My Perspective About Abortionist's Murder in Kansas
By Alice Patterson
Sunday, May 31, 2009, a gunman murdered late-term abortionist, George Tiller, at his church, The Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. A suspect, Scott Roeder, is now in custody. Tiller was shot as he served as usher and his wife, Jeanne, was in the choir. This is tragic for the Tiller family as well as for the pro-life community.
Many pro-life groups have issued statements condemning the action of the lone gunman. We join the denunciation and the prayer.
Upon hearing the report on the news my mind went back to Odessa, Texas, where we lived for 30 years, and the local abortionist’s office was one parking lot over from our Pray Texas office. I had been a part of the pro-life movement for over 10 years and had resigned as Field Director for Texas Christian Coalition to form Pray Texas to encourage pastors to pray and work together for city transformation. On a sunny Saturday morning in 1998 pastors and intercessors stood at every highway entrance to our city and “staked the gates.” We painted in red “Jesus is Lord over Odessa” on wooden stakes along with some scripture verses. We read Psalm 24:7-10, “Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in…” We welcomed Lord Jesus, His kingdom, His rule and His authority into Odessa and we worshipped Him together at the gates of our city.
As we drove back to the office and passed the abortionist’s office just one parking lot down from the Baptist Building where our office was located, we realized we had some stakes left over. So we decided we’d stake the abortionist’s office. The office building was empty with no cars in the parking lot. My husband John hammered in the stakes in flowerbeds at either end of the small office complex. We claimed that territory for the Lord declaring that Jesus was Lord over it. When he finished, the stakes were not visible in the flowerbeds. Then we went to the window outside the office building and began to bless the abortionist. Yes, you read that right. We blessed an abortionist.
We had learned from Ed Silvoso at Harvest Evangelism that God wants us to bless the lost. In Luke 10, Jesus sent out 70 disciples as “laborers into the harvest.” He sent them out “as lambs among wolves.” He gave them simple instructions beginning in verse 5:
Speak peace to the house
Eat and drink whatever is set before you (fellowship with them)
Heal the sick (pray for their needs)
Then say, “The kingdom of God has come near you.”
If you need a little more scripture to validate blessing an abortionist, Jesus also admonished in Luke 6:27-37 to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you…judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
We (my husband John, Cathe Halford, Heather Holder now Blackman, and I) placed our hands on the window of the doctor’s office and we blessed him like Jesus admonished us to bless the wolves. We blessed him every way we think to bless him. Of course, we wanted him to stop doing abortions, but we prayed according to the new insight Ed had given us.
You have to understand. Before I heard Ed teach on “blessing the lost,” my limited theology didn’t allow me to even pray for a sick unbeliever. I thought the only thing God would do for an unbeliever is to save him. I didn’t realize that Jesus ministered to sinners so they would know that He had power to heal and to forgive sins. Sure I had read it – it just didn’t sink in. Mark 2:9-11 Jesus said, “Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins…I say unto you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house.”
None of the four of us who staked the office building and blessed the abortionist realized we were doing anything strategic. We just had some stakes left over. It wasn’t part of a strategic plan. However, a couple of months later, Heather came into the Pray Texas office with some startling news, “The abortionist has been evicted for not paying his rent!” Heather’s dad knew the owner of the office building and had heard the news firsthand from the landlord. Later the IRS filed charges against the abortionist for nonpayment of taxes. The last we heard he was serving time in federal prison for tax fraud. Odessa had become an abortion-free zone. True story.
Paul admonished us in Romans 12:17-21 “Repay no evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men….Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. Therefore ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
When we bless the lost, the sinner and even the murderer, the act of blessing removes judgment and vengeance from our hearts and allows the Lord to work His justice and vengeance.
Pray with me. “Dear Father, we come to You in Jesus’ name. We ask You to purify our hearts and cleanse our hands so that we can ascend Your holy hill and voice prayers that You will hear and answer. We ask for Your justice and righteousness to be released throughout our land. We pray for Jeanne Tiller and for the family of George Tiller. We ask You to bless them, to comfort them and to release Your light and love in their behalf. We pray for Scott Roeder, the man arrested for Tiller’s murder and for his family. We pray Your blessings upon them as well. Father, we pray for the millions in the pro-life community who pray and work for life to be protected from the womb to the grave. We ask for Your mercy and for Your favor. We bless those in the media who would try to use this tragic death as an indictment against the pro-life movement. We ask for discernment for the American people to see through the smoke screen to see the truth. We ask You to show us how to stay humbled under Your mighty hand so that You will be exalted and Your kingdom will be established in America in Jesus’ Name.”
Three doctors who performed abortions have been killed in the past 16 years by gunmen acting alone. That in no way constitutes a pattern. Mr. Tiller’s murder is the first in 11 years. We condemn the murders and at the same time affirm that the pro-life movement in America is made up of law-abiding, God-fearing citizens who are moved by the shedding of innocent blood and for the millions of women’s lives that have been devastated by abortion in our nation. They are praying and working through the legislative system in our nation to protect babies before they go the way of the 50 million who have lost their lives since the US Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973 in Roe v. Wade.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14
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