What people are saying about 40 Days for Life Honolulu:
They saw the sign
October 17, 2008
I spent an hour praying in front of the Planned Parenthood building this afternoon. I had been there maybe 20 minutes when a man walked out of the building on the way to his car. He saw me standing there, holding a sign that reads, "Abortion hurts women."
He approached me and said by way of encouragement, "We're pro-life", then he shook my hand and left. After about 20 more minutes had passed, a young man walking by stopped. He turned and asked me, "Is this where abortions are being performed?" I said, "Yes, on the third floor." He immediately dropped to his knees right next to me and started praying the Rosary. He remained there, praying, until I was ready to leave.
At that point, I asked him if he was familiar with 40 Days for Life or just happened to be passing by. He said he was previously unaware of the 40 Days campaign but that he'd lived near the Planned Parenthood clinic for six years and never had any idea abortions were being done there until the moment that he saw me standing there with my sign, praying. We can be God's instruments of awareness, serving as the voice for the unborn, if we are willing to stand and pray, even for just one hour.
--Karen D., Communications Coordinator, 40 Days for Life Honolulu
Transforming experience
October 8, 2008
I am so encouraged that I want to see if anyone else has noticed. On Monday, I was at [the public prayer] vigil site for 2-1/2 hours alone holding [a] sign that said "Pray to End Abortion." I was obviously praying and at one point, weeping. Not one person cursed or yelled at me the whole time. Today, I was there for 2-1/2 hours with the same sign and EIGHT pedestrians stopped to give a word of encouragement or stopped to converse and agree with what we are doing! This is quite a transforming experience.
--Mary, public prayer vigil participant
Love your enemies through humble service
October 8, 2008
I haven't seen much anger of upset faces either. There seem to be toots of support and silent waves coming every so often from cars and trucks.
October 8, 2008
I am so encouraged that I want to see if anyone else has noticed. On Monday, I was at [the public prayer] vigil site for 2-1/2 hours alone holding [a] sign that said "Pray to End Abortion." I was obviously praying and at one point, weeping. Not one person cursed or yelled at me the whole time. Today, I was there for 2-1/2 hours with the same sign and EIGHT pedestrians stopped to give a word of encouragement or stopped to converse and agree with what we are doing! This is quite a transforming experience.
--Mary, public prayer vigil participant
Love your enemies through humble service
October 8, 2008
I haven't seen much anger of upset faces either. There seem to be toots of support and silent waves coming every so often from cars and trucks.
This morning, I did something out of the norm. My wife and I generally say "hello" to the janitor but get no response. I noticed there were a lot of water bottle caps near the tree and thought that we better keep the place clean. Also, there was a large collection of leaves from the shower tree all around the sidewalk. So I walked up to the janitor and asked for his broom because I thought I'd sweep the sidewalk and pray while sweeping. He said that he would get to it himself but I insisted on sweeping.
I then asked for his name and introduced myself and gave him a 40 Days for Life flyer while explaining what we were there for. His face changed and appeared friendly as he told me his name, Venito. [He] went to retrieve his trash can with broom and dust pan. I shook his hand as he walked away to mop the other area.
I was pleased to sweep and pray for Venito and for God to cleanse the area and to bless the area. Other people who walk the sidewalk during the early hour of 6:00-7:00 AM were somewhat shocked by my sweeping the sidewalk as they walked into the building. It seemed to change their attitude and perception because they tend to see us standing and mumbling prayers to ourselves.
Well, I thought and felt that God wanted me to be humble and serve as Jesus, in like manner, used the example of foot-washing to teach his disciples. I realized also that God wanted me to "love your enemies" and "do good to those who despise and persecute you" and felt that I was heaping "coals of fire" upon my enemies. I felt blessed to do that for God and to pray for those people who work in the business and be able to pray that God would remove any spiritual rubbish away from the area.
That is my praise story of encouragement. Perhaps God is changing the environment while we change our hearts and continue to bring prayers over the place and our city, state and nation. I am encouraged by this time to do something that others would think insignificant and odd.
--Isaiah Sabey, Campaign Director, 40 Days for Life Honolulu
Answer to abortion in cases of rape
September 28, 2008
On the second day of standing outside holding my sign…an old woman came up and asked me what if a girl got raped? I told her that was what happened [to me], but I couldn't punish the baby by killing it because of what the father did. You can't just kill a baby just to get rid of the "problem." It's immoral and against the Bible.
I know what some of these girls might be feeling like. After I found out that I was pregnant and told my mom, she gave me a week to get an abortion and kicked me out after I refused to do so. It was very traumatizing and scary. I felt all alone and did not know anything about having a baby. You have to [let women] know that they're not alone and that there's help out there.
I…praise God for providing me the way of keeping my daughter after I got kicked out of my home…. God works in many ways; even ways that we could never understand. I also found out [recently]…that there are places [like Aloha Pregnancy Center]. I didn't know there were such places…. I am glad now that there are, and hope that every female knows that there are other options available to them.
--Public prayer vigil participant
--Public prayer vigil participant
Calling all Catholic youth ministers and vicariates
September 26, 2008
This is a great opportunity to do prevention work for the future generations of young adults. Have the youths come down to Planned Parenthood at 1350 South King Street and have a prayer vigil group do community service of prayer for an hour or so.
It is easy to sign up on the web site; it makes youth aware of the evil of this act against innocent life and to rethink the consequences of sex, to choose abstinence instead. If you are responsible for RCIA, Confirmation classes or know any religious ed. teacher please forward this to them. Make it an interesting field trip with parents involved.
This is nationwide. Read the blog on saving lives, atonement and turning away from this form of sin.
--L.J., public prayer vigil participant
Pastor's challenge
September 24, 2008
--L.J., public prayer vigil participant
Pastor's challenge
September 24, 2008
I am putting out a challenge for us to fast for one meal or one day a week for all the unborn threatened by abortion. As I helped kick off the 40 Days for Life rally last night with many others, my heart broke over all the statistics of babies killed in our state since January 2008 (386). Ninety-five of them were Hawaiian. Now this is only for 18-year-old (and younger) mothers. The statistics only move higher when you consider all abortions from all age groups.
I also found out that Planned Parenthood and other clinics that practice abortion can kill a baby even up to nine months. This is the law of the land. This is just plain sick. Some of these killings occur because the parents wanted a boy rather than a girl. How can we treat life so flippantly? When we treat human life like choosing a shirt at Macy's, then we really have gone off the deep end morally.
Since Roe versus Wade, over 50,000,000 babies have been snuffed out in our country alone. One historian pointed out that when a civilization starts to kill their babies (Pagan Rome, Pagan Greece, apostate Israel) it's a sign that their days are numbered as an empire or nation.
This prayer stand that we are taking is nothing other than an attempt to stop the slide toward total extinguishment and irrelevancy as a once-proud country. However, my motive is more simple and profound than that: stop murdering humans. Even Islamic nations have not sunk as low as us in their treatment of the unborn. Abortion is a sin worthy of the death sentence in Sharia Law.
I also found out that Planned Parenthood and other clinics that practice abortion can kill a baby even up to nine months. This is the law of the land. This is just plain sick. Some of these killings occur because the parents wanted a boy rather than a girl. How can we treat life so flippantly? When we treat human life like choosing a shirt at Macy's, then we really have gone off the deep end morally.
Since Roe versus Wade, over 50,000,000 babies have been snuffed out in our country alone. One historian pointed out that when a civilization starts to kill their babies (Pagan Rome, Pagan Greece, apostate Israel) it's a sign that their days are numbered as an empire or nation.
This prayer stand that we are taking is nothing other than an attempt to stop the slide toward total extinguishment and irrelevancy as a once-proud country. However, my motive is more simple and profound than that: stop murdering humans. Even Islamic nations have not sunk as low as us in their treatment of the unborn. Abortion is a sin worthy of the death sentence in Sharia Law.
As we stood before the Planned Parenthood clinic, I started to feel tremendous sadness and anger for all the injustice done to the weak and defenseless. We prayed for the workers of Planned Parenthood, the couples that come in for abortion, for alternatives to abortion, and for God's hand to shut down this clinic devoted to death. We prayed for life to flow on that site.
As a father of an adoptive daughter, I thanked God for Aimee's biological mother, who most likely hid her pregnancy, because the Chinese government literally accosts pregnant mothers and rips babies out of their wombs to maintain their strict one child policy. I thanked God for her courage to give birth to her unwanted baby and place Aimee on the doorstep of the Jiang Xi orphanage. Today, she is a healthy (too healthy! Ha!), boisterous little girl that never ceases to make me laugh and smile. Her life could have been snuffed out by abortion like so many other promising babies. They should have the right to live and spread their wings.
That is why I am asking you to fast one meal, one day, or even a few days each week for their right to live. Let's do this until abortion is completely eradicated from our land. I am praying that we as a church could help the state or other organizations in finding homes or other alternatives for the unwanted children birthed into our islands. Lets pray together.
It goes without mentioning that this battle belongs to the Lord. The principality or power behind the murder of all these babies is a very powerful one. Ephesians 6:12 states that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the evil principalities and powers in the heavenly realms. We cannot battle these things in our own strength, but only through the powerful spiritual weapon of prayer and fasting.
Jesus shared with His disciples that the reason why they could not cast out a certain demon was because they lacked faith. Yet, he also added that this kind can only come out through prayer and fasting. The demon over abortion must bow to Jesus. As the nation prays, fasts, and repents, this blight and curse on the land will be expunged.
Brothers and sisters, the 40 Days for Life vigil happening throughout the nation is a prayer movement. People are stationing themselves in front of abortion clinics to quietly pray in peaceful demonstration against this practice. I ask that if you cannot take part this way, please consider taking time to sacrifice a meal and pray for this worthy cause.
Lastly, the real-life, video shot of a wincing, crying baby in the womb being sucked out by an abortion doctor brought the message home for me loud and clear. This is wrong and it needs to stop! Help us O Lord!
--Pastor John Vierra, Living Streams Christian Fellowship