Being Consistent at Your Local Abortion Mill

Why should you be consistent in ministering on a regular basis at your local abortion mill? Zack Braddy

I must admit I have asked myself this question at least a thousand times or more.  Who am I to go out to a local abortion clinic and call out to these men and women to love their children?  What do I have to offer to these moms and dads?  Am I making any impact at all in the lives of these people?  These are real questions that enter the minds of Gospel-minded missionaries each time they leave the comforts of their homes to engage men and women that are hell-bent on taking the lives of their children through abortion.

Ministering at an abortion clinic is challenging and difficult.   The spiritual battle that rages in front of a killing center is palpable.  Many times I have watched people act in ways that can only be described as demonic.  I have been threatened with physical violence more times than I care to count.  Curse words and middle fingers fly through the air with regularity.  The police are called over and over.  Passersby honk their horns and scream obscenities at you for daring to engage with these women and for begging them not to kill their precious babies.  In the summer, the scorching heat burns your skin and causes you to sweat relentlessly; while in the winter, your toes and fingers go numb from standing in the sub-freezing weather for hours on end.  Ready to sign up?

You see, ministering at the local abortion clinic certainly has many pitfalls.  It can be hard, and it can be thankless and uncomfortable.  It can be dangerous and costly.  But, though that be the case, ministering at your local abortion clinic ultimately brings glory and honor to God.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”  We were created to bring glory to God.  We have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, adopted into the family of God, filled with His Spirit, and have been made ambassadors of Christ, with our chief ambition to make Him known and famous in this sin-infested world.  God never said it would be easy or comfortable or without sacrifice to make Him known and to do His will.  He doesn’t promise a life of ease and comfort if we will follow Him.  No; in fact, when we read God’s Word, we find quite the opposite.  We are told by Jesus in Mark 8:34 that if we are to follow Him, we must first “deny” ourselves and “take up our cross.”  We are told in Luke 14 to “count the cost” to follow Jesus, as it may very well cost you your time, your money, your family, and even your life.  Jesus tells us in John 15 to not to be surprised when the world hates us as Christians; the world also hated Jesus.  If we are followers of His, we should expect nothing less.

You see, even if the world hates us for pointing out their sin; even if the world thinks that the message of the cross is foolishness; even if they take our lives for standing on the word of God unashamedly; in the end, to be in the service of the King, and to make Him known to a dying world makes it all worth it.  God is the very source of goodness.  He is our greatest good and all that we need.  Romans 8:28 tells us that everything that happens in our lives as believers is for our good, including sufferings, and trials, and difficulties. We don’t need comforts.  We don’t need possessions.  We don’t need the applause of men.  What we need is God.  And it’s in those times of difficulty and suffering in the lives of a Christian that our greatest good is achieved and God is most glorified and honored.

Standing in front of the abortion clinic, day in and day out for nearly 5 years now, I have experienced the hatred of the world.  But, more importantly, I have also experienced the pleasure of my good Father and seen the fruits of faithfulness to Him.  I have learned things about God and about myself that I could have never known if I had not stepped out in faith and been willing to trust that God would protect me and enable me, by His Spirit, to do this work.  My faith in God and my trust in Christ has been tested and strengthened in more ways than I can recount.  I have met people that I would have never met, and have had the opportunity to impact the lives of men and women that I otherwise would have never been able to influence for the sake of the Gospel.  I have been gifted with some of my greatest friendships, fellow believers in Christ who have been willing to stand in the gap with me, week after week, enduring the ridicule and the mockery, the heat and the cold, all for the sake of Christ and His glory.  By the grace of God I have had sin in my own life and my own heart exposed that I would never have seen if I had not been placed in some of the situations that abortion clinic ministry has presented; sin that desperately needed to be exposed if I was to grow in my sanctification.  I have had the opportunity to repent and ask for forgiveness and grow in holiness and be conformed more and more into the image of the Son.  I have seen God work in miraculous ways, saving the lives of innumerable precious babies who were destined for a cold and ruthless death in only a few short moments.  I have seen my prayer life deepened, as I have called out desperately to God to help me with the words that I didn’t have, and to give me wisdom that I didn’t possess.  I have seen my knowledge of God’s word grow, as I have time and time again, preached from His word and studied to show myself approved.  What a privilege it has been to herald the words of eternal life to a lost and dying culture.  I have seen the Gospel penetrate hard hearts and stop mocking mouths, bringing tears to eyes of those with whom God was dealing.

Paul said in Romans 8:18 that he “considered the sufferings of this present time not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  Paul recognized that God had called him to preach the Gospel, but that with that call would come suffering, affliction, persecution, and eventually death.  But, knowing and experiencing those things, Paul knew that to live is Christ and to die is gain.  He knew that the Gospel was the power of God to save men and women.  That he had been created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever with his life, no matter the cost.  Paul knew that God’s glory was his greatest good and that his momentary afflictions and persecutions were laying up an eternal treasure in heaven, where thieves could not steal, where rust could not decay, and where moths could not eat and destroy.  Paul was sold out for Jesus and knew that God would honor his sacrifices that were made in this life in the life to come.  Will you join us in suffering for the cause of Christ at your local abortion clinic?  Will you die to yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Jesus wherever He leads?  While difficulties lie ahead, God does some of His greatest work in the midst of those difficulties.  Trust Him and His leading and begin to love your pre-born neighbor as yourself by reaching out to their moms and dads with the message of the Gospel.