A Book of American Martyrs(6)
At the church there were pamphlets for us to take, and to pass to friends and neighbors, and to leave in selected places, and one of these had on its cover a picture of a little hand you could see had to be the hand of an infant so small it had only just been born; or had not yet been born.
The Miracle of the Little Hand
In the midst of an abortion as the abortion doctor was about to forcibly remove with his bloody instruments the (living) infant from its mother’s womb suddenly the doctor saw a movement at the mouth of the womb, and felt a touch—as he stared in astonishment the little hand of the infant closed about the finger of the doctor and squeezed as if to cry
I am alive! I am alive! Don’t kill me, I am alive!
And so it came to pass, the abortion was halted. For neither the doctor nor the nurse in attendance (who had witnessed the Little Hand) could proceed. From that hour onward, the doctor did not perform another abortion but came to be a defender of the unborn, organizing other doctors in the crusade against abortion. The nurse did not ever assist with any abortion again, and helped to organize other medical workers in the crusade against abortion. The young mother too experienced a change of heart and chose to keep the baby, who came to full term and was born after a normal delivery at a healthy weight of — pounds.
So it is, the Little Hand clutches at the hearts of all.
Edna Mae had given me the pamphlet to read. Quietly then Edna Mae approached me, and touched my arm with her hand, and saw that my face was ashen, and that the love and the terror of the Lord were in my heart, and silently she embraced me.
DEFENDING THE DEFENSELESS
There are two victims in every abortion: a dead baby, and a dead conscience.”
These were the words of Mother Teresa. A Roman Catholic saint she was, of whom we had not heard. Her words uttered in the voice of Professor Willard Wohlman.
The question was, What is your own conscience? What is God telling you?
How do you know when you have been chosen by God to behave in a way of disobedience to the state?
How do you know when it is God’s wish that you should take the life of another, by your own hand?
In June 1998 we drove two hundred miles from Muskegee Falls which is on the Muskegee River (forty miles north of Marion, Ohio) across the width of the state to Huntington, West Virginia, to hear the renowned Professor Willard Wohlman speak on “Christian pro-life” issues. The title of the evening was Defending the Defenseless: Life Advocacy in the Age of Abortion.
Soon after Daphne this had been, in the fifth month of grieving, and so Edna Mae had accompanied me, for my dear wife had difficulty remaining alone in the house without me, with just the children and not their father, for a reason so strange to me I cannot speak of it here for it is of the renowned Professor I wish to speak.
Edna Mae saying to me You have to watch me, Luther. You have to be in the next room at least. It is not enough just to think of me and to pray for me, that is not enough, Luther.
At home, the older children would look after the younger. And there was Edna Mae’s sister Noreen to come by each day to oversee.
He is Professor Willard Wohlman of a distinguished New England university. He has written many scholarly books and has served as an adviser to the President on issues of morality and ethics. He has appeared on television. He has debated abortion, contraception, “planned parenthood” and “same-sex” marriage. His most renowned book is The Sacred Vision in the Secular World which was a best seller for many months. Of his essays it is “One Man, One Woman: Christian Marriage” and “The Conscience of a Christian” that Edna Mae and I have read and discussed together.
Sometimes now I think it is Professor Wohlman’s voice which I hear in my head in the way that the words of the Lord are communicated to me, and the two come together in a single voice like rolling thunder.
A dead baby. A dead conscience.
What is God telling you?
At St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Huntington, in a hall beside the church Professor Wohlman spoke. The event was sponsored by the American Coalition of Life Activists. Some eighteen of us, from our church in Muskegee Falls, who belonged to the Army of God of Broome County, and some others (like our pastor who did not wish to officially “ally” himself with the Army) drove to Huntington in several vehicles to attend this meeting.
The Coalition is made up of Protestant and Catholic organizations that have united in common opposition to the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade of 1973. There is a distrust of the (atheist/socialist) state and federal governments interfering with individuals. It is a fact, abortion is murder—this belief is shared by all of us.
It does not matter if a woman’s pregnancy was caused by rape or incest or any mitigating factor. For how could it matter, to the infant in the womb, or to God who is the father of all? Of course, it could not.
Our wives do not argue in these matters. But they listen closely to us, and it is rare for them to disagree.
Edna Mae does not “know” that her husband is a member of the Army of God and has made certain vows. There is no need to speak of this as there is no need to speak of such things aloud, that are never questioned.
Many times in our church our young pastor Reverend Dennis had spoken of Williard Wohlman. It had been Reverend Dennis’s idea that we drive from Muskegee Falls to Huntington, West Virginia, in a little caravan.
There was excitement in this! Reverend Dennis said how like pilgrims we were, in making this journey. I had not felt such a flurry of hope and expectation since years ago when I had first driven to Toledo, to begin studies at the Toledo School of Ministry when I was a young man still.