New Orleans – Many thanks to all of the faithful that contributed prayers, finances, and time to help make this event more successful than we had ever anticipated. Thousands of abortionists were reproved, the saints were exhorted to love for the preborn, the lowly and condemned were offered hope, and the airwaves were stirred with holy thunder of rebukes of God’s oracles. We not only preached to thousands of abortionists and abortion-sympathizers, we preached to fans outside of an NBA basketball game, to thousands at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, and to revelers on Bourbon Street. There was a marvelous unity and camaraderie among the thirty-five-or-so evangelists and abortion protesters who came from eleven different states, as well as the dozen or so local Christians who joined with us in this holy endeavor.
There were thirteen thousand obstetricians and gynecologists registered for the annual conference of the American College of Ob/Gyns, and according to Dr. De Cook with the American Association of Pro-Life Ob/Gyns, twenty percent of those present performed abortions. That is about 2,500 abortionists under one roof! If just one abortionist retired as a result of our efforts, then thousands of lives could be saved! We surrounded every entrance and exit with large photographs of abortion victims. The Law and Gospel was preached faithfully at every “chief place of concourse” where physicians would walk to and from the convention center to their hotels and restaurants. We were in the median with megaphones and banners, on the sidewalk distributing thousands of tracts, and even under the awning of the civic center mingling with the physicians waiting for buses.
The response of the conference attendees was everywhere along the spectrum of possible responses. We were cursed out incessantly and saw many middle fingers, but we also received many thumbs-up and encouragement from the pro-life Ob/Gyns present.
Many of us had very productive conversations with abortionists and abortion-sympathizers. Dan Holman with Missionaries to the Preborn, Iowa, had a particularly exciting twenty-minute conversation with a young abortionist in his early thirties. After a brief review of the biological facts of the humanity of the preborn child, the abortionist admitted that abortion was murder! He admitted that he was a murderer! But he saw no need for repentance nor did he acknowledge his need of a Savior because he didn’t believe in God. Dan Holman gave a defense of the faith, and the abortionist appeared moved and said that he would consider what Dan was saying.
We were really concerned with Dan when the abortionist came out the next day looking for Dan, and when told that Dan was a quarter mile away preaching at another spot, he said with a smile on his face, “Well, tell Dan and his wife I said, ‘Hello.’” What? An abortionist actually likes Dan Holman?!? What in the world is going on here!? Has Dan succumbed to the Jesus-loves-you-just-the-way-you-are-and-would-never-send-you-to-hell-no-matter-what false Gospel that befriends impenitent child-killers? J No way! This demonstrates the truth of the Proverb that when a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Glory to God! Change that abortionist’s heart, dear Jesus! May Dan’s words echo in his mind and convict him of his need for the salvation that only Jesus can give.
Dan’s wife, Donna, approached a woman who had parallel-parked beside the convention center. When Donna offered her literature, she responded, “Can God forgive me?” Apparently, she was convicted of murder after seeing the posters of abortion victims.
“Of course He will! If you confess your sins, Jesus Christ will forgive you.” The contrite woman took the literature and read it for some time on the side of the road. Pray for her salvation. Truly, the law of God prepares the way for the Gospel just as condemnation prepares the way for pardon, but the sinner must embrace the Savior aborted on the cross for their personal sins in order to receive forgiveness and peace with God.
We had many conversations with physicians who professed to be pro-life, and yet had never spoken up for the preborn nor had opposed the pro-abortion policies of the ACOG. We exhorted them to love and good works, and many said that they would write the ACOG leadership to oppose their pro-abortion policies. One physician named Dr. De Cook who manned the booth of the American Association of Pro-Life Ob/Gyns said that he had many opportunities to refer to our large signs of abortion victims to expose the evil of abortion. He was very thankful that we were there. He informed us that we “were the topic of conversation inside the convention center.” A few pro-life physicians expressed appreciation for our protest and said that they had opportunities to condemn abortion within some of their meetings.
A lifetime senior ACOG member named Dr. Fitzgerald came up to me on the final day and asked for moral support.
“Why?” I inquired.
“Because I’m going to go give them hell at this meeting,” he said as he held out a ticket to a Bioethics Conference that began in ten minutes. It was the sole conference for that hour and was sure to have a very large attendance.
“What do you mean?”
“I’m getting old,” he said as he pulled his wavy white hair across his wrinkled brow, “and I have never done anything to stop abortion. That’s going to stop today! I’m going into that meeting, I’m going to raise my hand, and I’m going to tell them that abortion is the killing of an innocent human being and that this organization needs to oppose it, and we have no business opining on bioethical issues until we can have enough sense to stop aborting human fetuses.”
I encouraged him, as he shook my hand with great enthusiasm about ten times, unintentionally leaving my fingers painfully numb. It was obvious that he was nervous and fearful of the response he might receive.
“I’m going to come out of there bloodied and bruised,” he worried. “Ninety percent of the Ob/Gyns where I practice in New York do abortions – they are not going to like what I have to say…”
“You trust in God,” I told him. “He’ll give you the courage and the words to say, and He’ll bless you for standing up for truth.”
After the lecture, Dr. Fitzgerald came out to tell me how easy it was! After he made his comments, the lecturer asked, “Would anyone like to respond to that?” Not one person in the large audience opposed him, though one person did agree with him.
Dr. Fitgerald spent about half an hour with different protesters, encouraging and exhorting us with his story, and thanking us for being there. He told us that if we were present at the next conference, he would join us on the sidewalk and hold a sign! All glory to God! He left this year’s conference a changed man, and vowed to oppose abortion in his practice.
We also hammered the thousands of fans that attended the NBA championship game between the Hornets and the Sixers in downtown New Orleans. “We stirred up the hornet’s nest!” Adrian Horien, part of the group that preached at them as they entered the stadium, informed me. My group preached to the fans after the game. In order to prevent a riot, we constantly affirmed to them that, no, basketball was not sin, but they’ll spend eternity in the lake of fire with Allen Iverson if they don’t turn from their sins! This had a tremendous affect on the crowd, as the New Orleans Hornets fans despise loud-mouth Iverson, the star of the rival Sixers!
We also preached one night on Bourbon Street, one of the most wicked places I have ever been in my life. We cried out against sin and preached repentance and remission of sins right in front of a transvestite whorehouse. Troy Newman walked up to a young man who appeared downcast on the edge of one of the street-preacher’s crowds. Troy learned that the young man was sober and extremely remorseful because of his sins. Troy prayed for him, the man dropped his full cup of beer on the ground and said he was going right home and would live for Jesus. Praise the Lord, where sin abounds, grace much more abounds!
Matt Trewella led a small group to preach outside of the annual New Orleans Jazz Fest. The crowds were very large and the large abortion posters were all the local secular talk show hosts could talk about the entire next day!
Special thanks to Troy Newman with Operation Rescue West, who brought two truth trucks thousands of miles, Pastor Matt Trewella with Missionaries to the Preborn who brought an entourage from Wisconsin and Iowa, Pastor Mark Hines from Chapelwood Community Church in Frankfurt, Kentucky, and Don Spitz with Pro-Life Virginia. Thanks also to local pastors Greg Pembo with Vieux Carre Assembly of God, Pastor Grant Storms with Reformer Church, and Pastor Janyce with Jesus Miracle Power Church. Much praise goes to the local police authorities and Morial Convention Center security who did a fantastic job protecting our rights. Special thanks to Jason Storms with A Call to Repentance Street Ministry for all his work to make this event such a success.
For the least of these,
Patrick Johnston, D.O.
www.wherethetruthhurts.org