Point of View November 20, 2024 – Hour 2 : ThriVe Savannah

[00:00:04] Across America Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson.

[00:00:20] One of the topics we come back to time and time again is of course the pro-life issue. It is a very important issue in not only in the election but in the need for us to provide alternatives to abortion.

[00:00:31] There are abortion minded women who are convinced that the only answer to their particular so-called problem pregnancy is to end that life.

[00:00:39] And we are always wanting to support those individuals who are on the front lines supporting life.

[00:00:45] And that's why we want to bring to you another individual that I had a chance to meet when we were in Georgia.

[00:00:51] We were both in Augusta, Georgia and Savannah, Georgia.

[00:00:54] And Paula Kennard is a Georgia native who has in the past had background in real estate sales and property but really called into the pro-life ministry in work in 1985.

[00:01:05] moved to Savannah in 2008 to first of all work with the Living Vine Maternity Home and now currently serves as the executive director of United for Life to His Glory.

[00:01:17] Matter of fact, we have a link to unitedforlifetohisglory.org as well as Thrive Savannah.

[00:01:24] We have that link as well, Thrive Savannah ORG.

[00:01:26] We'll talk about that in just a minute.

[00:01:28] United for His Life, United for Life for His Glory is actually something that was birthed out of the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign,

[00:01:37] which was taking place in front of an abortion clinic that had operated there for 40 years.

[00:01:43] And we'll talk about what happened to that clinic in just a minute.

[00:01:46] But the state-of-the-art medical center was opened right across the street from that local Planned Parenthood.

[00:01:51] And so, Paula, thank you for joining us today here on Point of View.

[00:01:55] I am delighted and honored.

[00:01:57] Thank you, Kirby.

[00:01:58] Well, it was great to get a tour from not only you but also to go through those resources.

[00:02:04] But let's talk about you for just a minute because you, of course, felt called to the pro-life ministry.

[00:02:10] So I'd love to hear not only your story, but in a minute we'll talk about the story of the center and the clinic.

[00:02:17] But what's your own story?

[00:02:18] How did you end up in this pro-life movement?

[00:02:20] Well, you know, at this age it's a long story.

[00:02:23] But I will tell you quickly, raised in the 50s and 60s in Macon, Georgia, I had a beautiful family.

[00:02:32] But unfortunately we had a pedophile that lived next door.

[00:02:36] And as he had an influence over me, and I found later many others in our neighborhood, that it truly affected the way I saw myself and the way I saw my life and the way I acted through my teenage years.

[00:03:02] So in the 60s, I was kind of set up by that to be extremely promiscuous.

[00:03:12] I graduated from an all-girls school in Macon, Georgia, pregnant with my first child.

[00:03:20] I hid that pregnancy.

[00:03:21] My beautiful son was born in December of 1969.

[00:03:24] And Kirby, I'm forever grateful that I didn't have access to abortion in 1969.

[00:03:33] I believed that my son would not be here.

[00:03:37] After that, our family, of course, was kind of, you know, it was a hand grenade thrown into the family.

[00:03:44] But they recovered beautifully.

[00:03:47] They showed me the love of Jesus.

[00:03:49] They accepted me.

[00:03:50] They accepted his father.

[00:03:51] We tried to make a go of it.

[00:03:53] It didn't work.

[00:03:54] I was modeling at that time.

[00:03:56] And I continued.

[00:03:57] I thought my modeling career was just the most important thing in the world.

[00:04:01] So when I got pregnant again, I went to my OB and said, help me.

[00:04:06] And there was a plan.

[00:04:09] I was sent to New York.

[00:04:11] I think it was $550 was my total.

[00:04:14] And that included my airfare from Atlanta to New York.

[00:04:18] And I'm 99% sure I went to Bernard Nathanson's clinic just because of the size of the operation that I experienced up there.

[00:04:26] And I aborted my second child.

[00:04:29] As soon as I came out of the anesthesia, I had a nurse looking at me closely and the tears were coming down my face.

[00:04:37] And she said, you can dry up now.

[00:04:39] It's all over.

[00:04:40] There's nothing to cry about.

[00:04:42] And Kirby, that moment, my heart froze.

[00:04:44] You know how the prophet Ezekiel talks about having a heart of stone?

[00:04:49] That experience gave me a heart of stone for over a decade after that.

[00:04:55] And I came back to Atlanta.

[00:04:57] I kept that a secret.

[00:04:58] I continued with what I thought was my very important career and life, living it my way.

[00:05:07] And then the Lord, I had a Damascus Road experience when I was 30 years old.

[00:05:12] And I literally came to my knees.

[00:05:16] Everything changed that night at home by myself.

[00:05:20] And I was a new person.

[00:05:21] I started reading the word.

[00:05:23] I started searching for the right church.

[00:05:27] My son was then 12 years old.

[00:05:29] He didn't know what had happened to his mom.

[00:05:32] So we visited a lot of churches in the Atlanta area.

[00:05:37] We landed at one in Marietta where some friends of mine had invited me many times.

[00:05:42] And they had a pregnancy center training one Saturday.

[00:05:46] And to this day, there's no reason I went to that except for the hand of God.

[00:05:50] There were a couple of hundred women there.

[00:05:52] I sat in the back.

[00:05:53] And that was when I came face to face with what I had actually done and the horror of that.

[00:06:01] And so I stayed.

[00:06:02] I stayed the whole day for the training.

[00:06:04] I left.

[00:06:05] I had wept.

[00:06:07] I kept going to the restroom and weeping.

[00:06:10] The little lady sitting at my table petted me on the arm and said, honey, I don't think this is for you.

[00:06:15] And I said, you're right.

[00:06:16] I'm going to be right.

[00:06:16] Just a few weeks later, the pastor of that big church called me and he wanted a conversation.

[00:06:23] So I went to his office and he and his business manager, of course, he never met with a woman alone.

[00:06:28] So the three of us were in his office as he basically offered me the job as director of their pregnancy center.

[00:06:37] And I literally became the dragon lady.

[00:06:42] And I said, well, first of all, I said, oh, I can find somebody.

[00:06:45] I know he said, no, no, no, Paula.

[00:06:47] I think it's supposed to be you.

[00:06:49] And that's when the dragon lady came out and all of that pain from all of his years just exploded.

[00:06:57] And he said, well, Miss Paula, would you please pray about it?

[00:06:59] And I said, no, you need to pray.

[00:07:01] I was rude.

[00:07:01] I was angry.

[00:07:03] He didn't know what to do.

[00:07:04] He and his business administrator, I'm sure they were calling security.

[00:07:07] You know, we have a crazy lady in the house.

[00:07:09] But I finally shouted at him, Kirby, across his desk.

[00:07:13] You don't understand.

[00:07:15] I've had an abortion.

[00:07:16] And he just sat back in his chair with his arms crossed.

[00:07:21] I mean, I've got the picture in my head.

[00:07:23] He goes, well, Miss Paula, did you think that's all the more reason why you should?

[00:07:28] And I just was unglued.

[00:07:30] So good.

[00:07:31] He asked me to pray about it.

[00:07:32] I said, no, you pray about it.

[00:07:34] And just a couple of weeks later, I heard myself resigning from a very nicely paying job I had in property management

[00:07:44] that gave me the flexibility to model as well.

[00:07:46] And I took on a pregnancy center in 1985.

[00:07:50] Well, we're going to take a break.

[00:07:52] And when I come back, I want to talk about, of course, not only the United for the organization that we've just talked about,

[00:08:00] United for Life to His Glory, but also Thrive Savannah.

[00:08:03] And, again, if you have some comments or questions, we certainly do encourage your phone calls, 1-800-351-1212.

[00:08:11] But also, I hope that you'll begin to maybe learn some lessons as we talk about how important it is to have a pregnancy center,

[00:08:19] a medical clinic, maybe even a mobile unit, certainly ultrasound, all sorts of things we're going to talk about.

[00:08:26] And if you already have something like that in your community, can I encourage you to volunteer?

[00:08:32] If you don't, maybe you can begin to do the same thing that Paula did and begin something like that in your community.

[00:08:40] Let's take a break.

[00:08:40] We have a lot more to cover.

[00:08:42] We'll do that right after this.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson.

[00:09:04] Now that the 2024 election is in the rearview mirror, there are some steps we need to take to improve our future elections.

[00:09:10] Much of this is needed to be done four years ago, but any time you talked about improving our electoral process,

[00:09:16] you were usually accused of trying to change the election.

[00:09:18] Now that this election was more decisive, it provides an opportunity to make some needed changes.

[00:09:24] That's why I invited Hans von Spakowski to my radio program.

[00:09:27] He was a member of the Federal Election Commission, is the Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation,

[00:09:33] Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, and is the manager of the think tank's election law reform initiative.

[00:09:39] When he is asked about the state of election integrity, he responds that we are in better shape nationally than we were last time,

[00:09:46] but much depends on which state you live in and vote in.

[00:09:49] Sadly, he also pointed out there's also a problem with the state attorneys general and secretaries of state who are unwilling to enforce good state election laws.

[00:09:58] On my program, he talked about the fact that he is often tasked with briefing European election observers.

[00:10:04] They are shocked and astounded to find out that two states with some of the nation's largest populations do not require ID to vote.

[00:10:12] Every state has work to do.

[00:10:14] He has put together an election integrity scorecard that analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

[00:10:20] He provided an assessment of laws, regulations, and administrative practices of each state.

[00:10:25] And he's reported that no state scored 100 when he launched the scorecard, and that is still the case.

[00:10:31] Our goal for elections in this country should be to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.

[00:10:36] Before the next important election, let's get to work.

[00:10:39] I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

[00:10:46] For a free booklet on a biblical view on big data, go to viewpoints.info slash data.

[00:10:53] That's viewpoints.info slash data.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:11:03] Paula Kennard with us as we talk about United for Life to His Glory as well as the Thrive Savannah outreach.

[00:11:11] And, Paula, just if you can give us an overview of all of what is taking place there because in terms of having counseling, a medical clinic, a mobile unit,

[00:11:21] there's a sense in which you have an opportunity to meet women that are abortion-minded and share with them the fact that they need to save life

[00:11:31] and talk about all the ways in which you reach those young ladies as well.

[00:11:36] Kirby, you're exactly right.

[00:11:38] Our focus is on women who are seeking abortion.

[00:11:43] And as in my case, there are over 80% of women who seek abortions believe it is their only choice.

[00:11:52] Over 60% of women seeking abortions are being coerced by a man.

[00:11:57] So when we hear the phrase, it's a woman's choice, there's nothing about that that is true in the reality of what's happening in our land with abortion.

[00:12:09] Thrive Savannah came and we have actually opened our medical office directly across the street from the local Planned Parenthood office.

[00:12:21] And we have a mobile medical unit, a beautiful bus.

[00:12:27] You saw that, very bright pink, hard to miss.

[00:12:31] It's kind of a billboard.

[00:12:32] Our list of free services are on the side of our bus.

[00:12:36] And we park in front of Planned Parenthood for four hours every day that they're open, Monday through Friday.

[00:12:44] Our goal currently is to extend that to cover their full day.

[00:12:50] But right now, our success rate, we do not protest.

[00:12:56] I want you to understand that we're not protesters.

[00:12:59] We are prayers.

[00:13:00] And being in front, we offer young women, we offer them a gift bag that includes some treats, a salty treat and a sweet.

[00:13:11] We give them a lot of information.

[00:13:14] Again, there's a hard push to get your abortion, to get it fast.

[00:13:18] Don't think about it.

[00:13:19] Don't ask any questions.

[00:13:20] Just get it done.

[00:13:21] Don't ask any questions.

[00:13:21] And I know that that is not wise.

[00:13:25] That is not wisdom in any sense.

[00:13:27] So, therefore, we ask them to stop and think.

[00:13:31] We give them a check sheet, an abortion check sheet.

[00:13:34] We ask them, have you had your pre-abortion screenings?

[00:13:37] And that involves a pregnancy test.

[00:13:40] It's a lab quality test administered by a registered nurse in our center.

[00:13:44] And then we ask, have you had an STD test lately?

[00:13:49] Because anyone who is sexually active, of course, may have been exposed to sexually transmitted diseases.

[00:13:55] And we will not only test, but we will treat for those diseases.

[00:14:00] We test for HIV.

[00:14:02] Of course, we can't actually treat for that, but we will help them.

[00:14:05] We will refer them to an infectious disease specialist.

[00:14:09] And then the one that you mentioned that is so powerful is the ultrasound.

[00:14:16] Yes.

[00:14:17] And we offer limited obstetric ultrasounds at no cost.

[00:14:22] We give them, you know, a picture of their baby.

[00:14:25] We have an ultrasound machine that is magnificent.

[00:14:30] It gives them, they get a chance to hear the heartbeat.

[00:14:35] And they can see the tiniest of babies.

[00:14:39] You know, somewhere a little over five weeks, we can usually get a glimpse.

[00:14:44] If the baby is six or seven weeks, we really can.

[00:14:47] And, of course, Georgia has a law now that we call our heartbeat bill that anything after around six weeks,

[00:14:54] if they can detect a heartbeat, they're not supposed to proceed with an abortion in Georgia.

[00:15:03] There's so much misunderstanding about that.

[00:15:05] That's one of the things that we do is try to speak the truth to women.

[00:15:08] You mentioned ThriveSavannah.org.

[00:15:10] We keep the facts about the law.

[00:15:13] We have women, Kirby, that believe if they're having a miscarriage or if they need, if they go in,

[00:15:20] that they could be arrested for aborting their baby.

[00:15:23] I mean, there's so much miscommunication.

[00:15:25] Our goal is to speak the truth in love, to come alongside these women,

[00:15:31] to tell them what abortion really is, to let them know that it is the only decision they can make in an unplanned pregnancy

[00:15:41] that is 100% irreversible.

[00:15:44] I love to share my story with women, and I let them know I had no idea that 50-plus years later,

[00:15:51] that abortion is very real to me.

[00:15:54] And I've had one of the young ones look at me, and she goes, over 50 years, and you still think about it?

[00:16:00] I said, every day, darling.

[00:16:01] Yes, yes.

[00:16:02] Every day.

[00:16:03] Yes, I do.

[00:16:03] So today, you can choose a different option.

[00:16:08] And Kirby, that's what we do.

[00:16:10] We talk to them about what do you need.

[00:16:14] One girl told us that she just couldn't have another baby because she couldn't take all those babies to the laundromat

[00:16:20] because she didn't have a car.

[00:16:22] And I said, okay, so wait, let me get this straight.

[00:16:25] Unbelievable.

[00:16:25] We walked with her.

[00:16:27] She chose life.

[00:16:28] We helped her get a transportation, but we helped her marry the father of several of her children and that baby.

[00:16:36] And she's actually placed for adoption.

[00:16:39] And that, you know, so we want to show them that if you commit your way to the Lord, he will open doors.

[00:16:48] He will make a way when there seems to be no way that he will provide.

[00:16:54] Let's, if we can, too, mention that we do have links to both of these websites, unitedforlifetohisglory.org and thrivesavannah.org.

[00:17:05] And let me, just before we run out of time, talk about your success rate because you have been able to save so many babies and also save so many souls.

[00:17:15] Can you give us the latest numbers?

[00:17:17] Well, we have seen over 7,000 young women, Kirby, face to face.

[00:17:24] We have presented the gospel of Jesus Christ 3,700 times.

[00:17:29] Out of that, we know of 1,688 babies who were scheduled to be aborted that have been saved.

[00:17:39] And that is from February 18 to October of 24.

[00:17:43] So that is a little over six and a half years.

[00:17:46] And we stand amazed.

[00:17:48] We've handed out over 1,500 Bibles.

[00:17:51] And the abstinence conversations that our nurses have with young women about the value of their body, and we talk to them about their identity being from God, not from what has happened to them.

[00:18:06] You know that the sexual abuse in our world is at an all-time high.

[00:18:10] Right.

[00:18:10] And that sorts people's thinking about themselves.

[00:18:13] So we let them know you are not what has happened to you.

[00:18:16] But the God of creation gave you an identity and a destiny before the world began.

[00:18:24] And that's what we want you to tap into.

[00:18:28] Again, I think one of the things I want people to do is to certainly, if they're in the area of Savannah, to go and visit your clinic to get a chance to meet you.

[00:18:37] But even listeners across the country, if there are some things that you could share with them, I would encourage people to go to your websites, contact you, because they may have a pregnancy resource center in their community.

[00:18:52] Or they may need to start one, would like to start one.

[00:18:56] And if nothing else, you have the road wear to show all the things that you need to do right and all the pit foils to avoid on the other side.

[00:19:05] And so if people want to contact you, they can do so, can't they?

[00:19:09] We would absolutely love that.

[00:19:12] We have gotten the opportunity to do that many times.

[00:19:15] This Thrive model, Kirby, is a new model.

[00:19:18] And again, I'm one of the oldest still standing in the pregnancy center movement.

[00:19:23] And I can tell you that this medical clinic, full medical, run by nurses, where we offer these young women pregnancy testing, STD testing and treatment, as well as the ultrasound, along with the gospel of Jesus Christ, has made a huge difference.

[00:19:43] We've had over 1,100 women in our center pray a commitment to Jesus Christ as their Lord while they were with us.

[00:19:51] That's incredible.

[00:19:52] All that information available on our website.

[00:19:55] Paula, it was great to meet you in Savannah.

[00:19:57] Next time we're there, we'll come and see you again.

[00:20:00] But let me encourage all of our listeners to take the time to find these links.

[00:20:04] They are available.

[00:20:05] Of course, we also have a link to your Facebook page, link to the websites.

[00:20:09] And if you have any comment or question, I would encourage you to contact her.

[00:20:15] By the way, speaking of that, we will take some phone calls.

[00:20:17] I know some of you want to speak on the issue of abortion.

[00:20:19] We'll wait until we let Paula go.

[00:20:20] But if you want to join the conversation, 800-351-1212.

[00:20:25] But let's take a break.

[00:20:26] And when we come back, I'll take a phone call or two.

[00:20:29] And then we do have some final kind of wrap up today.

[00:20:32] Some things happening, especially since we're talking about Georgia.

[00:20:35] A lot of things in Georgia right now.

[00:20:37] We found out about how FEMA was actually telling people in Georgia that they would probably want to remove their Trump yard sign.

[00:20:45] Because otherwise, FEMA might not even help them, might not even provide them with resources.

[00:20:50] Of course, we have the decision coming down here of this illegal immigrant who was actually put up in New York in the Roosevelt Hotel with your tax dollars.

[00:21:00] Then flown from New York to Georgia with your tax dollars.

[00:21:04] And he's now been convicted of the murder of the Georgia nursing student, Laken Riley.

[00:21:09] So lots of things happening.

[00:21:11] We'll come back and take a phone call or two.

[00:21:13] And we'll certainly get into more issues.

[00:21:15] If you would like more information, of course, you can find all of that at our website, pointofview.net.

[00:21:21] We'll be right back.

[00:21:22] At Point of View, we believe there is power in prayer.

[00:21:35] And that is why we have relaunched our Pray for America campaign, a series of weekly emails to unite Americans in prayer for our nation.

[00:21:46] Imagine if hundreds of thousands of Americans started praying intentionally together on a weekly basis.

[00:21:54] You can help make that a reality by subscribing to our Pray for America emails.

[00:22:01] Just go to pointofview.net and click on the Pray for America banner that's right there on the homepage.

[00:22:09] Each week, you'll receive a brief news update, a specific prayer guide, and a free resource to equip you in further action.

[00:22:18] We encourage you to not only pray with us each week, but to share these prayers and the resources with others in your life.

[00:22:27] Join the movement today.

[00:22:29] Visit pointofview.net and click on the banner Pray for America right there at the top.

[00:22:37] That's pointofview.net.

[00:22:40] Let's pray together for God to make a difference in our land.

[00:22:47] Point of View will continue after this.

[00:22:57] You are listening to Point of View.

[00:23:01] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of the station.

[00:23:09] And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:13] Final half hour if you'd like to join the conversation, 1-800-351-1212.

[00:23:17] Since we talked about abortion, I got a couple of calls on that.

[00:23:20] And if we don't get to all the other issues that we were going to cover today, we will certainly try to postpone them until tomorrow.

[00:23:26] But let's start in Georgia on the Good News Network.

[00:23:29] Benjamin, thank you for calling today.

[00:23:30] What's your question?

[00:23:32] Hello, Kirby.

[00:23:33] Thank you for having me.

[00:23:35] I greatly appreciate the wealth of knowledge and information that you pass along throughout the world.

[00:23:41] I live in the Savannah area.

[00:23:43] I retired from the military in that area.

[00:23:45] And I live in Midway, not too far away.

[00:23:49] My wife works as a nurse in Savannah.

[00:23:51] And just asking, I hate that I miss Paula, but what can I do to start out?

[00:23:57] I haven't worked anything.

[00:23:58] But I definitely have a story from me and my wife's oldest daughter who was born with autism and the autism spectrum.

[00:24:06] She's high function, but the things we were told when we were overseas to be fearful of.

[00:24:12] And it's always put a drive for fire in me, even though I had it before I even had children, the respect for the sanctity of life.

[00:24:23] It really touches you when it affects you directly.

[00:24:29] Right.

[00:24:29] And I don't have loss with it.

[00:24:33] But thank God, praise the Lord, I have a testimony of victory that we listened to the Lord, even though I wasn't living for him at the time.

[00:24:41] But I'm glad that I did.

[00:24:43] But I've never been active.

[00:24:44] I wanted to see what I could do.

[00:24:46] Being that I'm so close, I can't help but reach out to a drive in Savannah.

[00:24:49] Sure.

[00:24:50] Well, let me just mention real quickly that the United for Life to His Glory is on Frederick Street in Savannah.

[00:24:56] And if you've got something to write with, I'll give you a phone number.

[00:24:58] I think Paula wouldn't mind me giving that number out to you.

[00:25:02] And, of course, I think a lot of people go to the website anyway, United for Life to His Glory.

[00:25:07] And one of the things I found, my wife will tell you, I probably speak at more pregnancy resource center banquets than anything.

[00:25:13] And that is, first of all, we love the ministry.

[00:25:15] My wife's worked at one.

[00:25:17] My daughter has worked at one.

[00:25:19] But I oftentimes say to the men, you're not off the hook.

[00:25:21] It's not just a ministry for women.

[00:25:23] There is a lot that you men can do.

[00:25:25] And it sounds like you've got a great testimony there and the testimony you could give to the young men that come in sometimes.

[00:25:32] Not always, but sometimes.

[00:25:34] I think you would just be a great resource.

[00:25:37] But, again, her number is 912-777-7148.

[00:25:46] 912-777-7148.

[00:25:48] But, of course, you can find that on the website, too.

[00:25:51] And I would encourage you.

[00:25:52] And you've got a story to tell.

[00:25:54] And I think we also, I've wanted to even do a whole program on autism.

[00:25:58] We've done one.

[00:25:59] But it's been a while.

[00:26:00] And it seems to me that maybe we should do another one.

[00:26:03] So, Benjamin, I appreciate your testimony.

[00:26:04] And maybe we can call on you again to share some of the things you've learned.

[00:26:09] Yeah, well, thank you.

[00:26:10] I greatly appreciate it.

[00:26:12] And may the Lord continue to bless you and all concerned and work with point of view.

[00:26:17] Well, again, Benjamin, listening on the Good News Network, by the way, we love all of you at the Good News Network.

[00:26:22] Of course, we were up in Augusta where the headquarters is.

[00:26:25] Of course, we have a chance maybe in the future to meet Benjamin there in Savannah.

[00:26:30] Let's go out to Arizona because we've also been out in Arizona.

[00:26:32] And I think, Paul, you want to speak to this issue of abortion as well, don't you?

[00:26:36] Yes.

[00:26:37] Can you hear me okay?

[00:26:38] I sure can.

[00:26:39] Okay.

[00:26:39] I'm on a cell phone and it goes in and out.

[00:26:43] I've got a couple of questions I would like to ask you before I explain why I called.

[00:26:49] Okay.

[00:26:49] Is the United States Constitution the supreme law of this land?

[00:26:56] Of course it is.

[00:26:57] Sure it is.

[00:26:59] Now, this is an important thing to look up and read.

[00:27:04] I don't think there's any law that prevents you from reading it over the air.

[00:27:10] I've been researching these issues for over 50 years, numerous issues I've heard on your program.

[00:27:18] And I have the answers to many of the questions.

[00:27:22] Okay.

[00:27:22] Can we move it along a little bit?

[00:27:23] Because I want to get to some other callers too.

[00:27:26] Yes.

[00:27:26] There's a Supreme Court ruling of 1833 on the definition of one word.

[00:27:35] By the construction of the Constitution, even the Congress can't change that.

[00:27:42] It takes a constitutional amendment to change that ruling.

[00:27:48] That word is citizen.

[00:27:51] Now, if you apply that kind of thinking to the word abortion,

[00:27:57] the first guaranteed right in the United States Constitution is the right to life.

[00:28:04] That's true.

[00:28:05] This country was dedicated as a Christian nation at its beginning.

[00:28:12] The Constitution follows the Christian Bible.

[00:28:17] Now, since the birth of a child begins at conception, that is a new life.

[00:28:27] Again, you're going pretty slow, but I think I can kind of finish that off.

[00:28:32] And that is the argument that was made in the original decision of Roe v. Wade is that, yes,

[00:28:39] the Constitution does protect persons.

[00:28:42] That's the 14th Amendment.

[00:28:44] And that a person is a citizen.

[00:28:47] And so the argument, which was a flawed argument, was that since we have individuals that are not persons until they're born,

[00:28:59] then abortion could be allowed.

[00:29:02] Now, the Supreme Court in the decision of Dobbs contradicted that,

[00:29:08] but in some respects we wish it had gone all the way to the end.

[00:29:12] It's almost like they ran down the field and stopped at the 20-yard line and didn't take it into the end zone.

[00:29:17] There's a sense in which you could have come back and said,

[00:29:20] we believe that personhood doesn't begin at birth, personhood begins, or even at viability,

[00:29:26] which was one of the decisions made in Roe v. Wade, but personhood begins at conception.

[00:29:32] And I think your argument works, but again, the problem has to be with the fact that we had the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade

[00:29:41] kind of contradicted the previous rulings, if you will.

[00:29:45] And then Dobbs, the Dobbs decision came back and actually invalidated Roe v. Wade,

[00:29:51] but we still kind of have that legal issue in limbo.

[00:29:55] But I think you're on the right track.

[00:29:56] But let me give just a few more callers a chance to join our conversation today,

[00:30:00] and maybe we'll cover the whole legal history of abortion maybe in a future program.

[00:30:05] But let's go back to Georgia.

[00:30:07] Mary Beth, I think you want to share a story.

[00:30:09] So thank you for joining us today here on Point of View.

[00:30:12] Thank you.

[00:30:13] Well, the reason I was calling, back in the 80s, my sister had gotten pregnant,

[00:30:17] and she was terrified of what people would think and what our parents would think and all that.

[00:30:23] And so she had got an appointment to have an abortion.

[00:30:26] She wanted me to go in with her, and I told her – well, I tried to talk her out of it, obviously,

[00:30:31] but I told her I would drive her there, but I was not going to go in with her because I just couldn't.

[00:30:35] And I stayed out in the car, and I prayed, and she was in there a really long time.

[00:30:40] But she came back out still pregnant.

[00:30:43] And anyway, I thought that one of the reasons I wanted to tell you all that is because prayer really does work.

[00:30:50] That lady talked about praying, you know.

[00:30:52] But anyway, her son is an adult now, and let me tell you, the world would have missed out without him.

[00:30:58] He's just such a good, solid person.

[00:31:01] And his dad didn't even ever participate in his life at all.

[00:31:04] He didn't know him or anything.

[00:31:06] He chose not to.

[00:31:07] But he still turned out to be a – he's a Christian.

[00:31:11] He's smart, handsome.

[00:31:14] He's a good dad.

[00:31:15] I mean, a good husband.

[00:31:16] And so, you know, I know people get so scared, and sadly, especially when they are a member of a church,

[00:31:23] and the church people can be kind of harsh, or at least back then.

[00:31:26] I don't know if it's like that now still, but back then, you know.

[00:31:29] So the church needs to love people, and everybody needs to pray.

[00:31:32] That was the moral of the story, I guess.

[00:31:34] Well, it's a great story, and I think it's an illustration of why we really do need to be a praying people

[00:31:39] because in the old days it used to be that you would go to an abortion clinic,

[00:31:43] and then maybe sidewalk counselors could try to talk a woman out of killing her baby.

[00:31:50] But now more and more of these abortions are coming with an abortion pill,

[00:31:56] and so as a result there's really no clinic to interdict, you know,

[00:32:02] no way to actually interrupt their travel to the abortion clinic

[00:32:06] because in many cases they'll be doing it at home.

[00:32:09] And so it brings us back to some of the other ministries that can be developed,

[00:32:15] certainly online and certainly the opportunity to put up billboards and all the rest.

[00:32:21] But it does seem to me that you have reminded us once again how important prayer is

[00:32:26] when we talk about not only the future of this country,

[00:32:30] and we've got a new Pray for America message coming out to those of you that have signed up for it,

[00:32:36] but also how important prayer is for these very significant lives

[00:32:42] because we are talking about a spiritual battle,

[00:32:46] we're talking about a psychological and social battle,

[00:32:49] and prayer is certainly one of the most important weapons.

[00:32:52] And I'm just so grateful that you prayed for her,

[00:32:55] and what a great story that you have here.

[00:32:57] So Mary Beth, thank you for sharing that today with us here on Point of View.

[00:33:02] Let's take a break, and when we come back,

[00:33:04] we're going to spend some time getting just a couple of other issues in the news

[00:33:08] that you probably would need to know about.

[00:33:10] And if we don't cover all of those, we'll certainly cover some more tomorrow.

[00:33:14] Thank you for joining us.

[00:33:15] We'll be back for one last segment right after this.

[00:33:33] You're listening to Point of View,

[00:33:35] your listener-supported source for truth.

[00:33:38] Back once again, let me just mention that tomorrow we're going to have Tony Critz with us,

[00:33:41] and he writes for Leadership Journal.

[00:33:45] Christianity Today is the author of a book that deals with this whole idea of literacy.

[00:33:50] As a matter of fact, he's the director of the Children's Literacy Project,

[00:33:53] and the book is entitled How God's People Can Bring Justice Through Literacy.

[00:33:57] David Bonson will be with us,

[00:33:58] and we'll talk briefly about what the election of Donald Trump might mean to the business world,

[00:34:04] and I think you will appreciate that,

[00:34:05] plus all the other issues we'll be dealing with as well.

[00:34:08] One of the articles I've posted comes from Jim Ross Lightfoot.

[00:34:13] He was a former member of Congress from the state of Iowa,

[00:34:17] and it's called Experience.

[00:34:20] That's the title of his piece.

[00:34:22] And he said, look, I recognize if you're a mechanic, you work on engines,

[00:34:25] you better know what you're doing.

[00:34:26] If you're an electrician, a plumber, whatever,

[00:34:29] of course you have to have experience in that field.

[00:34:32] But what we have here is people saying,

[00:34:35] well, some of these cabinet appointees don't have the right experience.

[00:34:40] And he points out that 60 Minutes did a short hit piece listing Marco Rubio,

[00:34:44] Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and others as unfit for cabinet members.

[00:34:49] First of all, it's amazing they picked out Marco Rubio.

[00:34:52] Senator Marco Rubio's most recent book is On Foreign Policy.

[00:34:56] He served in that particular committee in the United States Senate.

[00:35:00] Robert F. Kennedy has been a lawyer.

[00:35:03] He understands those issues.

[00:35:05] You may disagree with how he stands on those issues, but please.

[00:35:09] And so that's where, again, former Representative Lightfoot says,

[00:35:14] experience in what?

[00:35:15] Because apparently what people are saying is if you don't have experience in the government,

[00:35:20] in other words, you haven't been a bureaucrat, then that's the problem.

[00:35:24] And he said, well, that's the big issue that Donald Trump is trying to erase.

[00:35:28] He is a businessman, not a politician.

[00:35:31] He was elected, and he found that the federal government wasn't something he was accustomed to.

[00:35:37] He says here was a person who expected hard work, honesty, and loyalty to the American system of government.

[00:35:43] He demanded results, but was rewarded with disloyalty and distaste for what he was asking.

[00:35:48] And he said he, in a sense, was just the polar opposite of Joe Biden, who actually defeated him for the second term.

[00:35:58] He points out that Joe Biden had never had a private sector job, was elected president, but had served, really,

[00:36:05] his only experience was having been in law school and actually graduated 75th in his class out of 85

[00:36:11] and entered the political arena in 1973, which was 51 years ago.

[00:36:18] And so, again, he did not have experience as an individual who had to balance a checkbook, demand efficiency from employees,

[00:36:28] fire people for incompetent work.

[00:36:30] And, again, the argument of Representative Lightfoot is we have the federal government increasingly bloated

[00:36:36] and built up with all sorts of rules and regulations that protect them from even being removed.

[00:36:43] So then he gives us some free advice, he says, to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramachwamy,

[00:36:48] as somebody who served 12 years in Congress, and that is, do not go after the people you'll get nowhere.

[00:36:55] Go after the money.

[00:36:57] The Achilles heel, he says, is the money.

[00:36:59] An agency can only function with money taken from people's income.

[00:37:04] Befriend influential people on the Appropriations Committee.

[00:37:07] Go after the money and the agencies you desire to cut back.

[00:37:10] Otherwise, you'll be unsuccessful in your attempt to downsize the government.

[00:37:14] So he gives some advice.

[00:37:16] Well, interestingly enough, Cal Thomas also gives some advice, and that's his piece called Trimming the Obese Government.

[00:37:23] He says, you know, 50 years ago when Ron Paul, that would be the father of Senator Rand Paul, was running for Congress,

[00:37:29] he said, let's put government on a diet, and Cal Thomas says, well, the federal government has grown even more obese since then.

[00:37:36] He gives us the famous quote from Ronald Reagan, no government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.

[00:37:43] Government programs once launched never disappear.

[00:37:46] Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we've seen on this earth.

[00:37:52] And he points out that if, indeed, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramashwamy are going to be successful,

[00:37:59] they need to keep the public informed about each proposed reduction,

[00:38:04] because he says ridicule is one tool they might use, starting with the annual pig book published by the Citizens Against Government Waste.

[00:38:13] By the way, Cal Thomas recommends that, and that's exactly what, if you listened to the program yesterday,

[00:38:19] Elon Musk, who I quoted from his Twitter post, says they're going to make people aware of the kind of recommendations they're making as it goes along.

[00:38:29] I think that might have been the biggest mistake with the Grace Commission, which was implemented in the 1980s.

[00:38:36] It gave its report in 1984.

[00:38:38] It came out with a report at the end.

[00:38:41] Tell people what you're doing as you go along.

[00:38:44] One, for transparency.

[00:38:45] Two, to really build up the kind of response that you're looking for.

[00:38:51] And isn't it interesting that one of the examples Cal Thomas uses is $120 million for 150 earmarks

[00:39:01] that were going to the Federal Emergency Management Agency known as what?

[00:39:06] FEMA.

[00:39:06] And he points out, we've just learned that one FEMA employee instructed people helping victims of the recent hurricanes

[00:39:12] not to assist anybody with Trump yard signs.

[00:39:16] Well, we've learned a lot more.

[00:39:18] Turns out that that woman was not one example.

[00:39:21] She was not a one-off.

[00:39:22] She was not the exception.

[00:39:24] Apparently, she was the rule.

[00:39:26] And again, one last time, this comes from the fact that now there have been some testimonies coming before Congress.

[00:39:34] I'll give you one quote here.

[00:39:36] While there, the FEMA contractor recommended that a family in Georgia remove Trump campaign materials and signs from both their house and yard

[00:39:47] and warn the family that his FEMA supervisors did not take kindly to Trump supporters

[00:39:52] and that they were actually seen as domestic terrorists.

[00:39:56] So the elderly homemakers were so frightened by this and afraid that they might not recover their loss

[00:40:06] that they removed all the Trump materials and signs.

[00:40:09] Nevertheless, FEMA has not returned to their residence.

[00:40:12] And this did not take place in Florida, where we heard the first story.

[00:40:16] It took place in Georgia.

[00:40:18] There is a lot more to this scandal.

[00:40:20] And there's a lot more to see that in the future.

[00:40:24] My last piece, which I posted real quickly for you to look at, comes from Chuck Schumer.

[00:40:30] And the line of the title is the best.

[00:40:33] Chuck Schumer to the Republicans, please don't do to us what we were going to do to you.

[00:40:39] And this writer, Byron York, who we've talked about before and had on the program,

[00:40:43] said that back when there was a Chicago convention and it looked like Kamala Harris was going to win,

[00:40:48] looked like Democrats were going to take the House and the Senate,

[00:40:51] the Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Chuck Schumer, actually said their first priority would be to eliminate the legislative filibuster.

[00:40:59] They tried to do that in 2022 when Democrats had 50 votes, but they fell two votes short because you had two independent-minded Democrats.

[00:41:08] That would be Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema.

[00:41:11] And he was convinced that certainly Ruben Gallego, who it looks like now will be the senator from Arizona,

[00:41:19] will actually give them the requisite number if they had won the Senate.

[00:41:23] But it turns out that Republicans won the Senate.

[00:41:27] Some of the things that Kelly Shackelford had warned us about,

[00:41:31] that the Democrats really wanted to eliminate the filibuster

[00:41:34] and then push through all sorts of things that would have been damaging to the Republic,

[00:41:40] certainly did not take place, but it's a warning to what could happen in the future.

[00:41:45] We will pay maybe much more attention to the midterm elections in 2026,

[00:41:50] simply because that could be a very significant issue.

[00:41:55] But again, I love the line here.

[00:41:57] Chuck Schumer to the Republicans,

[00:41:58] please don't do to us what we were actually going to do to you.

[00:42:02] And it tells you everything you need to know about the current mindset of the Democratic Party,

[00:42:07] at least in the United States Senate.

[00:42:09] Well, that's all we have for today.

[00:42:10] We have a lot more to cover tomorrow.

[00:42:12] And, of course, Friday is our weekend edition.

[00:42:14] Penned Extra Kelly Shackelford will be with us.

[00:42:16] But if you find yourself saying,

[00:42:17] I'd like to know a little bit more about some of these organizations,

[00:42:20] about some of these books,

[00:42:21] it's all available at the website, pointofview.net.

[00:42:24] And most importantly, let me, again, encourage you to find some of the other resources,

[00:42:29] because Megan, who I thank for all that she does engineering,

[00:42:33] also produces our Point of View highlights on Spotify.

[00:42:36] So you might check that out.

[00:42:38] Steve, of course, is our producer.

[00:42:39] Thank him for all the things he's pulled together.

[00:42:42] And we look forward to seeing you tomorrow right here on Point of View.

[00:42:48] It almost seems like we live in a different world from many people in positions of authority.

[00:42:53] They say men can be women and women men.

[00:42:57] People are prosecuted differently or not at all, depending on their politics.

[00:43:02] Criminals are more valued and rewarded than law-abiding citizens.

[00:43:07] It's so overwhelming, so demoralizing.

[00:43:10] You feel like giving up.

[00:43:11] But we can't.

[00:43:13] We shouldn't.

[00:43:14] We must not.

[00:43:15] As Winston Churchill said to Britain in the darkest days of World War II,

[00:43:19] never give in.

[00:43:21] Never give in.

[00:43:22] Never, never, never.

[00:43:24] Never yield to force.

[00:43:26] Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

[00:43:30] And that's what we say to you today.

[00:43:32] This is not a time to give in,

[00:43:34] but to step up and join Point of View in providing clarity in the chaos.

[00:43:40] We can't do it alone,

[00:43:41] but together, with God's help,

[00:43:44] we will overcome the darkness.

[00:43:47] Invest in biblical clarity today at pointofview.net

[00:43:51] or call 1-800-347-5151.

[00:43:56] pointofview.net

[00:43:57] and 800-347-5151.

[00:44:04] Point of View is produced by Point of View Ministries.