SAN DIEGO, CA – Four of us went to Horizon on Sunday to deliver the message of the church’s bloodguilt in the matter of abortion and beg for repentance and help in stopping the shedding of innocent blood. They were Pastor Adlai Mack, Heather Mechanic, me, and my 18 yr. old daughter Rayna. Horizon is within a half a mile of the California Women’s Medical Clinic on Genesee where abortionists Michael Wong and David Priver ply their grisly trade.
The women stood with signs on the sidewalk while Pastor Mack preached a powerful call to repentance and good works. It was cold and rainy, and I couldn’t help but think that even nature wept over the proud and arrogant response we received at the hands of our “brothers and sisters in Christ.” Certainly they did not behave as such. They lined up in front of us and made it impossible for us to show our signs or hand out our literature. They brought out large plywood barricades that looked like play props and placed them at the driveways to block traffic from seeing us. The barricades were actually ineffective, but their bullying thug tactics were. Heather Mechanic, who held 2 text-only signs was assaulted and battered by a man who many identified as one of the pastors there. In fact, once the police were persuaded to look into the matter, Heather could have had him arrested, but chose instead to ask for an apology, which he gave at the insistence of the police. At first we were essentially ignored, but once that one pastor came out, he called for men to come and block our signs. We were already outnumbered 3 to one at that point, but he seemed afraid (of the truth maybe?) About 40 or so guys ended up out there to block us. I tried to walk away from them and stand farther away with my sign against the curb, but several men followed me every step and even stood in the street in order to block my sign and keep it from being seen. It was clearly harassing behavior that we would have been arrested over, but the police not only allowed, but in some cases, encouraged.
The police explicitly told me that they would not help us or protect us and that the watch commander had instructed them to allow our signs to be covered by the church members. At first I thought this was odd until Pastor Mack reminded me that we could expect no help from the police because Horizon’s pastor, Mike MacIntosh, is the SDPD chaplain.
I have rarely seen such abusive behavior even at the large rescues in the early 90s. The members of Horizon used tactics that I have seen employed by homosexual proaborts “death-scort” teams at abortion mills–hardly behavior of those who claim the name of Christ. In fact, I think their behavior spoke volumes about the spiritual state of that church. I could not even get to the point where I could communicate with them our message of the plight of the preborn. All I could do is tell them “What you are doing here is so wrong. You are shoving around old women [sorry, Heather] and mocking men of God. This is so wrong.”
A pretense was made at Christian Charity by offering us coffee. It was like a sick joke after their previous behavior. I tell you this so that you can know the truth. I have seen that patterns are developing at these events. The first church seemed to continuously refer to their abundance of money, as if that was proof of their favor with God. This church showed pride and arrogance as if to say that they were such a powerful church that they could trample our message and our rights and could get away with it.
Maybe they did get away with such shameful behavior yesterday (so shameful that I am still grief stricken over it) but I believe with everything in me that they did not get away with it from God. It was no mistake that we were there. As Flip Benham has put it, we are God’s mailmen–just deliver the mail! We delivered the message and now God will deal with them.
The churches have not the eyes to see their sin. Their hands are full of blood and now they add to that persecution of the saints–just like the Pharisees persecuted the prophets of old. At least we still have our skin. They didn’t get the pail of rocks, but I think they would have if they could have gotten away with it! The Church needs our message and I pray that we can remain faithful to deliver it. I certainly have no desire to share in their guilt!
Our next Bloodguilt outreach is Sunday, March 17 at College Ave. Baptist Church.
Rejoicing in persecution but grief stricken for the persecutors, Cheryl Sullenger California Life Coalition PS Today I received a call from a former Horizon member who told me she still loves Horizon but they take every opportunity to run down those pro-lifers on the streets. I had not realized this and I am glad I didn’t before we went. Our motives were pure and not retaliatory in any way, neither will we retaliate. God will judge between us.