Rebuttal to Wichita Eagle’s Hit Pieces

Great distortions, revisionist history, and false impressions have abounded recently through local, state, and national media concerning the Summer of Justice event in Wichita. It was so bad that a rebuttal was necessary to send out. I would ask if any of you love truth, true history, and desire to see the record set straight, please pass this on in your sphere of influence. Thanks!

Press Release

July 14, 2016

For Immediate Release:

Setting the Record Straight

“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17).

There have been many erroneous reports circulating in the media concerning the Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America’s National event in Wichita.

Twenty-five years ago during the “Summer of Mercy” a paradigm shift began in Wichita, Kansas, and our nation, to bring an end to abortion. “No greater love” was demonstrated as Christians laid down their lives to defend the preborn from harm. There are at least 96 twenty five year olds who are amongst us today due to the prayers and godly action taken by the Church. Fifteen years ago at the “Summer of Mercy Renewal” ORN/OSA built upon this foundation by loving their preborn neighbors as themselves. Eventually, Wichita became abortion free and peace returned to Wichita.

The city’s peace ended when two abortion mills reopened to defile Wichita once again. In response, this same group, ORN/OSA, returns to Wichita with their “Summer of Justice” campaign. What began twenty-five years ago, they hope to finish in the same spirit of prayerful, peaceful, intervention. They come as always to “plead the case of the fatherless to win it.” The vision and mission is clear. They call the church and the state to interpose on the behalf of innocent little baby boys and girls in the womb and save them from those who seek to destroy and deny their most fundamental right–the right to life.

Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, National Director, Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America stated, “Two vital errors, mischaracterizations, and false impressions must be addressed. The first is to correct the revisionist history presented by Troy Newman. The second is to deal with the false narrative that our ministry is violent, dangerous, or a threat to anyone in this city, including those who commit atrocious crimes against defenseless babies in the name of choice.”

Local and national leaders will bring the light of truth to these vital issue.

What: Press Conference
Where: 825 East Douglas Ave., Wichita KS

Date: Friday July 15, 2016

Time: 11 AM

Contact: Rev. Rusty Thomas 254-715-3134 or to schedule interviews – Dr. Pat McEwen (321) 431-3962

www.operationsaveamerica.org

This is the letter sent to Senior Editor Jean Hays from the Wichita Eagle.

Dear Miss Jean,

The Lord richly bless you! Here is our rebuttal to the three articles that we believe left dangerous impressions in Wichita and beyond. With this rebuttal, we painstakingly seek to set the record straight. I ask that you issue retractions when and where these articles do not reflect the truth of our conduct and speech, that do not reflect the true history of Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America, and clarify my actual quotes.

The following is the letter of rebuke I sent to Gabriella. Notice in part of it that I commend Wichita Eagle as it relates to our fist interview. You all did a fine job.

IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE,

Rusty
Gabriella,

If your recent article is your modus operandi, we will not be meeting on Thursday. It was hope against hope that the media would be faithful to tell the truth, instead of giving free propaganda time to the abortion industry. The same tired old template over and over again. The abortion industry is scared, heightened security, pro-life violence, ad nauseam.

This passes as objective reporting? One side, (pro-abortion) they are the sane, rational, calm, and reasonable people. They have all these wonderful attributes while tearing babies apart limb from limb and selling their baby parts. That last part was not in your article as I recall. I wonder why? Would that be spreading misinformation (like you did to us) or would that be too much truth to handle? The other side, (OSA) the ones actually trying to save lives, their only representation in the article comes from quotes I gave you coming out of the mouth of Julie Burkhart, the owner of South Wind abortion mill. Of course, she took it out of context and misapplied it.

The first article the Eagle did when we came into Wichita was a class act. The reporters did well. They accurately quoted us with none of the usual spin. Unfortunately, they found in you the typical reporter when it come to this battle for the souls of men, the lives of children, and the future of our broken and wounded land.

Gabrielle, I suspected you were probably pro-abortion, but I hoped that you had some integrity. Your article was nothing more than a hit piece that didn’t even try to appear objective. If the Eagle wants to do more interviews, I would need to talk with a reporter with a little more objectivity.

IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE,

Rusty Lee Thomas
National Director, Operation Save America

Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America’s
Response to the Wichita Eagle’s Hit Piece

Since the Wichita Eagle reminded the city of 1991’s Summer of Mercy, we thought we would remind the Wichita Eagle of something too.

Namely, the truth.

“The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics” is an unbiased barometer of the integrity of news reporting. According to SPJ, the “Code of Ethics is voluntarily embraced by thousands of journalists, regardless of place or platform, and is widely used in newsrooms and classrooms as a guide for ethical behavior” (see Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, https://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode.pdf).

We have the “Code of Ethics” in bold text so as to allow careful judgment of the Wichita Eagle’s reporting of Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America. It is important to note that Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, National Director of ORN/OSA consented to multiple phone interviews (consisting of hours of material for publication) with Wichita Eagle “Local” reporter, Gabriella Dunn. The highlighted text reveals Wichita Eagle’s defamation of ORN/OSA.

It’s important to note, the Wichita Eagle failed to “test the accuracy of information” contained in its three concurrent articles published on July 10. These articles were “Wichita Clinics to be Open with Increased Security During Week of Heightened Anti-abortion Protests,” “Law enforcement prepares for hundreds of anti-abortion protesters with ‘Summer of Justice,'” and “Prayer the Main Preparation for Summer of Justice Organizers.”

The return of ORN/OSA to Wichita for our anniversary of the Summer of Mercy was the underlying focus of each of the three articles Yet, ORN/OSA was not provided an opportunity to rebut the serious charges- threats, violence, and domestic terrorism- implicit in each article.

Members of ORN/OSA national leadership; media spokesperson, Pat McEwen; and National Director, Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas were not afforded an opportunity to respond to the slanderous charges and false claims made by abortion supporters and others, like Troy Newman of Operation Rescue West, an off shoot of the larger and original Operation Rescue National.

“Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.”

ORN/OSA and Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas, National Director of ORN/OSA were not given the opportunity to respond to allegations of violence, threats, and domestic terrorism within the three articles.

In “Wichita Clinics to be Open with Increased Security During Week of Heightened Anti-abortion Protests,” paragraphs 26-30 read:

Much of the 1991 protests centered on what’s now South Wind, which was then owned by George Tiller, a physician who performed late-term abortions and was shot to death at his church in 2009.

The clinic was firebombed in 1986, and in 1993 Tiller was shot and wounded outside the clinic.

Officials with Operation Save America have said they want to put an end to what they started in 1991.[OSA has a history of nonviolence. Although this is not a quote from Rusty Thomas or OSA, the reporter attributes this statement to OSA, in the context of violence.]

Burkhart said she finds that phrase unsettling. Rather than answering to man-made laws, Burkhart said, “they somehow answer to a higher power, and what they do, in terms of advocating violence [OSA does not advocate violence], is somehow acceptable,” she said.

Taken in context with paragraphs 32, 33, 34 reporter, Gabriella Dunn inferred OSA is a terrorist organization.

He [Corey Swertfager, president of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Wichita] said he and other volunteers will look for any erratic behavior [from OSA participants].

I applaud people for having strong convictions,” he said. He went on to add, “[referring to OSA] it’s one thing to have First Amendment rights, but it’s another to make people fearful of their lives. It’s an act of certain domestic terrorism.

The vast majority of people that are protesting these abortions are doing it out of the goodness of their heart, and I appreciate that. But what happens is, as that becomes normalized, [still in context of OSA visiting Wichita] the fire of radicals then feel like they have the right to antagonize people to the point of fear, and even the point of death.

Additionally, in “Law enforcement prepares for hundreds of anti-abortion protesters with ‘Summer of Justice” we read the same slander. Again, we are not provided the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.

For this year’s reunion, ‘Summer of Justice’ protesters will be able to carry signs, chant, sing hymns, distribute literature and shout as part of their First Amendment protected rights. But they won’t be able to threaten people [ORN/OSA does not engage in threats] or block access to the clinic.

In paragraph 3 of “Prayer the Main Preparation for Summer of Justice Organizers,” a person unaffiliated with ORN/OSA makes the outrageous claim that we are extremists advocating justifiable homicide.

The group that organized the original “Summer of Mercy” is distancing itself from this protest. Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, says he will not participate and has concerns about the organization’s extremism. He noted that one of the speakers for the Wichita rally had signed a statement saying that killing an abortion doctor is justifiable homicide.

Again, no opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing. Instead, three short sentences later, you quote Rev. Thomas as saying, “I pray what God began in 1991, he’s going to complete in in 2016,” without offering context. The statement reads as though Rev. Thomas and ORN/OSA supports justifiable homicide and are, in fact, guilty of extremism.

In paragraph 22Newman is quoted as saying, “the group doesn’t have the extent of support garnered in the original ‘Summer of Mercy,’ ‘and I believe that’s due to their extremism.”

Moreover, Newman claimed Trewhella “praised the murder of (Wichita abortion doctor) George Tiller, and for that reason alone, I want nothing to do with it.”

Was ORN/OSA or Rev. Thomas given a chance to reply to these additional published allegations? No.

Yes, Rev. Thomas was interviewed by Ms. Dunn. However, he was never questioned about the allegations that your newspaper later published. As the object of slander, Rev. Thomas or a representative from ORN/OSA should have been given an opportunity to refute the accusations. But it is impossible to refute something of which you were never made aware. Yet the Wichita Eagle would have us believe this is objective reporting?

“Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.”

Paragraph 8 of “Wichita Clinics to be Open with Increased Security During Week of Heightened Anti-abortion Protests” reads:

David S. Cohen, co-author of “Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism” will read from the book which chronicles violence among the anti-abortion movement, some of which focuses on events in Wichita. Burkhart was interviewed for the book.

In context with the discussion of ORN/OSA “Summer of Justice,” this infers that we are the instigators of violence.

The article does not mention that the author, David S. Cohen, is a board member of Abortion Care Network, an organization of independent abortion care providers whose mission is to support “the work of independent abortion care providers while encouraging the training of the next generation” of abortionists.

The author’s connection to the abortion industry was not disclosed. If it had been, the inflammatory title of the book could be weighed against the obvious bias of the author.

“Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.”

In the same article, “Wichita Clinics to be Open with Increased Security During Week of Heightened Anti-abortion Protests,” the boldfaced caption reads, “I applaud people for having strong convictions. It’s one thing to have First Amendment rights, but it’s another to make people fearful of their lives. It’s an act of certain domestic terrorism”

In “Prayer the Main Preparation for Summer of Justice Organizers,” the boldfaced caption reads, “The group [ORN/OSA] has also been associated with picketing homosexual gay bars.”

A little fact checking would have shown, we are, in fact, Operation Rescue National. We are the ministry which organized the original Summer of Mercy in 1991. It would have also shown ORN/OSA does not picket homosexual bars. This was a purposely dangerous quote to add to the story, since the terroristic attack against a “gay bar” in Orlando is still fresh in people’s minds. However, ORN/OSA does unashamedly preach the Gospel at “Gay Pride” parades. Why, because we love homosexuals and do not want to see them die in their sin.

Another boldfaced caption in “Prayer the Main Preparation for Summer of Justice Organizers” reads, “We are living in a world where we live for sex, will kill for sex and will die for sex.” Taken out of context and placed within an article accusing ORN/OSA of extremism and advocating justifiable homicide [neither are true], Rev. Thomas quotes sound like a veiled threat of violence.

The quote conveniently left out Rev. Thomas’ qualifier. His point was that in America we will kill for sex/abortion and we will die for sex/sexually transmitted disease and HIV. It was couched within a larger context of immorality.

“Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error.”

The inaccuracies reported by the Wichita Eagle could have easily been avoided had the reporter verified her facts with ORN/OSA.

ORN/OSA is not planning a “Voice of Thunder March.” It is planning a “Summer of Justice March.”

Interestingly, Rev. Thomas was not quoted as much as attributed to having made a statement. That is far different then a quote. And when he was quoted, he was taken cruelly out of context to leave false impressions on the mind of readers.

Rev. Thomas was not given the opportunity to clarify the historical and factual identity of Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America. This led to the factually inaccurate reporting, making it appear Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America

1) Did not organize the original Summer of Mercy in 1991, when in fact we did.
2) That Troy Newman (an individual who was not the National Director of Operation Rescue National, a leader in ORN/OSA, or in any way part of the original “Summer of Mercy” organizing team) was the architect of the 1991 “Summer of Mercy,” when he was not.
3) That ORN/OSA is a new organization, when in fact we are the original, unchanged ministry begun by Randall Terry, passed to Rev. Keith Tucci, passed to Rev. Flip Benham, and finally passed to Rev. Rusty Thomas. Rev. Thomas is the National Director of what has always been Operation Rescue National.

“Deliberate distortion is never permissible.”

In each article, gross inaccuracies and historical revisionism was presented as truth. Rev. Thomas never referred to “constitutional morality as ‘magic fairy dust’.” What is constitutional morality anyway? This is closer to his statement, “When it came to the Constitution, the plain text says no person should be deprived of life, without the due process of law. The judges who decided Roe vs. Wade said they found the right of abortion in the penumbra of the Constitution. Somehow these judges found magic fairy dust emanating from the Constitution to make abortion legal. It will, however, never be lawful.”

Ms. Dunn reported, “Although the Bible says to obey laws, he [Thomas] said he obeys God in instances where religion and man-made laws conflict.” His full statement was, “When the laws of men, conflict with the Law of God, our Christian duty is clear we must obey God rather than man. That has been the heritage of the church for 2000 years.”

Worse, the Wichita Eagle failed to include Rev. Thomas’ in depth comments to Ms. Dunn. Rev. Thomas went to great lengths to provide easily verifiable facts regarding ORN/OSA’s history of peaceful, nonviolent ministry.

Rev. Thomas remembers explaining, “We [ORN/OSA] have a thirty year history of nonviolence. Each participant has to sign a nonviolence pledge. We have pastors and leaders to monitor the crowd to make sure no one dishonors the Lord in speech or conduct. We cannot become what we seek to end. The bible is clear on that. We over come evil by doing good.” Yet none of his comments made it in to the Wichita Eagle’s three articles. We can only assume this is a “deliberate distortion.”

The Wichita Eagle’s deliberate distortion has left a dangerous impression in the mind of its readers. This distortion has endangered the participants of the “Summer of Justice,” many of whom are women, children and the elderly. Our members are threatened with death or bodily harm on a regular basis, experience bullying and physical abuse, suffer vandalism and theft of property, and endure defamation of character all as the result of sloppy journalism or personal bias on the part of reporters or a media outlet.

In addition to prejudicing your readers and slandering the reputation of a national Christian ministry, the Wichita Eagle has put our participants at risk. You presented us as violent domestic terrorists who picket homosexual bars and then provided the location and schedule of all our ministry outreaches and the church we will be attending during the evenings. If we do experience acts of violence or criminality directed against us, we will consider legal action. Again, fact checking could have avoided this dangerous outcome.

We will give you this. Although ORN/OSA is accustomed to biased reporting, scandal-mongering, and yellow journalism, twenty charges of violent extremism in one day, in one newspaper, is a new record.

Since libel is a “published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation” or “a written defamation” we thought it important to pass on your published comments regarding Pastor Matt Trewhella, directly to him. You neglected to contact him before the article was printed, so we hope you find this helpful.

Finally, if the Wichita Eagle found responsible journalism and professional integrity too burdensome, a simple quote from our public vision statement would have at least given the impression of balanced reporting. Since the Wichita Eagle did not find researching our vision statement worthy of its time, we have sacrificed the three minutes it took to provide it for you.

Consider this our last comment.

Vision Statement
Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America

Operation Rescue/Operation Save America unashamedly takes up the cause of preborn children in the name of Jesus Christ. We employ only biblical principles. The Bible is our foundation; the Cross of Christ our strategy; the repentance of the Church our ultimate goal.

As the Church changes its heart toward unborn children, God Himself will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and bring healing to our land.

We believe Jesus Christ is the only answer to the abortion holocaust. It is upon our active repentance in the streets of our cities that the Gospel is visibly lived out. We become to the church, to our city, and to our nation living parables which rightly represent God’s heart toward His helpless children.

There are no cheap political solutions to the abortion holocaust. Like child sacrifice, infanticide, and slavery before it, abortion is a Gospel issue. The Cross of Christ is the only solution.

Abortion will end, when the Church of Jesus Christ decides it will end. Not one second sooner.

www.operationsaveamerica.org

NPR INTERVIEW

https://youtu.be/cbvYTdWC0EU

The following is an exchange that transpired between me and a NPR reporter. We will see what he does with it, but it is important that you all know the true discussion of the issues.

Hey Rusty,
Sorry for the all the confusion. I’ve unfortunately been pulled away from the office for the day, so am without recording equipment, but below are a few questions if you’d be willing to answer them. I’ll likely send some follow up questions, as well. Just as a heads up, I’ll act on the assumption that everything you write will be on the record if not otherwise indicated.
Zachary Klamann
NPR: Would it be accurate to say that, while this is in a way an anniversary to the 1991 summer, it adds more structure to those initial protests, bringing speakers and schedule to the week rather than the day-in-day-out protests that defined the original Summer of Mercy?
OSA: Summer of Mercy took on a life of its own. What started as a weeklong event, turned into a 2 and half month heaven-sent revival. Whatever structure and leadership that was in place, quickly became more fluid as the Spirit of God led the Church to interpose at the death camps on a daily basis. I suspect the 25th Anniversary of the Summer of Mercy, our Summer of Justice event, will not be prolonged as far as time is concerned, but we are still trusting the Lord for lasting impact. Plus, we do have a plan of structure, speakers, and a schedule, but ultimately, we make our plans, trusting the Lord to direct our steps.
NPR: What’s the aim in offering more structure? Is there hope the arrest rate won’t reach the levels of the 1991 protests? Or is it simply to add organization and offer more coherence throughout?
OSA: We will not be seeking to be arrested, though sometimes it still happens. Rescue was a tactic that was employed back in 1991. The federal government, however, stepped in and established F.A.C.E., Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances. We were successful in shutting down the death camps, so they took the misdemeanor charge of trespass and applied federal penalties. Some of us went as far as we could. We were charged with 4 counts of F.A.C.E. If turned criminal, we were facing ten years in federal prison and financial ruin. Thankfully, we were delivered out of their hands and remain the Lord’s freemen to this day.
We are still interposing to rescue the preborn, but utilizing a different methodology, which is doing the very same things we do in church and applying them on the streets, in the culture, and at the abortion mills. That does take planning, structure and more organization to accomplish our vision and mission.
NPR: What’re the goals of this week-long event: awareness of the issue or hoping to shut down the clinics?
OSA: What God began in 1991, we are believing, He will complete in 2016. When we first came in 1991, I believe there were 5 operating death camps. 2 immediately shut down. Eventually, through the years, all of them shut down. Wichita became abortion free and enjoyed peace for 4 years. Today, two death camps came roaring back to once again pollute and defile the city of Wichita. We have some unfinished Kingdom business to take care of and we do trust that God will watch over His Word that we proclaim and these two death camps will go the way of every other bloody, tyranny of man. They will shut down in Jesus’ name!
NPR: I think it’s important to note here the abortion clinic closed in 2009 only after the shooting of Dr. Tiller, which you just here described as bringing peace. Do you think referring to incidents such as this only in such a way that the ends — the cessation of abortion services in Wichita — are mentioned and the means — the murder of a man — are not feeds an image of nonviolence or does it give credence to those who might seek to end abortion services through any means?
OSA: I did not say the murder of Tiller brought peace. That default template may help create controversy and sell media, but that is not what I said or even implied. I said “Wichita became abortion free.” I did not say how it became abortion free. I never mentioned the murder of Tiller, especially, as a legitimate means to end abortion.
The God of the Bible is concerned not only with the ends we achieve, but the means we use to achieve them. in His economy, the ends does not justify the means. People can have a good motive and perform an evil action. On the other hand, people can have a bad motive and perform a good work. God wants right motive and good behavior.
Besides, all the other death camps shut down by peaceful means and that is the only means we support.
NPR: Is it problematic for your organization that the organizing group for the 1991 protests is not involved with this anniversary in spite of their being based in Wichita?
OSA: There is no problem. They are another group that did not organize 1991.
NPR: The Associated Press has claimed the lack of involvement is because Troy Newman does not want his organization related to the possible violence that could stem from the Summer of Justice. Do you see any truth to this?
OSA: We have a 3 decade history of non-violence. Each person must sign a non-violent pledge. We cannot become what we are seeking to end. The Bible is clear on this, we overcome evil by doing good.
You previously told the Kansas City star: “We’re talking about defying it… Just flat-out defying it” in reference to, assumably, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
Additionally, you cite the “doctrine of the lesser magistrate,” and claim to be looking for a governor, sheriff or other local official to disobey the Supreme Court decisions and order an end to abortion.
“What we want to produce here is a paradigm shift in how we view government, how we view God, how we view abortion,” you told the Star.
How do you want us to view government after these protests?
OSA: Our government, especially on the federal level, has unleashed lawlessness, corruption, and unconstitutional decrees upon the citizens of America. In the name of the Constitution, they violate the Constitution. In the name of government, they betray the sacred trust of government. Under the color of law, they impose lawlessness. We are calling upon the states to restore law and order by placing the Constitutional chain back upon Washington DC. The states have to arise to provide the missing checks and balances that safeguard our liberties and promote good governance.
NPR: Yet, it is clear, both in precedent and all formal legal thought, that the Supreme Court should have the right to decide what follows the Constitution and what does not, creating, protecting or abrogating law in the process. The approach you outline above seems to suggest you would be for ignoring that precedent in favor of personal interpretation of the Constitution. Doesn’t this view simply promote no absolute legal standard, creating a legal relativism behind which individuals can hide if they view the Constitution differently than the formal interpreters of that document?
OSA: What you just described is the problem with the Supreme Court. To them the Constitution is a living document that evolves with the mores of the people, not a fixed standard of law. In times past, before they looked to other sources besides the Constitution, like international law, they held up cases to the light of the Constitution and rendered their decisions. Those day are long gone.
For decades now, we’ve endured an activist court that treats American citizens like lab rats in order to further their grand social engineering experiment. As a result, going to courts today for justice is like chickens going to foxes to protect them from wolves. We cannot expect our redress of grievances from the courts to be taken serious, since they continually establish and reinforce our redress of grievances.
Courts can issue opinions and make rulings, they cannot, however, under the Constitution, make law. That is reserved for our legislative branch of government. We the People nor our representatives voted for Roe vs. Wade or any other immoral social issue of this day that has polarized us.
The courts have played the tyrant and the other branches of government have played the coward. Tyrants need to be challenged and our other branches of government must defy them and reign them back in to perform their Constitutional duties and nothing else.
NPR: On the same note, following the decision handed down by the Supreme Court concerning a Texas abortion law last week, would your organization advocate that states simply ignore that ruling and continue to regulate clinics by their own standards?
OSA: We would call upon the state of Texas and all other states to ignore the ruling and do their duty to defend the preborn. God does not want us to regulate baby murder, He wants us to end it.
NPR: Again, wouldn’t this approach simply lead to lawlessness and a destruction of any center of legal authority?
OSA: Lawlessness is already here. It has been imposed upon us by the federal government. As a result, we have moral anarchy running rampant in our culture while our federal government seeks to control every aspect of our lives. We are advocating for the rule of law that our federal government abandoned years ago to be reestablished once again. We are calling “We the People” and the states to provide the necessary checks and balances that the feds have discarded and place the Constitutional chain back on Washington DC. They are out of order, spinning out of control, and doing great harm to our nation in the process. Somebody needs to be an adult, put their big boy pants on, and stop the madness. The inmates are running the asylum in America today.
NPR: If the goal is for us to view the government as a vector through which God’s laws can be handed down and put in action, surely this goes firmly against the constitution and begs questions of which God and which interpretation of which God a country as pluralist as the United States would follow, as some have brought up. How would you respond to this?
OSA: Murder is against the Constitution. This happens to agree with God’s Holy Commandment, “Thou shall not murder.” The Constitution actually declares that no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law. What capital crime does the baby in the womb commit that deserves capital punishment?
We maintain that Roe vs. Wade is legal fiction. It is legal fiction on two counts. As stated, it violates the Constitution. Again, no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law. No Penumbra of the Constitution, no magic fairy dust that emanates from the Constitution can change the plain meaning of the text.
Second, any law of man that countermands or violates the Law of God, according to 1500 years of Western Civilization is no law at all. Divine law trumps human law. As Christians we should know better, when the laws of men conflict with the laws of God, we are duty bound to obey God rather than men.
Sir William Blackstone, English Jurist who wrote Commentaries on the Laws of England stated “Upon these two foundations, the law of nature (the eternal laws of good and evil) and the law of revelation (found only in the scriptures), depend all human laws. That is to say, no human laws should be allowed to contradict these.” This man was one of three, (the other two were John Locke and Baron De Montesquieu) that our Founding Fathers studied to establish our form of government.
NPR: As Ms. Burkhart mentions, which God and which interpretation of that God could the Constitution legally use as justification for the overturning of legal precedent?
OSA: We appeal to the same God that our Founding Fathers appealed to in our Declaration of Independence. 4 times Almighty God, the God of the Bible, is mentioned in our founding document. They acknowledge Him as Lawgiver, Creator, Supreme Judge, and relied on His Divine Providence. They stated that this God was the source of American’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Governments were merely instituted to protect those God given rights.
America violated our national covenant when we denied black Americans the right to liberty. It cost us a bloody Civil War. Over 600,000 men died to atone for that national sin and crime. Today, we have violated our national covenant once again. We deny the first and most fundamental right of all, which is the right to life to our own sons and daughters. One can only imagine what we have stored up as a nation when you consider that close to sixty million children made in the image of God have been exterminated under our watch.
What God? How about we look to our currency to remind us, “In God we Trust!” What God? How about remembering our national motto that remind us that America is, “One Nation Under God!” It would be intellectually dishonest and historically inaccurate to doubt what God or which God America acknowledged. It was, is, and always will be the God of the Bible, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the true and living God and apart from Him there is no other.
NPR: How would you respond to those who claim the laws of God dictate the actions of the individual, meaning perhaps you would decide abortion is morally wrong and impermissible, but that the state, in not choosing an official religion, cannot make that decision for others whose moral views may be different?
OSA: Abortion is murder. It is against America law. That is true, regardless of what people believe about religion. Abortion is also a national sin, like slavery before it. National sin brings national calamity. Americans can choose to commit child sacrifice and shed innocent blood, we just can’t choose the consequences and they are terrible indeed.
We must also remember that everything Hitler did in Nazi Germany was legal. It will never, however, be considered lawful. The same principles hold true for America. So much of our immorality, sin, and crimes are considered legal, but they will never be lawful.
NPR: More modern interpretations of these texts, including those by eminent thinkers like Ronald Dworkin, show that these thinkers, especially Locke, seemed to believe one had a moral right to ignore the laws of a state when those laws contravene the moral autonomy and moral rights of the individual, but that individual must also accept the consequences of such illegal actions in order to prevent lawlessness and chaos erupting. How would you respond to such a criticism of this point?
OSA: In the days of lawlessness, those who keep the law, become the outlaw.
NPR: The founder of Trust Women, Julie Burkhart, responded to the strategy of denying the Supreme Court’s authority via elected officials by saying it “seems like vigilantism and people just wanting to take things into their own hands,” seeming to imply such an action would bring about lawlessness. How would you respond to that?
OSA: Vigilantism was established by Roe vs. Wade. Men took the law into their own hands and became, judge, jury and executioner of the most innocent amongst us. We are seeking to end this vigilantism and restore the rule of law.
NPR: If possible, can you clarify how the rule of law is restored when you advocate ignoring laws? Vigilantism is often defined as taking justice into your own hands, how would your quest to ignore the decisions of the Supreme Court not Constitute this exactly?
You’ve said you advocate nonviolence, but do you think that can be taken seriously, especially because much of the 1991 protests were centered around Tiller, and he was killed by Scott Roeder, who had contact information for a senior policy adviser — who herself had seen legal trouble for planning bombings of abortion clinics — at Operation Rescue in his possession and had contacted her multiple times?
OSA: Again, that is a separate group. We had no dealings with Scott Roeder. If we had, we would have called him to repent of his misguided actions.
NPR: Allow me to clarify this question. By calling abortion a holocaust and calling those who perform such procedures murderers who go against God’s will, how are you to ensure that an individual does not choose to take his or her view of justice into his or her own hands and commit an act of violence, against the best intentions of yourself and your group?
OSA: First, I find it incredible that the media is always concerned about the possibility of violence that may be a threat against those who work at abortion mills, but completely ignore the actual violence that is being perpetrated against innocent victims. The preborn endure mass violence on a scope that is unimaginable. America would drown in the blood that has been spilled from the bodies of these precious children. No investigation there, no questions to the abortionist on the nature of their rhetoric, procedures or violence they commit. Why do you think that is the case? Jesus would call that straining at a gnat, while swallowing a camel.
Second, there is man’s view and then there is God’s view. What America calls choice, God calls murder. As a minister of the Gospel of the Kingdom, I’m called to preach and teach God’s Word not to parrot the slogans of the age. The truth is the truth whether no one believes it and a lie is a lie no matter how many believe it.
Pastor Adrian Rogers stated, “It is better to be divided by truth, than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than to speak a lie that will comfort and then kill. It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is better to stand alone with the truth, than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to ultimately die with the truth, than to live with a lie.”
My work, rhetoric, and prayer for those involved in slaying the innocent for blood money would be for them to acknowledge the error of their ways, repent of their sins, and come to the saving grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. May they use their skills and expertise to bring health and healing, instead of death and destruction.
NPR: Relatedly, there was a shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood last years that many have correlated to the videos released by original Summer of Mercy planners Operations Rescue. Do you think similarly inflammatory practices like asking people to simply not follow laws from the federal government could lead to violence, against your best intentions?
OSA: Just like some phantom video caused Benghazi, so the video from the Summer of Mercy caused violence? America has become so biblically illiterate in these days. What a people or nation sows that shall they also reap. God will not be mocked. This is spiritual gravity. Bloodshed touches bloodshed (Hosea 4:1-6). It will break out like a plague. If we dare sow violence in the womb, do we think it strange that we reaping violence that is savaging our nation on a daily basis?
NPR: Again, if I can just get a clarification here, are you stating the violence which occurred in Colorado and Wichita are byproducts of abortion rights advocates and those who advocate freedom of choice?
OSA: No, I’m saying there are certain realities that we cannot escape. One of them is sowing and reaping. There is such a thing as spiritual and moral gravity. Have you ever committed a wrong and suffered consequences? Abortion is a national sin and crime, it has and will continue to bring national calamity.
We have sown domestic terrorism in the womb and we are reaping foreign terrorism from without. If peace will ever return to America, we must end the American holocaust. America cannot thrive violating the commandments of God. They provide the infrastructure to reality. We cannot continue to hurl ourselves against this unchanging reality. We can’t continue to break God’s commandments, eventually, they will break us. I think we are beginning to experience this breakdown as our nation is unraveling under our watch.
Is there hope? 2 Chronicles 7:14 states, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” If is a mighty big word. Do we have the courage and humility to change? Literally, our future hope hangs in the balance. Choose wisely America.
IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE,
Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas
Nation Director, Operation Rescue National/Operation Save America
NEW OSA VIDEO PROMOTING THE SUMMER OF JUSTICE
https://youtu.be/CCYhbJKCx0k

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