BY BEN JOHNSON

WASHINGTON, D.C., September 25, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Senator Ted Cruz’s 21-hour epic floor speech to defund ObamaCare may have won him no friends in the media or GOP leadership, but pro-life and conservative leaders are enthusiastic about his efforts.

“Thank you Senator Cruz for giving a voice to all of us!” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, this morning.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, simply said, “Ted Cruz is the man!”

“I remember about two years ago I was at an event in Houston and someone invited me to a reception for a candidate for Texas U.S. Senator,” Newman continued. “It was some guy I never heard of named Ted Cruz. So, I went, and I thought, ‘Wow this guy is great! But can he win?’ Oh yeah, and Ted Cruz is winning today!”

Other conservatives praised Cruz’s actions, contrasting his passion with that of the president.

“Ted Cruz stayed up all night to fight ObamaCare,” Congressman Steve Stockman, R-TX, quipped on Wednesday morning. “Obama went to bed while Ambassador Stevens [of Libya] was being murdered.”

Others on the other side of the aisle were less receptive.

More: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-leaders-praise-ted-cruzs-21-hour-anti-obamacare-floor-speech

40 Days for Life Prayer Campaign Against Abortion Starts in 306 Cities Tomorrow
The next 40 Days for Life campaign starts tomorrow in 306 locations — with more than 20 brand-new cities on board for the first time to participate in the pro-life prayer campaign.

That number of cities is an astonishing growth from the early days of the campaign, when it began in Texas as a local event Shawn Carney and other pro-life activists headed.

More: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/09/24/40-days-for-life-prayer-campaign-against-abortion-starts-in-306-cities-tomorrow/

By Dave Andrusko It was only a week or so ago that we wrote about the music video, “This Time.” NRL News Today received some nice feedback but I didn’t realize until yesterday that John Elefante’s moving pro-life/pro-adoption tribute   to his adopted daughter, Sami, and her birthmother had gone viral. Posted to YouTube September 16th, “This Time” received more than 100,000 views in just the first five days.

Sami’s birthmother was only 13 at the time and the lyrics are based on the true story of what she might have experienced as “She sat cold in a waiting room/ frightened and all alone/Watched the clock tick down/ knowing that her baby would soon be gone.”

“Although I am overwhelmed at our success in such a short period of time, I am not that surprised,” Elefante told Christian Newswire. The former lead singer of the group “Kansas” added, “This is a subject that folks are extremely passionate about and I feel this video delivers this powerful message in a way that hasn’t been done before. Some have called it the new pro-life anthem.” (See thistimeforkeeps.com]

More: http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2013/09/pro-life-music-video-this-time-goes-viral

 

SEPTEMBER 24

Opinion Column by Ana Benderas

I wrote this letter to a pastor I love very much and I am making it available to you in case you would like to also send something similar to your pastor(s).  Feel free to send this exact letter (with your personal modifications) or to use it as an example.  

Dear Pastor So and So,

There are women in your congregation who have had abortions. I know this statistically.

Some of these women live in condemnation, guilt, and denial.  Some do not even know that their abortion was wrong.  In fact, many of them do not even know that their baby was a human being with a heartbeat at the time of their abortion!

Research shows that a lot of these women would not have gotten an abortion if they had known the facts.

Several members of your congregation are proponents of legalized abortion. Many have never even encountered the conversation of abortion before. These women and men are in danger because when they do encounter it, it will most likely be from schools, media, and peers that do not subscribe to Biblical views.

We cannot leave the moral education of God’s people to the secular world!

I want to emphasize that I value you as a pastor. I am impressed and grateful for (say something sincere).

I am writing this to suggest that it would be empowering to address more frequently and more openly the dangers of abortion- not to condemn, but to bring freedomto the many women and men sitting in your pews who are bound by their past abortions. They need knowledge that leads to conviction, good news of healing, forgiveness, and love. This is why I find it necessary and urgent to talk about it from the pulpit on a regular Sunday service.

I appreciate that this is a difficult topic, and I understand the concerns of many pastors to cause no further damage to post-abortive or at-risk-for-abortion women and men; yet I feel like the worst thing for anyone is to be in darkness and ignorance.

Pastor So and So, would you please commit to dedicating a Sunday to talk about abortion and about how God would use you to address this issue more?

I am writing out of a passion to see people liberated and well (a passion I know you share).

With Christly love,

 

Your Name

P.S. I enclosed this well-researched documentary that I thought you might appreciate.  I plead with you to watch it.

I also enclosed a sermon from Chip Ingram at Venture Christian Church talking about abortion from the pulpit.  

Did you find this letter helpful?

Will you please let me know if you ended up using it or if you sent it to a pastor or leader?

You can let me know here or at anabenderas@liveaction.org.

Or Facebook me!

Published: September 22, 2013 9:11 pm

by Susan Michelle Tyrell

According to Texas law, he wasn’t old enough or heavy enough to need a death certificate, but he got a proper burial anyway.

Allison’s son was 13 weeks and 4 days when she lost him. Her husband Daniel and two-and-a-half-year-old son Matthew, along with their family, laid Nathan Isaiah to rest on September 12.

Nathan’s story is one of life and death – and ultimately life. Allison and Daniel, both 28, rejoiced in the news of their pregnancy and looked forward to February 28, 2014, their due date. After suffering a miscarriage about a year after Matthew’s first birthday, they knew they wanted more children, despite the pain of losing Matthew’s younger brother a day after discovering their pregnancy. “I did not have time to even get used to the fact that I was pregnant before blood and pain flooded our happy reality with loss,” Allison said.

 

Then in June, joy returned as they learned that Nathan was on his way. Excitedly they shared the news with their toddler. “We asked my son, Matthew, which he wanted, a little brother or a little sister, to which he quickly replied, ‘I want a pickle.’ (He had been on a pickle kick.) So the nickname stuck, and Nathan became known as ‘our little pickle.’”

For two months, Allison endured an exceptional case of morning sickness that often left her in bed, but she was delighted when the small baby bump formed in her belly. The whole family rejoiced at seeing this life develop.

Seeing a certified nurse midwife at about 12 weeks, Allison and Daniel were thankful for the views of this pro-life provider:

She was almost just as excited to see his little life on the ultrasound for the first time as we were, and was so passionate about what she was doing. She affirmed to us privately, during our first ultrasound, how she could not understand how others did not see babies this young in the womb as a life. Little did we know that her view on this would become so important to us. She rejoiced with us when we saw him squirming around and kicking his legs and saw his heart beating so quickly—and grieved with us when we lost him.

Allison recalls how she fell in love so early with the precious life inside her:

Pictures and more: http://liveactionnews.org/finding-life-death-nathans-story/

BY FR. FRANK PAVONE

September 21, 2012 (PriestsforLife.org) – At the Democratic convention, many prominent supporters of abortion spoke in favor of its legality. But you will look in vain for a single sentence in which any of them dared to describe the procedure.

I am calling upon all of us to challenge candidates and voters of every party to bring the tragedy of abortion to the center of their election decisions. The teachings of the Holy Father and of the bishops constantly point out that not all moral and life issues are equal. “Abortion necessarily plays a central role,” the bishops state (A Campaign In Support of Life, 2001).

Yet it is not because the bishops teach it that we declare the centrality of abortion. It’s simply because of what it is. It is not looking at a Church document that convinces us of the urgency of ending abortion. It’s simply looking at abortion.

Yet that is exactly what so many of its supporters do not want to do.

How many of them will admit what abortion is? None!

How many will quote from abortionist Warren Hern’s medical textbook Abortion Practice which describes the procedure as “dismemberment” and “decapitation”? None!

How many will dare read from the testimonies of abortionists in court, in which they describe how the arms and legs of the baby are ripped off and the head removed in pieces? None!

More: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dear-pro-abortion-politicians-when-you-say-abortion-is-this-what-you-mean/