't want to be recorded doing it. So if you have a camera in your chest or a camera on your whatever, yeah, and it's right there, are clearly visible, they're gonna be less likely to approach you. But you have to weigh that out. Maybe maybe that's how you need to do it. I always encourage you to put it maybe kind of back, maybe even across the road, like here latrobe we have it across the road on the vehicle, oftentimes kind of taking a view of the driveway. That's where most of the engagement takes place and these things have a pretty wide angle on them. So you know, you figure that out. I do think it is good to have it away a little bit um so that it doesn't mess up the engagements that you would otherwise have, but also pointed toward the area whether it's going to be the most engagement. You can never have a camera pointed in every direction right. You can have fifteen cameras out there and still you could miss some things, Um, and so you have to kind of weigh out is all of the stuff that has to do with buying the camera, setting the camera up, Um, making sure it's charged. All that stuff is the juice worth the squeeze, as I say often, and I think it really is. But you have to weigh out how strategically use that camera. But it is important to have a camera going the whole time you're out there. I agree. And another thing that is often not possible because

19:04 men tend to work during the day. We have a lot of a lot more women. There are, you know, of course, many women that work outside of the home, but we have for sure our teams are mostly women and there is really no doubt when there's a man who can keep the piece, who is calm, he can't be someone given over to anger. But if there's that type of man out on the sidewalk with us, it does seem to reduce the likelihood of aggression. Yeah, absolutely so, if possible, have men on your team. M Yeah, one that we have here is if you see a gun, yeah, and we have people. I don't I've never had a gun like directly pointed at me at the abortion center, but I have had a couple of times where someone brandishes a gun.

19:49 Had as he was pulling out of the driveway, he pulled it up at the window and I had it like the you can't see me because you're listening to this podcast. We had it kind of up against the window, not pointing at me, but kind of pointing up, and I called the police on that. I didn't feel threatened by it necessarily, but he was obviously brandishing the gun to let me know he had a gun. And actually the law here in North Carolina says that you can't have a gun if you go to a protest at a medical facility. And so, you know, maybe his little gray area there because it wasn't coming to a protest, but we're supposedly protesting and he's involving himself and that when he's engaging with us. So anyway, I called the police. They didn't really do much, but he did hold him accountable. So if you ever see a gun, call the police. Whether you feel threatened or not, you still should call the police to hold him accountable because you don't want him ultimately using that gun.

20:41 Right. Yeah, yeah, never minister alone. Yeah, for for so many reasons. Say, it's Biblical. We were sent out, Jesus sent but disciples out two by two. But you always have a witness with you, then and and someone that can, you know, help you and if there's an emergency. So I would say in this day and age, all the more like this, this should be a hard and fast rule. Never be out there by yourself. And I know the temptation, if you don't have someone with you, to be out there alone, because I'm often very tempted. I'm not really given to fear, strangely enough, when I'm out on the sidewalk. But it is just wisdom. Don't be alone. Don't be alone. And then, of course, if there are direct threats or active violence, if you can, our suggestion is that you leave. Don't try and fight it out. In other words, if you feel a direct threat and imminent danger to you or to your team, it's okay to leave now. We don't want to, of course, pack up and leave just on a whim, and you guys would never do that. But if you feel that there's an imminent threat, there's someone here that has a gun and they look angry and violent or God God knows more we do. He can speak to our hearts. If there's several members of your team that kind of test for like something's off here, something's not quite right. We need to leave. I would say from the mouth of two or three witnesses. If

22:11 your whole team is kind of in agreement that we need to leave because something's off here, then probably should leave, probably should pack it up. Yeah, we we don't want anyone to feel like they're not a hero or they're less of a Christian if they're going to stick it out in the midst of of escalating violence, and we want you to know it would be wise and it would protect each other for you, for you to leave. Here's one that you may or may not agree with me. Um, using social media to your advantage. In other words, what I mean by that is take photos and videos. If you're seeing, UM, the opposition being aggressive in a way that that you know is going to reflect poorly on them, I think it might not be a bad idea to bring so show pressure on them not to behave that way. Now you can backfire because some people want that attention. So when do you decide to do one or the other? I don't know. Yeah, yeah, maybe pray and seek the Lord. I think it is good to expose these pro abortion people, these angry people, to the larger public to see what these folks that people can see what these most people are horrified when when my friends see what we endure, they cannot believe it. They can't believe that like civilized human beings would act that way.

23:38 And so that helps, I think, to change the heart in the mind of a nation. Yeah, it can so. I mean the Gospel ultimately is what does that. But I think seeing the face of evil and what they do is really sometimes very powerful. Yeah, yeah, I think it can be. So definitely seek the Lord for wisdom about that. Of course, if you put them on social media, they're likely to put you on social media and there's been some threats from pro abortion people to docs pro life people, which means put out your information for the public so that people come to your house and all this other stuff. You got to weigh those things out. Um, I certainly want to seek the Lord. Yeah, and so just a little Um F Y, I don't give personal information.

24:21 If at all possible, don't. Don't let anyone know your last name, your address, your phone number, all of that stuff. Just really important. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Um, using scripture, we already talked about that a little bit, to help any other pro life groups to escalate and what I mean by that? Oh, actually, we didn't talk about this. Sometimes the escalation is coming from someone who's not with your group but they're pro life, and we actually have seen that this this week and last week, and it puts us in danger. And the MOMS and the abortion proponents really don't care which pro life group is being jerks are aggressive. They're going to lump us all together and and so sometimes pulling those other pro life groups aside and saying hey, man, you're you are actually putting us in danger with this and and can can we bring it down a notch, because this is not helpful. Yeah, because, like we've said, oftentimes I'M gonna keep beating this drum in our ministry at the abortion center. We're not out there protesting, we're not out there trying to appeal to the powers that be. We're not out there to go back and forth with pro abortion people.

25:27 We're not out there to state our calls to the pro abortion you know, contingency. We're out there to appeal to those mothers. So getting in a back and forth with some pro aboord and just getting in a shouting match and proving your points so that their point is proven wrong. That's not helpful there. It's just not the scenario for it. If you want to do that stuff, go to the courthouse. I think a lot of these pro abortion groups are doing these. Yeah, you'll find them there. Yeah, you'll, you'll find them. They're doing these protests, you know, never again turning back with the their signs, with the coat hanger on them, not turning back to, you know, these so called dangerous abortions. Every abortion is dangerous. What are these people talking about? Anyway? If you want to argue with those people, go and argue with him at the courthouse or the city square, but not in front of the abortions, because it just it takes away from the actual reason we're there, to reach those moms going into the abortion center right and we've actually found that that mindset is true reaching the women. If you're just argumentative, screaming at them for you know, trying to prove your point in a very argumentative and loud way, it usually doesn't end well and they rarely come and talk with us. Yeah, so I think our final point here is we'll just talk from Psalm twenty three, something we've talked about. It's such a good one. In today's age isn't it? That's always good. But Yeah, well, Psalm Twenty three, you guys know. Yeah, though, I walk through the Valley of the shadow you know. You know the scripture. We know it in King James English. But David's walking there about walking through the Valley of the shadow

27:03 of death. He's talking about this, this place of darkness, this place of death, and I think you all would agree if you've ever been in front of an abortion center, there is no place it could be more um readily identified as the Valley of the shadow of death, more clearly evident as the Valley of the shadow of death than the abortion center and being in front of the abortion center. And so what does that Psalm say, though? We're there in that Valley of the shadow of death. The Lord is with us, right, that's what it says. It says I fear no evil, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me, guys. Remember, the Lord is with you. We don't walk in fear. Yeah, we need to be wise, we need to be aware of Satan's devices. We need to have a camera going, we need to not be out there at the out there alone by ourselves. Right, we need to hold people accountable all of that stuff, but at the end of the day we walk in faith. We walk by faith and not by side. We don't walk in fear, because it says I will fear no evil for your with with me, your Rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of My Enemies. I love that. The picture there is a battlefield where there's arrows whizzing by, flaming arrows, and their swords clanging against shields and and all of this battle stuff going on, right.

28:30 And what does the Lord do? He sets a table right there on the battlefield. You and the Lord share a meal together in the midst of that battle. You can have peace in the midst of that battle. You can have fellowship and union with Jesus in the midst of that very real spiritual battle of the Erian on the sidewalk. So we don't need to be afraid. We need to have communion with God, we need to be in fellowship with the Lord. That's all. We need to be in prayer and fasting and we need to walk in faith as we use God's wisdom to give a voice to the voiceless. Amen. That's a that's a great way to end this sort of scary, I guess, podcast. We don't want us all to now be afraid. We want to remind all of us God is with us and, honestly, well, bad things happen, they might, but he's still with us, even even in those hard and bad things. He's right there with us. Well, guys, we hope this was an encouragement.

29:29 Do you, and we hope that you, guys, will reach out to us if you have any suggestions for other episodes, maybe any questions about previous episodes or this episode in particular. We'd love to hear from you. You can reach me Daniel at Love Life Dot Org. You reach her, Vicky, with a why, at Love Life Dot Org. Again, check out our website, Gospel centered pro life dot Com. And Uh, you can check out all of the episodes. All of our episodes are on that website. And until next time, God, bless God, bless you all. Give me out left for love, give me our lift for gratitude.

30:12 I know it will cost me my life. Nothing's too precious. Since I met you, M M M