LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 334: Should Christians Attend a Taylor Swift Concert?

Allison Hartman from Pensacola joins me today, and we talk about the thousands of people attending the Taylor Swift concerts, including loads of Christian mother and daughters. But should Christians attend or not? What do you think?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Here we are, and if you are listening to this podcast on the day it comes out, which is the 5^th  of November, election day, well, actually I am recording this session on Friday, but it’s coming to you on Tuesday morning. So, if you are listening now, it’s right on election day. I hope you voted! If you haven’t, can an I encourage you to do everything in your power to vote today?

And, I have no compunction in saying, “Please vote for Trump.” I say that because I am desperate for this nation, for the saving of this nation. We know that Kamela and Waltz are on a whole different wavelength. They’re taking this country down a road of extreme socialism and communism. There will be, if they get in, there will begin to be a much greater persecution of Christians in this county, which is already beginning.

I have with me today, Allison Hartman. Now Allison and Daniel are the ones who do all the Above Rubies family retreats down in Panama, Florida. Every time Allison turns up, we do a podcast together. I didn’t even know she was turning up! In fact, it’s the ladies’ retreat for Tennessee this weekend, so of course, all the Hartman ladies have come up.

Last night, it was Halloween, and we were going to go to a nearby town and sing hymns in the square in the town. But it started to pour with rain, plus suddenly, Allison and her girls turned up! That was so exciting. So, instead we had dinner together.

Now Allison is here, and we thought, “Wow! Let’s do a podcast today,” because as soon as the retreat is finished, they’ll be heading back to Florida, to make sure they can vote on Tuesday, which will be today, if you're listening as this podcast comes out. Say “Hi,” Allison!

Allison: So happy to be here! One of my favorite things to do. We get to talking, and we come up with all kinds of topics.

Nancy: Yes! Yes! As I said, ladies, if you haven’t voted, a no-vote is a vote for Kamela, and for her vice-president. They are on a whole different level. It is not a godly way at all. We know that maybe Trump is not the godliest man, but we are not voting for a pastor.

We are voting for a man who has the anointing and ability to lead this country and to lead it aways from communism, and to lead it back to our roots, and back to the Constitution. For he loves this country and loves the Constitution. He has, as he proved in the four years he was in when there were no wars, he has the power to work with international countries. He has that power.

In fact, I often think of that Scripture in Psalm 89 where God was talking about David. It says: “I have laid My hand upon a warrior.” Then it goes on to say: “This is My David, who I am raising up to be king of Israel.” When God was looking for a king for His people, and a man who would be able to fight the wars and fight the enemies all around . . . God gave him that power to fight their enemies and bring peace to Israel so when his son Solomon came in, it would be a peaceful reign where they could build the temple. David was the one who wanted to build the temple He had such a heart and passion after God. But God said, “No, David. You’ve shed too much blood. You have been in too many wars. I am going to choose your son to build the temple, and it will be in a reign of peace.” But when God was looking for that man, He didn’t choose just a man who looked so good and right. No, He chose a warrior! He needed a warrior, and we need a warrior in this hour.

Talking about persecution, even now there are people in jail, in prison right now, who have been standing up against abortion. When Biden came in, he put in this FACE Act, which stands for, in case you don’t know, it stands for “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances.” They call it the FACE Act. They brought this in so that anyone standing up at an abortion clinic could be arrested.

I’ve already done a number of podcasts with Bethany Vaughn. You’ll know how her husband was arrested by the FBI early in the morning. Then eventually it came to his time in court. Praise the Lord, because there was so much intervention (thousands of people wrote and stood up for him), he only got house arrest which was amazing. He was looking at ten-and-a-half years in prison.

But we have others who are in prison right at this moment. About two or three weeks ago, Cal Zastrow, who was at the same time as Paul Vaughn, went to prison. He’s in prison now for six months.

But then, a couple of weeks ago, this black lady (even a black lady, they’re not even stopping at the blacks),  Beverly Williams, a beautiful black mother, was protesting in 2020. Now recently she had her court date. She is in prison for three-and-a-half years just for standing up for life.

Imagine, imagine, if we had Kamela and Tim Waltz coming in who believe, and their paradigm is that you can abort right up to the last moment. If the baby was set for abortion, well, you just leave that baby to die. How much more persecution will there be?

In fact, I’d love to read you a poem that Cal Zastrow, who is an older man. (Hold is he, Chloe? Chloe is my Above Rubies helper. It’s so wonderful to see this beautiful young girl who has such a heart for life, and who has been praying and standing up with these people being arrested. How old is he? [response in background] He’s 70. Wow! And he is there, in prison!

But before he went to prison, he wrote these words. I’d love to share them with you. Actually, Chloe brought this poem from him and gave it to me. He took it from those famous words of Hiram Mann, who wrote back in the 1800’s. He wrote:

No man survives when freedom fails,

The best of men rot in filthy jails;

And those who cry ‘Appease, Appease!’

Are hanged by men they tried to please.

Very powerful words, because there are so many who, through the fear of man, are too scared to say a word. They will just give in to what is happening. But they don’t realize that it will all come back upon them because these people who want to come into power don’t care. They’re going to make happen what they want to happen which is no longer our USA but a whole new world order. Anyway, here are these words Cal Zastrow wrote:

 

No one’s safe when Christians are lukewarm,

When we look away from the coming storm.

Instead of being courage-filled,

We won’t rescue the babies getting killed.

 

No one’s safe when Christians won’t pray,

While we play and stray, refusing to obey.

Instead of volunteering for God’s will,

Our sweat and blood we won’t risk to spill.

 

No one’s safe while Christians hide,

Not standing in the gap against evil’s tide.

Short-sighted, we’re at ease in Zion,

Compromise has left America dying.

 

No one’s safe when Christians are slow starters,

Not prepared for persecution, forgetting faithful martyrs.

But suffering and sacrifice are part of the way

To be prepared for Judgement Day.

 

No one’s safe when Christians shun the cross,

Committed to things, afraid for their loss.

While we love our face, and our place,

We’ve been living under false grace.

 

No one’s safe when Christians hide His Light,

While we refuse to care, ignoring the spiritual flight.

Our own comfort is our goal.

Seeking pleasure, not a pure soul.

 

No one’s safe when Christians won’t be His salt,

For we pretend that we’re not at fault.

Accepting, instead of crucifying sin,

We’re kind of conflicted, so we won’t win.

 

No one’s safe when Christians live in fear,

Making safety an idol, our lives too dear.

Stop listening to the world a-callin’,

Jesus is Lord, Babylon is fallen!

 

No one’s safe while Christians live for survival.

Come on, get up! Let’s trust God for revival!

Repent! Throw off this lethargic spell!

Let’s go storm the gates of hell!

 

We’ll all be blessed when Christians arise,

Living by faith and not by lies.

Our salvation is not from Uncle Sam.

Join me now in shouting, “Worthy is the Lamb!”

 

The solution to our problems now?

Eyes on Jesus, hands on the plow.

No compromises, just press the attack.

Eyes on Jesus, no looking back!

That’s what Cal Zastrow wrote as he was on the eve of going to prison where he is now, a 70-year-old man. But he went there saying, “Well, this is where God has me now. This is His mission for me now.” Those are the same words as this woman, this black woman named Beverly Williams. Let’s pray for her. She had to leave her little toddler at home. Her husband is a single father while she is in prison. But she’s now looking at it as a mission.

But these are just, oh, just the surface of how they are trying to eradicate those who are standing for truth. So, folks, please vote! If you haven’t, you’ve just got to! What do you say, Allison?

Allison: Oh, absolutely! It’s the talk of our family, the talk of our home right now. It’s all we talk about. We stayed up and watched Trump’s rally at MSU the other night for six hours. From our four-year-old all the way up, we’ve got to have them, this has to be such a topic of the family. This can’t be just you and your husband talking about this.

All of your children need to be excited about the day they get to vote. It’s such a privilege. It’s such a responsibility. It amazes me to see the number of believers who are in the no-voting department. “We’re just not going to vote. It’s too bad. There’s nothing that’s going to be solved. We’ve just got to pray!” Absolutely we have to pray! But pray while you're voting.

Nancy: Yes, we have to pray and vote. The statistics are, they said, 40 million Christians are non-voting. Some say 33 million. Well, either statistic is bad enough, because those Christians could save the nation!

Allison: Absolutely!

Nancy: Oh yes! I don’t know what will happen, ladies. I know many of you are living in other countries. I know many in other countries are crying out to God like we are here, because what happens here will affect the whole world. We’ve all got to be praying. Pray today, and vote today. But yes, I’m a great believer in prayer. We have two prayer meetings a week for the nation, plus we’re praying morning and evening at our family devotions.

But I wonder, my greatest longing and prayer is that God will have mercy upon us, and that Trump will be voted in. I believe if there’s no cheating he will be. But I know that they’re trying to cheat again. They have many plans up their sleeve, trying to get this election, even if it’s fraudulent. That’s why we keep praying. Many people are saying, “Just make it TOO BIG TO RIG!” If enough people vote, their cheating won’t work.

But then, on the other hand, I look at what is happening in this country. The evil, the abortions, the millions of murders, because every abortion is a murder. This transgenderism, absolutely mocking God in His face at the way He created us, the worldliness of even the so-called Christians. You were telling me last night about what happened down there where you live. Tell us about it.

THE TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT!

Allison: Yeah, it was hard not to see the irony of the fact that, in our family right now, that’s all we’re talking about and all we’re praying about is the election. But yet, when I look on my Facebook feed (and just to give some background), I would say most of my Facebook friends, if you will, are fellow believers, professing Christian families, some homeschooling, some not.

But in my world of circle of friends, it’s mainly Christians. I tend to shy away from those who are obviously against what I believe. And yet, my feed, my Facebook feed, was completely full of posts about this Taylor Swift concert they were all going to. I couldn’t believe it!

Almost every other post was of fellow Christian mothers going to New Orleans, because we live in Pensacola, so that was three hours, spending between $400-$600 all the way up to a couple of thousand dollars for tickets, spending probably hundreds of dollars on their outfits, booking hotel rooms. I read today that some people were spending up to the $10,000 range on this weekend with their girls at a Taylor Swift concert.

Not only is their attention diverted from what’s really going on in our country, for which we should be on our faces constantly in prayer, but not only is their attention diverted, but their money is being spent. You can say what you want about, “Well, I’m just going for the beat.” Or, “I’m just going for the experience.” But if you're putting money into this concert, then you're invested. You’ve got a dog in the fight. You’re involved. You’re not just watching it from the sidelines.

Nancy: Wow! That makes me think! Help! I could be putting out Above Rubies so much more if these same Christians really wanted to bless the families of this nation instead of wasting their money on a very worldly concert.

By the way, ladies, the new issue is out. Praise the Lord! Last Tuesday we sent out all the singles across America. Now the company is packaging for the people who get two, or three, or five, or eight, or sixteen. Then, when they have finished, they all come to our place where we send out all the big orders, from 20 upwards. Many, many people get 20, 30, 40, 50, 100 and more magazines because they have a vision to share the message, and get out this magazine that will bring truth and encouragement and inspiration to families, to marriages, to mothers, which really is the foundation of the nation!

And here I’ve been languishing, and praying, and waiting to get out a magazine. It is a whole year since I got out a magazine, waiting for the finances to come in. Now I have paid for the initial ones to go out, but I’ve still got to believe God for all these bulk ones to send out, and then to pay for the printing, because I have the money for the printing, but then I’ve spent it all on the postage! Now I’ve got to believe God for that and get it somehow to pay the printers. When I hear from you that a mother and a daughter will spend up to that much, wow, the money is there!

Allison: Sure.

Nancy: I’m thinking, oh, is everybody out of money? Help! Oh, Lord God! Let’s get our priorities straight!

Allison: Until I started digging in, because I really am not aware, I’m not familiar with Taylor Swift, but I’m thinking that if someone, if a young singer has 80 million followers, 80 million followers on Facebook, she’s probably a big deal. That’s a big deal.

Nancy: How many followers does Trump have?

Allison: Trump has 10 million.

Nancy: How many does Kamela have?

Allison: Five million.

Nancy: Wow! So, she’s more popular than they are, and they’re going to be leading the nation.

Allison: The weekend of the Trump rally at MSU, which was a substantial showing, I think they had 25,000 present for the Trump rally, and about 75,000 just outside. But the same weekend, Taylor Swift brought in 65,000 to her concert. One article I read said she brought in $200 million to New Orleans in a three-day period of time. Another article said $500 million. So, between $200 and $500 million brought into a city for moms and daughters to come and have an experience.

Here’s the thing. None of her music is of Christ! None! You’re either for Him, or you're against Him. There is no in-between. You can’t serve two masters. We know that. It’s what Scripture teaches. You cannot serve two masters. If you're a fellow Christian mother and you're arguing in your head right now, or out loud, saying, “I can go to a Taylor Swift concert and I can praise Jesus on Sunday,” you can’t. It’s impossible. YOU CANNOT SERVE MASTERS!

So, you're going to this Taylor Swift concert, having this great, wonderful girl-time with your daughter. You are not serving Christ in that concert, because Taylor Swift doesn’t stand for Christ. None of her lyrics stand for Christ. I won’t even go far as to say what people are saying about her being a part of the occult or her music being completely devil-worship. It probably is. I don’t know enough about it to say that, but if you just want to base your opinion on what she wears during her concert, let’s start there.

Nancy: Yes, after you talked about her (I’d never bothered to look her up in my life) but  I thought, “Help! I’d better look at this.” So, last night I checked her out on Instagram and every outfit she wore, they’re actually sort of a two-piece. There’s the pants and a bra. And the pants come just barely . . .  in fact you can see her bottom in most of the photos.

Are so-called Christian mothers taking their daughters to this? I was talking to someone, and they said, “Well, she’s not dressed as badly as many female entertainers.” That would be true, because some are showing just about everything. You think of Madonna. But it’s still not godly! It’s nothing to do with godliness! It’s the opposite. It is the world.

Why are Christian mothers taking their daughters to be influenced by the world? I was reading, let’s see, where did I read this little quote? It talks about her latest album. It says, “Eleven of the 31 songs contain an “E” under the album’s description which stands for ‘Explicit.’” Several songs have the . . . I don’t even like saying it. I don’t even like saying the letter! That word . . . included within the lyrics.

Another statement says that “The album is full of minor quips that elevate Swift above God, while also featuring two songs devoted to tearing down the Christian sexual ethic.” So, where are we? I think, “Oh God, we’re crying out to have mercy upon our nation,” but it’s different if the ungodly and the secular are living like this, and this is what they want.

But what of the godly? Where are we? It says Jesus is coming for a bride that is without any spot or blemish or any such thing. We are not there if these are so-called Christian mothers. What does it say? 1 Timothy 2:19: “Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal.” The seal, the seal is our proof of our citizenship in heaven. We have a seal. The Word of God gives many Scriptures about the seal. When we have the seal, we know that we have eternal life.

But what is this seal? It says: “The Lord knoweth them that are His. Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” If we name the name of Christ, we will depart from iniquity. So how is it that people who do, they say . . . help, I don’t know how they say it . . .  they say they name the name of Christ and yet they go to, and even take their daughters too.

What is in their critique? It’s not holiness. It doesn’t line up with the Bible. It is all the flesh. It is all the spirit of the world. Oh, since you said this, I haven’t stopped being so grieved. I wouldn’t be grieved if it was all against the world. But those 80 million followers are not all the world. Half of them are Christians!

Allison: I think the dangerous part of this Swiftie generation . . .  this is what she’s called. They’re called “Swifties.” I think the dangerous part is that it’s such a slippery slope. It’s such a situation of boiling the frog. You don’t see it because she covers it with a message of love.

Even her symbol, you put your fingers together and make the sign of a heart. She’s delivering a message of love which is what this generation wants. Everybody’s looking for love! Which is so ironic because that is Jesus’s message. But it’s hard to put your finger on if you're a mother, and you're just not sure you understand why this is so bad.

I read this Scripture today when I was thinking about why this is so bad. It’s in Luke 17. It’s when Jesus says to His disciples: “Temptations are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come.” I read that, and I thought, “That’s talking about Taylor Swift, but it’s not, necessarily.

I want to say this. “It’s better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he was cast into the sea, than cause one of these to stumble” (Luke 17:2). I found you mothers, that’s you, if you're taking your daughter to these concerts, you're also causing these little ones to stumble, because when these young girls, I don’t care who you are, but if you're looking at this amazing 80-million-followers, gorgeous woman up there in these outfits, you're going to want to dress like that. If you're the mother taking them, you're causing your little ones to stumble because they’re going to want to dress like her. They’re going to want to follow her.

I challenge you to rethink your thinking. This is a slippery slope to destruction. We have to have a clear line in the sand, a clear line in the sand where we’re not having one foot in the world and one foot in the church. There are no feet that need to be at a Taylor Swift concert because there is nothing of God at that concert. Therefore, we don’t need to be there at all. You can’t justify it by saying she has a great beat and she dances well. She probably does, but it’s not for Christ.

Nancy: That’s so true. I was just reading this morning in Leviticus, and this was when they were going into the promised land. God said to His people in Leviticus 20:24: “But I have said unto you, you shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it. A land that floweth with milk and honey. I am the Lord Your God, which have separated you from other people.”

The people of Israel were a type of who we are today, His people. He set them apart from every other nation. He separated them. We go to verse 26: “And ye shall be holy unto Me, for I, the Lord, am holy and have severed you.”

The King James uses the word “severed” this time. I think it’s a more powerful word than “separated.” But actually, in the Hebrew, it is the same word both times. But whether you say “separated,” or “severed,” it does mean “severed from the spirit of this world.” “For I have severed you from other people that ye should be Mine.” God is a jealous God. We either belong to Him or we belong to the devil.

Allison: That’s right!

Nancy: OK, we can say we name the name of Christ but going along with that is that we “depart from iniquity.” What does Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount? “There will be many who come to Him saying, ‘Lord, Lord, I’ve done many wonderful things in Your Name!’ He says, ‘But I never knew you. Depart from Me.’” Oh my.

What does it say over in 1 John 2:15-17: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are not of the world.” I’ve just got to go there and I must finish it. “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God, abideth forever.”

If we are truly following Jesus, following His way, we will not love the world. We will hate the things of this world. What else does it say in Hebrews 12:14? “Follow peace with all men, for without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.” I think we just can’t go on with this kind of so-called Christian life. We can’t go to every worldly concert and go to all these worldly movies and say that we belong to Christ. It doesn’t add up!

Allison: I was just thinking, when I was growing up, like a lot of young girls, we desired love above everything. All I wanted was the love of my father. I got into a trap where I was so attracted to any influence that would make me feel a part of them, loved, or whatever.

In my day, in my era, it was Madonna. Madonna was so the thing. But yet, Madonna made the mistake of being so disgusting and raunchy that even the Christian moms were like, “Stay away from her!” But I remember wanting to be like her, in a weird way, even though I was raised in a Christian home.

But anyway, what I was thinking with this whole thing, if you're a mom sitting here listening, going, “How do I shift my daughter’s desire for that?” You and I were talking downstairs. Where do we go from this? What’s the positive side of this?

I think the positive is, we’re living in a majorly social-media-influencing world. Our children are . . . We all can agree that at a certain age, our children’s peers are even more powerful than us as parents. But social media influencers, oh! I don’t even know what their influencers are. I’m not going to pretend to know.

But I do know that if you're a parent of a child, and you've allowed them to have a smart phone, then you're allowing them all the influences in the world. We have to ask ourselves, “What influences to we want our children to be influenced by?”

If you're not asking that question, you're foolish, because they’re going to choose influences, and they’re not going to be good. These influencers are way smarter than your children. They know exactly what to say. I was thinking, our family, we’re very tight on tablets and phones.

Nancy: Your 18-year-old son doesn’t own a smart phone!

Allison: Right. We have flip phones for the 18-year-old and the 16-year-old, but even we made the mistake of getting an Amazon Kindle so that we could do homeschool. Sadly, our boys were prey to YouTube, by just watching a few YouTube videos.

They were completely obsessed with fishing. They were watching fishing videos and within a few videos, it went from fishing to pornography. Why? It’s because YouTube, the influence of YouTube is so smart. It’s so destructive and it wants my children’s hearts. It knew exactly how old they were, what they were into. It led them down that path of destruction.

Nancy: They didn’t get into it, did they?

Allison: Well, no! Because we’re so aware of what’s going on. We snatched it as quickly as we could. But I’m telling you, what do parents do who aren’t paying attention to their children, who are sitting in their bedrooms at night on their phones for hours? I can assure you that your children are looking at pornography.

I can assure you that they’re being influenced by the influencers. We have got to recognize it, but then we have to essentially choose our children’s peers and their influences. You might say, “Well, that sounds awfully controlling.” Absolutely! I am all about intentionally choosing my children’s influences.

Nancy: Exactly.

Allison: And I’m not apologetic about it. You have to be! You’ve got to fight for your children’s hearts.

Nancy: Amen! What does Proverbs 13:20 say? I raised my children on this Scripture. “He that walks with wise men will be wise. But a companion of fools will be destroyed.” Of course, social media is going to take them down a foolish path. As you have said, Allison, we’ve got to watch their peers, who our children are with. And, of course, harking back to this concert, if you're taking them to that, you're just saying, “Oh, my lovely, beautiful daughters, this is the way I want you to live! I want you to be in the world, to dress like that!” What are we even thinking?

Allison: Go to the homeschool prom, because that sounds really good and sweet and fun, and you're going to make memories if you go to homeschool prom! But then you look around, and every girl there is exposing all their parts and causing boys to lust after them. You fathers, you mothers who are buying these dresses, shame on you! You’re literally causing boys to lust after your daughter!

Nancy: Now, of course, Allison is speaking from experience.

Allison: Absolutely!

Nancy: They are perhaps the main photographers back in Pensacola where they live. They do all the worldly stuff. And you do the homeschooling stuff. What I can’t believe is you tell me you go to these homeschooling proms, and you can’t believe that the dresses are the same as the public school!

Allison: There’s no difference.

Nancy: Showing all their cleavage and everything! I beg your pardon! How can a godly mother let her daughter out of the house looking like that? It’s unbelievable. And then you show me, oh no! It was Michelle, showing me some pictures of a homeschooling celebration, and she knew all these people.

I can’t believe this! You know what? They were all looking just about (not quite as bad) as Taylor Swift. They all had these . . . These were supposed to be their beautiful, what do you call it? The celebration, whatever it is (graduation drwess). I would have thought they’d want to come in beautiful, long flowing gowns.

Allison: No, no.

Nancy: No, they wore little tight, tight dresses that just barely covered their bottoms! But you know what? They all looked so ugly. They looked so ugly, but they were exposing themselves.

I can’t believe it! Where is the standard in our homeschooling and in the church today? But you know what? We’re going well over time, aren’t we? We’ve kind of got stirred up! [laughter] We can’t even believe what’s happening in the so-called Christian church! Oh, goodness me! Woo!

Allison: Yes. If you're thinking you’re your daughter’s friend by allowing them to wear what’s popular, you're not befriending them, because no friend would do that. No friend would allow them to wear something that is going to cause someone else to lust after them.

I know it sounds so, especially people who don’t know me. “Oh, you probably let your daughters go around wearing blankets!” No! My girls dress so cute and modest and trendy! We love dressing cool. But you don’t have to expose your daughter’s body.

Nancy: No! Absolutely not! That spoils the whole dress. Oh, wow! But you know, it’s not even beautiful! Anyway, dear precious ladies, we’ve just been pouring forth our passion here against the spirit of the world! But let’s leave you on a positive note.

Oh, may we all just choose holiness. Go after holiness, “after which no man will see the Lord.” Let’s raise our children, our sons and daughters, to be holy sons and daughters. Do you know, it’s not a, what would be the word? A boring thing to be holy. No, holiness is beautiful.

BEAUTY AND HOLINESS ARE TWINS

In fact, the Word of God says: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Beauty and holiness are twins. Holiness is beautiful. God loves beauty! So, we are not in any way saying, “Oh, we have to become these drab, boring people.” No! But we have to be holy people, and raise holy sons and daughters, and establish holy homes in this world. Amen? Let’s pray.

“Oh, dear Father, You tell us in Your Word to love righteousness and hate evil. Lord, actually it says, ‘Abhor evil.’ That word means ‘to shudder at it.’ Lord, we pray that You’ll save us from getting used to evil, getting used to even looking at women dressing with cleavage’, and all their short dresses that show off the flesh.

“Lord God, it’s not holy. Maybe trendy, but it’s not holy. Help us not to get used to what is the spirit and fashion of the world, but, oh God, to seek after holiness, to raise our children in holiness.

“Oh Father, we cry out, Lord. We cry out for this nation, for the people of God in this nation. We know there are so many godly people, but there are so many Christians who are on the fence. They name the name of Christ, but are living ungodly lives, fleshly lives.

“Lord God, You said in Your Word that the seal is, ‘He that names the Name of Christ will depart from iniquity.’ Oh Father, we pray that You will come by the power of Your Spirit, and, Lord God, that You will, oh Father, bring a great repentance to the church in this hour. We pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

Allison: Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 331: Help! I’m Terrified of Needles and Childbirth! Part 1

Today we are blessed to have Genevieve de Deugd with us. Genevieve was born in New Zealand, then married and moved to Australia, and is now living in the USA with her husband and 11 children. Genevieve shares that as a young girl she was scared stiff of needles and terrified of one day giving birth to children. She begins her amazing story in this session.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell:Hello, ladies! Always so great to be with you! I have another visitor with me today, which is so exciting. Her name is Genevieve de Deugd, and Genevieve comes all the way from New Zealand, by Australia, to the States, exactly the same way we came. You were born in New Zealand,Genevieve?

Genevieve:Yes, I was.

Nancy:Yes, and I was born in New Zealand. Then you went to Australia when you were married?

Genevieve: Yes.

Nancy:Is that when you went?

Genevieve:Yes.

Nancy: Well, we went to Australia into our marriage, of course, and then we came here. Genevieve has the most exciting story of how they came here to the States. They actually escaped Australia during the plandemic because they were facing many, many trials there. They had a miraculous escape which is an adventure story to tell someday, but we’re going to talk about other things today.

So, Genevieve, it is so great to have you here. I’ve always known about you, and of course, know your family, your parents, because they were so well-known in New Zealand. They spearheaded the homeschooling movement in New Zealand. But we’re now up to date here. We’re in America and Genevieve is the mother of 11 amazing children.

Today she’s actually going to talk about the birthing of her children and how that’s affected her life. First of all, we’ve got to get to know you a bit better, Genevieve. Tell us the names of your wonderful children. I always love hearing the names. That’s why, in Above Rubies, I always have the names of all the children. So many love to tell me how they love looking at the names. Lots of people use names that they see there. You can tell the names of your children.

Genevieve:Thank you, Nancy. Thank you for having me on your podcast. My firstborn, Natalie Elizabeth, is 15 years old. Then I have Caleb Oliver, and he is 14. Then there’s Evangeline Luise.

Nancy:Yes, and we’ve got an Evangeline.

Genevieve:Yes, you do. And she is 13. Then there’s Joshua Craig, after my dad. He is 11. And then Josiah Trey is 10. Then there’s Sophie Dawn, and she’s nine. Adele Paige is seven, and Katrina Sue just turned six. Then there’s Nadine Vera, and she’s four. Laney Elise is three, and Prentiss Shiloh is our youngest. She’s just 16 months.

Nancy:Oh, that is so lovely.

Genevieve:Yes, and we have a Shiloh now as a great-granddaughter.

Nancy:Yes, although I do get mixed up, because after being in Israel, and actually going to the very place in Shiloh where the tabernacle became the permanent dwelling when they went into the land, of course, it is pronounced “Shee-loh” in Israel. So, I keep going to call my little great-granddaughter “Shee-low” But here they call her “Shy-low,” like you do, and like most people do.

In fact, it was interesting. Last night, we were playing a DVD on the big screen downstairs. It was about the land of Israel. It was the most powerful message. But this speaker was talking about this guy, which when I read it in the Bible, I’ve always called him “Abimelech,” but he was calling him “Abby-lemeck.” I realized, “Oh, goodness me, I’ve been saying it wrong all my life.” We pronounce so many of the Israeli words according to how we think they’re to be pronounced. But we don’t say it quite like a Hebrew, do we? But that is so wonderful.

Now, Genevieve, before we get to birthing, I think we need to find out a little bit of your story. So, why don’t you start? Let’s see, where would we start? I think we need to start even, yes, with your parents maybe. Yes, because they were an amazing couple in New Zealand who were very,very influential in the homeschooling movement in New Zealand. So, start there.

Genevieve:I would love to start there. Often, when I tell my story, or if I have a testimony to share, I love to start with my parents’ story, because it always seems to me that’s where my story starts.

Nancy:Well, of course, it does!

Genevieve:My dad grew up in California. Both of my parents were born in 1951, my dad on a ranch in California, and my mom grew up on a sheep station in the South Island of New Zealand, in the Hakataramea Valley.

They were both non-Christians growing up. They became Christians in the early ‘70’s, in their early 20’s. They met in New Zealand through the Navigators. The way my dad came to New Zealand was that his mom decided to do a trip. She wanted to do an overseas experience for her children.

Nancy: Tell me, wasn’t that after her husband died?

Genevieve: Yes.

Nancy: And she actually took them on many trips around the world, didn’t she?

Genevieve: You’re right. My dad’s dad died when my dad was about 13 years of age. He had an older brother and three little sisters. His youngest sister was only two years old. At the time that his dad died, his parents had been planning a trip to Europe for the family. My grandma, his mum, decided after her husband died, that she would still do that trip.

They rented out their ranch in California and they went to Europe, and they actually turned out that they could spend a year touring around in Europe cheaper than it was to live in California. They spent the winter skiing in the Alps. My dad learned German and little bit of French. His job was to do all the money exchanging for the family.

She ended up organizing a number ofdifferent trips for the family. It was the early ‘70’s when she was tossing up between Australia and New Zealand. She wanted to do another trip overseas. She was going to take her three youngest daughters. My dad and his brother were both at university, but my dad had no vision for university at that point: what he was really wanting to do there.

He said to his mom, “Well, I’m going to come withyou to New Zealand.”  He met her in New Zealand, but first of all, he went around to all these different consulates in the United Statesgetting visas so that he could do the London to Katmandu overland trip. Then he went down through Australia and ended up in New Zealand.

He became a Christian in New Zealand and joined the Navigators and was discipled by the Navigators. Then he learned how to read the Bible, how to study the Bible, how to meditate on Scripture, how to memorize Scripture. Somebody challenged him one time and said, “I challenge you to memorize the book of Romans in two months.”  And he did it! Two chapters a week.

Nancy: That is amazing!

Genevieve: Life-transforming thing.

Nancy: I was so blessed to be involved with Navigators when I was young too. I did their memory program. It was so wonderful. I think that was one of the greatest blessings of my life, to memorize all those Scriptures,especially when I was in my late teens which is when I was involved.

Those Scriptures are still with me today. I still seek to memorize, but somehow it doesn’t last as long. I have tokeep memorizing again. I forget it and keep memorizing again. With those Scriptures I memorized back then, they just stay with me. It’s so incredible.

Genevieve: That’s why I think my story really starts with dad’s story, because all that Scripture he put into his life, all those years he spent being discipled by the Navigators, putting aside his old non-Christian way of thinking, and taking on board a new Christian way of thinking. Some of the things he used to tell me that they used to do in the Navigators were just so exciting.

They would organize parties with the purpose of being able to share the gospel. They would go skiing and they would learn how to take any conversation and bring it to the gospel and be able to share the gospel within three minutes. Because when they’d go skiing, they’d hop on this ski lift with somebody else, a stranger, and they would get that conversation to sharing the gospel before they both hoped off the ski lift.

Nancy: That’s so, so cool.

Genevieve: I love those stories. I feel like that had such a huge impact on dad, which had such a huge impact on me. And Mum, who was in the Navigators too at this stage. She was working for them. This had a huge impact on their thought processes, and becoming Christians, and then how they raised us.

Nancy: Oh, yes, that is so wonderful. But I should start withyour parents, but I remember your telling me even about your . . . oh, no, that starts withyour parents. Because you're going to get on into your childhood, and how that even as a young girl, becauseyour father was rather political, you became quite political about things that were important. Tell us about that.

Genevieve: One of the things that my dad was going along, as a Christian, he used to love to listen to sermons. Any time that he had spare time, he would listen to a sermon. These were all on cassette tapes at the time. He used to get these catalogs from different cassette tape lending libraries.

And he noticed that all the sermons were always organized under three topics. They were personal piety, end times, and evangelism. Then one day, he came across a catalog from a cassette tape lending library, and this one had the sermons organized under topics like politics, law, economics, art, biology, history, education, family, parenting, child discipline.

It was like, it blew him away, because here were people who wereactually thinking about how Christianity applied to every area of life. That really marked him from that point on. That gradual understanding, and this looking to Scripture, to see what it has to say about this topic, or that topic.

I had the opportunity, over the course of my childhood, to see him standing for things when nobody else was standing for them, and saying, “I believe in this,” or “I think we need to go this way.” Even when no other Christians were doing it; even when some Christians or family or whoever would not stand with him, or not think that was a good way to go. But as he saw it in the Bible, as he saw that this was what God wanted, then he would do it.

An example of that, he began the Home Education Foundation. He began to homeschool us as an outworking of his understanding aboutwhat the Bible had to say about education, he began to homeschool us in the early ‘80’s. In 1987, he organized the conference for homeschoolers in New Zealand.

Nancy:Was that the first conference for homeschoolers in New Zealand? 

Genevieve:Yes, first conference. Four hundred and fifty people came from all over New Zealand, and they all came saying, “We thought we were the only ones doing this in this country.” Then they went back to their hometowns and formed little support groups from the other people that they’d met at the conference. This was the beginning of support groups in New Zealand.

Then my dad networked all those support groups and would keep an eye on what was happening politically, and then disseminate that information to the support groups. So, my dad became a political watchdog in New Zealand. His goal was to keep the climate good for homeschoolers.

As he was watching things politically, one day he came to me, and he said, “Genevieve, look, the government wants to tax the interest on children’s bank accounts. What do you think about that?” I got all up in arms, because I had a bank account, and I had savings, and there was no way, known, that I wanted the government to reach their sticky little fingers in! This was how I was thinking as a little nine-year-old.

So, he encouraged me to write a letter to the Prime Minister, or I said I wanted to, and he facilitated it. I wrote to the Prime Minister, and I wrote to the Minister of Finance, and I wrote to the Opposition Minister of Finance. As I was talking to my dad, and we were discussing the topic, he was telling me about history and things like this. One of the things I said was, “Taxation without representation is tyranny! I am a nine-year-old. No one is representing me in Parliament. I can’t vote.”

The Opposition Minister of Finance thought this was pretty good. She invited me to the Beehive, the Parliament buildings in New Zealand. I was interviewed and it went on television. I was invited to be part of the select committee meeting as they discussed the bill. Not to make any comments, but just as an observer. They passed the bill at a lower interest rate than they were considering.

Nancy: Yes. That was how, even young children. . . actually, it shows you the power of letters. The power of letters, or faxes, or emails. Now today, we can email. That’s a wonderful thing. It’s very easy. Any senator or congressman, we canjust go onto their email and say what we want. But we don’t always do it, do we? In fact, sometimes I’m desperate to do it about something and I get so busy. But we really should. It has such power and impact.

Even if we think we can’t do anything else, we can email or phone our senators and congressmen and tell them how it’s meant to be! Because here we are, in the States, we are so blessed, because our government is meant to be, well, it’s not so much at the moment, but we need to make it to be what it’s meant to be, which is WE THE PEOPLE. But here you were, even a nine-year-old, and you had such an impact. I love that.

Genevieve: Thank you. As a result of my dad’s influence, I was very interested in going into law and studying law. We had a lawyer who was attending our church. Dad said, because I was being homeschooled, he said, “Why don’t you ask him now what you should be studying in preparation for doing a law degree?”

So, I did, and this lawyer was then alerted to the fact that I was interested in law. When he went out into his own practice, he asked me to come onboard as his law clerk. Then he paid for me to do a legal executive course. I worked for him for about five and a half years.

Nancy: Yes, so great. What happened after that?

Genevieve: Well, after that, he sold his practice to go into the ministry. My brother and I did what many Kiwis do. We go overseas and we do the whole overseas experience.

Nancy: That’s a real Kiwi thing, because Kiwis know how to live on the smell of an oily rag. They will go without, and go without food, go without extras to save and travel the world. It’s different here in America. When we came to the States, and we talked to young people, “Oh, we’d love to come to New Zealand. We’d love to go to Australia.” We even started to set up some tours to take back.

But then, we found that actually, although they wanted to go, they couldn’t cough up with the money because young people in the States don’t know how to live on the smell of an oily rag. They live to the limit. They spend everything. They spend it on life instead of saving.

Those of you who don’t knowNew Zealanders, Kiwis, that’s a typical thing. Save like mad, then you travel the world. Because I think down in New Zealand too, we’re at the bottom of the world, and we always want to go and see the world. But Americans, which I am an American now, I’m an American citizen. We sort of think America is the world, so we don’t have the same thing. Anyway, carry on.

Genevieve:When I got to the States, the Lord began working. You know how sometimes He has to break you before He puts you back up. One of the first things that happened was that I began to realize that a lot of the ways that I had been interacting with my parents, the example I had been setting for my younger siblings, hadn’t really been a good example.  I’d been probably disrespectful.

That shocked me, that realization, because I thought of my parents as my best friends; my family were my best friends. But to really realize, no, I could havebeen doing so much better, and I hadn’t. The Lord really broke me through that.

After that, I began reading some material, and realizing, wow, by this definition, I’m a feminist. My dad always taught me worldviews and I had rejected feminism. I was proud of that. But by this definition, I realized, wow, I really was a feminist. Then I began hearing things about how when a family works together, it really strengthens the family.

And about preparing for marriage. Up until this point, I had actually purposely neglected to prepare for marriage. I didn’t know how to cook a thing! There were so many things I didn’t know. I was really convicted to go back home, learn to cook, prepare for marriage. What an unloving thing to do to a future husband, to actually purposely not learn to cook.

So, I did all that, and realized, hey, my dad has this ministry. It’s something I really believed in, and I should go home and help him with his ministry. His ministry was, at that point, he had the Home Education Foundation, which was helping homeschoolers. Then he had another ministry called Family Integrity, which was fighting other anti-family legislation in New Zealand. That was a blessing, a really wonderful time, the next five and a half years at home, helping my parents.

Nancy: And then you met your husband!

Genevieve: Yes! Or, as we like to say, we didn’t meet!

Nancy: Tell us your story!

Genevieve: Someone asked my brother and I one time, how did we envisage getting to know someone for the purpose of marriage? I remember saying, “I’d love it if they would approach my dad.” And my brother said, “I’d love to marry my best friend.” And that’s how God organized it for both of us. My brother married his best friend and Pete approached my dad.

The way it happened was, well, Pete had a friend, someone he used to go tramping with, which is hiking, but we call it “tramping” in New Zealand and Australia. They used to go hiking. They were talking about girls and things, and marriage. Where would there be someone like-minded?

His tramping buddy said, “Well, I know this girl in New Zealand. You need to go and get to know her.” He said, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll write a letter to her dad, and I’ll introduce you, and I’ll tell him that you’re going to write a follow-up letter.” So, that’s what he did.

Nancy: Not even knowing who you were?

Genevieve: Not yet. He didn’t know our family. He didn’t know us. A work colleague met Pete when he was going to come to New Zealand and visit us. A work colleague said, “Now let me get this right. You’re going to a country you've never been to, to visit a family you've never met, about a girl you've never met?” [laughter] It was so wild. But that’s how it happened.

This friend sent a letter of introduction. He said Pete would write within the next two weeks, and he did, write at the last minute of those two weeks. He introduced himself and sent it to Dad. So, Dad wrote back, and they wrote back and forth for about seven months before Dad said, “You know what? Why don’t you come and visit the family?”

I was aware of the communications between them, and I used to say, “Hey, Dad, ask this, or ask that.” I was encouraged by all this,because I really wanted Dad to vet someone. I wanted, before I entered into a courtship with someone, I really did want to know that my parents were happy, that I was given their blessing, that they knew there would be an equal yoking.

So, Pete came, and we asked lots of questions of one another. Dad had already vetted him. He secretly felt like Pete was the husband for me. All that would be needed was a little bit of chemistry, and that would be a done deal.

Nancy: When does that happen? Did it happen immediately, or not straightaway?

Genevieve: Well, when I first met Pete, when we met him at the airport and brought him home, I was struck with the thought, “Here is a man.” When I say that, I mean you could just tell that this was a man who did not avoid responsibility. He was a man who grabbed hold. You could see it in his demeanor.

Nancy: You don’t see that in a lot of men, so that would have been something cool.

Genevieve: Yes. And then a few days later, he shared his vision. I remember thinking, “Boy, I could really follow a man with a vision like that.” As we spoke together and asked another questions . . . I’d gotten from someone 40 pages of questions that courting couple might like to ask one another. They were questions like, “What do you think about debt?” And “How would you want to take care of your elderly parents? Is it a nursing home, or are you going to take care of them?” “How would you raise your children?” These sorts of questions. Not just what your favorite flavor toothpaste is like.

Nancy: Are you listening to all this, girls? I have my three lovely Above Rubies helpers recording this podcast. Are you getting all this? [laughter]

Genevieve: He was with us for ten days. By the end of those ten days, I think we both felt like, wow, we had such a unity of thought. We spoke together so easily. It was very clear that the next step would be courtship. He went home to get his parents’ blessing.

My mom and dad and I went to visit him in his natural environment, because we hadn’t really known him for very long. It was so great doing that because we went to church with him. I met some of his relatives. I met his neighbors. I met his customers.

He was born and raised in the same place, so people around him had a long history with him. Everybody came up to me and said, because here I am, a young lady, I think people could put two and two together. They said, “This fellow is gold.”

Nancy: Oh, what a wonderful story! I just love it. But when did you get the spark?

Genevieve: The spark. Well, I think chemistry was clearly not going to be a problem from the word go. But what we wanted was the Lord’s will. We wanted all the way along to be sure that this was the Lord’s will as we kept going.

Nancy: Yes. Why I said that . . . this last weekend, I was taking an Above Rubies retreat up in Idaho. At the end, I was talking withsome of the young people. They had read my 20 points about what to look for in a man, for a husband. They’re all pretty good points and it’s not always easy to find all of them.

A young lady said, “Well, even if I find all those, and the guy is interested, but I’m not really feeling . . .” I said, “Well, you do have to get the spark. A guy canhave all the good points, but there’s a littlesomething that ought to draw youtogether.” Because God is in it, isn’t He? A beautiful thing. But that’s a glorious story. I just love it.

So, we were going to start on birthing, but we started by talking aboutall of these things. I think they are soimportant. What happened then? How did you get married? Where did you live, and all that?

Genevieve: We got engaged, I think two months after we met, two months after we started courting. Then we got married five months later and moved to Australia.

Nancy: So, you moved where your husband was. I’m a great believer in that.

Genevieve: Yes. He ran a timber mill and wood processing business there. But later on, we grew, and we bought a showroom,and we developed our own line of timber furniture that we designed and sold in our showroom. I came and helped him with that. I came onboard, took over his accounting and QuickBooks, and did all the bookkeeping.

Nancy: Oh, you'rejust the one for that!

Genevieve: Then, shortly after we got married, I became pregnant with our first.

Nancy: Yes! I think that must have been quite something because right back, even when you were little,you were scared of childbirth, and scared of needles, and scared of all that stuff! How did this all work out?

Genevieve: Yes, yes. I was. I don’t know where the fear came from, but I remember at 12 years of age just saying, “The thought of childbirth, and the thought of needles . . .”

Nancy: It’s interesting that I put needles with childbirth! [laughter]

Genevieve: I don’t know why they were connected, but they certainly were in my mind! I guess I’d heard that you got stuck with all sorts of needles.

Nancy: Old wives’ stories!

Genevieve: Yes, and I used to say, there’s no way I’m ever going to have children. If I got married, I’d just adopt them all, because I wasn’t going to go through childbirth! There was no way. But at the age of 14, the Lord . . . You know, I’m glad He doesn’t leave you to certain places. At the age of 14, I’d been reading certain Scriptures and really became convinced that God does open and close the womb, like He says.

This really seemed to be His jurisdiction and something that would need to be left in His realm. But I was still really resistant to the idea of childbirth. As we went along, I remember at 16 years of age really thinking that God is good, and if I really believed He was good, and that the way He created the world was good, then this also must be good.

Nancy: The way He created you was good!

Genevieve: Yes! Womanhood and womanliness, and able to have children. I knew theoretically that I needed to accept this, and I did, but it was with this little complaint of, “Eww, but why does it have to be this way? The mess, and the inconvenience, the pain, and the needles!”

Nancy: Of course, knowing that you went into marriage, knowing that, “Yes, if I’m getting married, I’ve got to be open to childbirth.” You knew you would have to face that.

Genevieve: Yes. It’s an interesting thing to be where I am now with 11 children, because I think a lot of people looking at me now, sometimes I get the impression they think I’m here because this has all been easy for me. In fact, I have nearly lost my lost my life more than once in childbirth. I’m only here now because of what God’s done in my life and how He’s helped me overcome my fear. He’s helped me to trust Him.

Nancy: And so, you've had to overcome fears in the face of incredible things. Let’s hear your stories. Of course, we’re not going to fit them all in in this podcast. We’ll just start with one maybe, and we’ll do another podcast to hear more.

Genevieve: Okay. That sounds great! So, I was pregnant with Natalie shortly after we got married. I remember this tiny little moment where I felt a little panic. Like, “Oh no! I’m pregnant! And I’ve been afraid of childbirth! This is what I’ve been afraid of all this time!” Pregnancy is a one-way journey to childbirth.

Nancy: Yes! You don’t get out of it!

Genevieve: I remember thinking, “Well, there’s no other option but to give this fear to God.” That’s what I did. When we first got married, even on our honeymoon, Pete pulled out a verse: 2 Corinthians 10:5. He said, “Let’s start, even right now, start memorizing Scriptures together.” So, this was our first verse.

Nancy: That’s a wonderful thing to do at the beginning of your marriage!

Genevieve: Can you imagine? It was wonderful!

Nancy: I know you think, “Thank You, Lord, that I’m married to a man like this!” Amen. Yes, of course, we know God’s highest purpose is for marriage. I also think one of them is the fact that He brings two together to pray together. “If two of you on earth should agree as touching anything, it shall be done to them as My Father, which is in heaven.”

What a glorious promise for marriage! If two of you! I went into marriage claiming that promise. We have always been a praying couple. That is one of the reasons I married my husband. He was a man of prayer. I have loved that. A man of prayer and a man of the Word. You can’t beat it, can you?

Genevieve: No, that’s right.

Nancy: I love that, how you started memorizing together.

Genevieve: The verse he said we should start with was:“Casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Here I was, so early in our pregnancy, needing to put this verse into practice. I had this moment of fear. I said, “OK, I’m just not going to think about this. This is going to be in the Lord’s hands and we’re just going to trust Him.”

One of the things I did through my pregnancy was to do a lot of study into natural childbirth. I tell you what, that’s a really wonderful thing, when you are afraid, because so much of it is the fear of the unknown. When you study and you read, you don’t dispel all the unknown withyour first, but it gives you a lot of confidence. Then the confidence decreases your fear, which is a wonderful thing.

But throughout the pregnancy, at various points, I was dragged down by this internal dialog I had inside me, which was, “Why does it have to be this way with childbirth and women being made this way? God was God, and couldn’t He have organized things some other way?” Sadly, I did not succeed in taking those thoughts captive. I tried, but every now and then, they would just pop right into my mind.

Throughout my pregnancy, I was interested in home birth. But my husband, Pete said, “We live too far from the hospital. Let’s just deliver in the hospital.” We only lived 25 minutes from the hospital, but I submitted to him in that.

I do believe that when the Bible says we should submit our husbands in all things, that this certainly fit within that category of “all things.” I also believe that the Lord really protects us through the leadership of our husbands. That was a really good call that Pete made. We didn’t know it at the time, but I nearly died with Natalie. It wasa good thing that I went with his plan on this topic.

Two really significant things happened during Natalie’s pregnancy. The first was that I overheard two ladies at my church talking about a book that one or the other had read. It was a book on Christian childbirth.I think the book was abou tdifferent verses that you could read at different parts of your labor and delivery. Different prayers maybe; I’m not really sure. I haven’t read the book.

But I remember overhearing them and they were mocking about this. “Why would you do this?” I had this moment of clarity. I realized that, that was in fact exactly what I want my labors and deliveries to look like. I all of a sudden had this vision for what I wanted them to look like.

Nancy: Well, finish this story for Natalie, OK?

Genevieve:All rightie! I realized I really wanted God to be my helping guide through this pregnancy, through pregnancy and birth, particularly through the labor and delivery. I really wanted to walk closely with Him through the whole labor and delivery. So, I did. I went home after that and gathered together a lot of verses that I thought I might like to meditate on to encourage me during various parts of the labor and delivery, which have been an encouragement though all these eleven deliveries.

The second important thing that happened during Natalie’s birth was that a friend suggested that I set up a prayer team. I did. The best thing, in fact, that I did to prepare for labor and delivery was to set up a prayer team. I did it for Natalie’s delivery and I did it for all the rest. What does it look like . . . it has looked a little different through all the eleven deliveries, depending on the technology available to us.

But back then, we organized a prayer team, friends and family who were willing to pray for me while I was in labor, then we would have a coordinator. During labor and delivery, Pete would message the coordinator, and then the coordinator would send the messages out to the team so we could keep them up to date with what was happening—what point of the labor we were at, and if there were any difficulties we could alert the team to please pray for this specific thing.

In December 2008, I went into labor with Natalie. I nearly died. She was a big baby. She was 10 lbs. 1 oz. I was pushing for way too long. Her placenta was about the same size as she was, so I had an over-distended uterus. I was just enormous. I had uterine atony and retained products. All of that led to a post-partum hemorrhage.

About three hours after she was born, she was healthy and well. She was doing great. But I was bleeding, and I was taken to the operating room. We call it the “theater” in Australia and New Zealand, but here it’s the “operating room.” So, I was taken to the operating room for a D&C. I was given a very large transfusion. I’d lost nearly three liters of blood in all. The transfusion saved my life, and they stabilized me.

But when they give you a transfusion, they don’t give you enough to bring you back to fully functioning energy. They just give you enough to stabilize you, so afterwards the doctor said to me, “Please don’t even think about exercising for the next three or four months. You’re going to have to do a lot of resting and build up your energy, build up your blood.”

They really wanted me to spend a lot of time just lying flat on my back, especially the next four weeks. Just lying flat on my back to rest, which I did. There was a little bit of loneliness there, flat on my back in my room with my lovely newborn.

But during that time, I used to get these flashbacks to when the doctor had done the D&C. She came into my hospital room and sort of debriefed me and told me all that had happened to me in the operating room. She said really gruffly, almost accusationally, accusing me. She said, “It took an hour to stabilize you in there.”

And those words, and those gruff tones would flash back at me, and I would just have to take every thought captive and push that out of my mind, because it was a very unpleasant flashback to have.

Through all that, that childhood fear of childbirth came back again. But I did force myself to take every thought captive and to just trust the Lord. I remember saying, “Lord, You know I’m terrified to go through childbirth again. But I’m going to obey You by continuing to be open to future pregnancies in Your time frame. You’re going to have to deal with my fear and take it away. So, I’ll just trust You to do it.” I basically took the whole issue and passed it over to Him and didn’t think about it again.

Nancy: That wasn’t easy. You did that by faith.

Genevieve: No, not easy. Four months later, pregnant with Caleb.

Nancy: Wow! Well, I think we’re going to have to hear what happened next time! Wow. We’ve kind of left you on a pretty traumatic thing, but the amazing thing about childbirth is that a traumatic situation doesn’t have to happen the second time. Every birth is different, isn’t it?

Next week, tune in. We’re going to see what happens next time. The next podcast, Genevieve is going to share about more of her birth experiences. Thank you so much for being with us, Genevieve.

Genevieve: Thank you.

Nancy:

“Lord God, we thank You again for Your wonderful goodness to us. Thank You, Lord, that You are a faithful God. We thank You that You are faithful, even in childbirth. You are the One who brings the baby safely from the mother’s womb.

“Lord, here we are, sitting with Genevieve today, the mother of 11 children. You have been so faithful to her. We thank You, Lord. We pray that mothers now who are listening who are pregnant, that You will encourage them, that You will strengthen their faith, and that You will bless them, and You will bring, Lord, their babies forth safely into this world. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Genevieve: Amen.

Nancy: Amen!

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 330: Saving the Nation

It's less than a month until the November 5 election. What part are we doing to steer this nation to righteousness and away from evil and communism?

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Well, about a week or so ago, I came back from Idaho, taking an Above Rubies ladies’ retreat up there. It was such a beautiful spot in the world. We had such a wonderful time. But now we only have one retreat left for this year. It’s a ladies’ retreat right here in Tennessee.

In fact, there is a camp retreat site just down the road from where we live, so I won’t have to travel far this time. Tennessee is very central, so if anyone wants to get to an Above Rubies ladies’ retreat, the last one for the year, it’s the first weekend of November, just before voting day. If you are interested, call Charity at 503-871-9535. Or you can just go to the website, and you’ll find all the information there.

Well, what have I been doing? Of course, I’m busy in the Above Rubies office every day, which is in our home. The amazing thing about Above Rubies is that I have never taken it out of the home from the very beginning. That was over 47 years ago. It has always been in the home. Sometimes it’s been in my bedroom. Sometimes it’s been in a room in the house. Here we now have Above Rubies downstairs, and we live upstairs. So, I am there. It keeps me busy all the time.

Actually, my whole life is given to encouraging and teaching and blessing the mothers and wives of the nation and the world. But we have been doing something that we don’t usually do lately, which is going to some movies. Well, we are not moviegoers. We never go to movies because they are such junk. And we don’t even have TV.

But at the moment, there are some very good movies. I believe when there is a very good Christian movie, or a very good conservative movie that comes, we will go to support it, to show the whole of Hollywood people that this is what we want to see. This is the kind of movie we want instead of all this junk and wickedness.

It's amazing. There have been some very good ones lately. I guess many of you have been to see Reagan. And then The Forge, the latest Kendrick Brothers movie, which is so wonderful. I can’t recommend it enough. It’s about this young guy and how he comes to the Lord. But that’s not all. It’s how he is discipled. You see him changing as he is discipled. It’s a very, very powerful movie. I encourage everyone to go to it and support it.

Also, did you see God’s Not Dead? This is the fourth God’s Not Dead movie. It’s called In God We Trust, and it’s the story about an election. It’s very good, especially as we’re coming up to our election here. I really encourage you to see that. And, I haven’t actually seen Matt Walsh’s Am I A Racist? yet. They say that’s very good. I really enjoyed the one he put together called What Is a Woman? Did you see that? If you haven’t, you can download it. It’s so powerful.

Then we have Bonhoeffer coming up. That should be wonderful.

But then on Sunday night, Colin and I went into the city to see Vindicating Trump. This is the latest movie documentary, drama documentary, put out by Dinesh D’Souza. I wonder if you've ever seen any of his other films. They are all very, very powerful. You can download them now if you haven’t seen them.

He did . . . some of them . . . Death of a Nation, 2000 Mules (that was exposing the 2020 stolen election. It’s an amazing movie. It shows what happened with all those votes and how all these 80 million votes came out of nowhere. It shows you where they came from); Police State, Trump Card, and, of course, his latest one, Vindicating Trump. It was so good. Oh, I would love everybody to go and see it. I think it’s necessary to see it.

In fact, it even shows in this movie how easy it is to steal an election and how easy it is to be able to purchase these voting materials and how you can get anybody to fill them out. They don’t even have anything on them that shows what it is. It was so easy, and it was all exposed in this movie.

The sad thing was, Colin and I were sitting there with only three other people in the whole theater. I was talking to Alison Hartman afterwards. I think some of you will remember listening to Alison. I’ve done loads of podcasts with her. Alison and Daniel are the family who put on our Above Rubies family retreats down in Florida.

I was telling her how good it was, and she said, “Oh, Nancy, we’re going tomorrow night.” That was Saturday night when we went into the city. That’s driving in an hour and a half. I love it when there is something up at our local theater which is still half an hour away. But many times, to see something that is good, we have to drive an hour and a half. But we do it, because we want to support it.

Anyway, Alison said, “Oh, Nancy, don’t worry! We’re all going tonight, and not just Daniel and me. I am taking everybody I can find, and I’m going to fill the theater!” Wow! I felt rather guilty that I had just sat there with three other people and hadn’t got anyone else to go. She was going to fill the theater! Well, no wonder she has just been named “Woman of the Year” down where she lives in Florida, because she’s someone who makes things happen. But I was glad to hear that.

I want to share today a little bit about this election coming, because when you receive this podcast, it will be less than a month before voting day. We can vote earlier, of course. I think early voting starts about the 16^th of October (for Tennessee anyway).

40 MILLION CHRISTIANS DON’T VOTE * 15 MILLION ARE NOT REGISTERED!

I believe this is such an important election. It is so sad to know that the latest statistics are that 40 million Christians do not vote. That is unbelievable. 15 million are unregistered! They’re not even registered to vote. I know that many Christians say, “Well, I don’t believe in getting into politics. That’s not my thing.” Others say, “Well, it doesn’t matter who gets in, because Jesus is sovereign. He is the King of kings. Everything will go on fine no matter who’s in.”

But that is not true. History reveals that. We could spend the rest of this podcast talking about history because what happened to people depended on whoever was dictator, tyrant, or someone who was godly ruling the nation. I think back to the time in England when Edward VI was king. He was a very, very young king. But during his time, there was openness to preach the gospel.

It was a time when Puritans were beginning to preach and teach their people and preach the gospel. We remember such names, famous Puritans— Latimer, Hooper, Bradford. We read in history how they had the opportunity to preach to the masses. Many times, they had open-air meetings of up to 6,000 in the center of London. It was a wonderful time for the gospel.

But Edward VI died. He only reigned for about six years. Then who was the next one? It was the first female monarch of England, Mary Tudor. But you know what she became known as? She became known as “Bloody Mary.” That’s not a nice testimony to have, is it? So much for the first female monarch.

Things changed. Instead of an openness to preach the gospel, she began to persecute those who were doing that. So came all the terrible martyrdoms. She burned, some say, 280 people. Other statistics say up to 300 men of God, and some women, at the stake. Latimer, Hooper, Bradford, and so many others were all burned at the stake. You can read many of their stories in that famous book, The Book of Martyrs.

How did that happen? It was totally different from Edward’s reign. Then it changed, because of Mary’s reign. Whoever is in power does affect our lives. It affects not only our lives, but the future lives of our children. That’s why I think this is such an important election.

I think there are many, many people, there are even many Christians, who because they don’t get into politics, they don’t really understand truly what is happening. They are not aware that Kamela Harris and Tim Walz are extreme socialists. If they get into power, we will begin immediately to go down the slippery slope of communism. For extreme socialism, communism, progressivism, Marxism, they’re all sisters. They’re all so similar.

This is really the defining plan of Harris and Walz. Of course, they don’t go round shouting that from the housetops because so many would vote against them. No, they act as though they are just maybe in the middle, just central. But no, that is not the truth, if you want to do the research. So, therefore, we have a responsibility, because Marxism, communism is totally against God.

Immediately, persecution of Christians will begin. In fact, we already have persecution of Christians. Last podcast, or was it the one before? I was talking with Bethany Vaughn, and how her husband was sentenced because he was trying to save babies. There were a number of people sentenced at that trial. Some have been sentenced to go to jail. Others are on house arrest.

But this is happening all over this country. You only have to be pro-life and they’re going to be after you. This is communism. They are after those who believe in God and believe in life. As Christians, we have a responsibility to stand up for truth. When we are voting, we’re standing up for truth.

Oh, but then others will say, “Oh, but how can you vote for Trump? He’s not a godly man.” Well, I will admit, when he first stated he was running for the presidency, I was aghast, because I had always looked upon him as a very fleshly man. That was true.

But it’s amazing. He has changed. This man has changed. Even if he didn’t have this background of all this fleshly, sinful lifestyle, he is a man who loves this country, loves the Constitution, and amazingly, loves what is good and right, and wants to bring this country back to the Constitution, to that which is right, and to bless this nation.

In fact, I noticed just the other day, this was something he stated in one of his rallies. It’s amazing how he has changed. I think that he actually speaks about Jesus, yes, the Name of Jesus, more than any other president ever has. He said these words:

“Our country needs a Savior right now. Our country has a Savior, but it's not me. It’s somebody much higher than me. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ forever changed the world. Our nation would not be what it is today without Jesus Christ. He is the source of our strength, and our hope.”

It’s amazing that he is not ashamed to actually confess the Name of Jesus when many Christians are scared to go around confessing the Name of Jesus.

Of course, we must realize too, that we’re not voting in a pastor or a minister to be the president of our country. We’re voting in the man who has the ability to run the country. Trump does have this. He has proved that he is a man of caliber and a man of strength. I don’t think there is any man who would have even survived the four years that he was in office with all they sought to do against him, and impeach him, and eradicate him, and do everything.

Now, even as he's running for president, they’re trying to do the same thing. They’re trying to jail him. They’re trying to assassinate him. They’re trying to get rid of him. Why is he doing it? He doesn’t have to. He’s a billionaire. He could just enjoy his life. He’s doing it because he loves this country.

I often think of that Scripture in Psalm 89:16. It’s talking about King David. God was looking for man, a man to rule His people, and a man who would be able to fight the enemies around and bring the nation into a place of peace. This is what it says here: “I have laid help upon One that is mighty.” That’s King James. But in other translations it says: “I have laid my hand upon a warrior.”

God was not looking for a wimp to rule his people. He was looking for a warrior. I think that’s a little bit like Trump. He is a warrior. We know that. But God needs a warrior in this hour to bring this country back from where it is, and where it’s going down the tubes. When you think of what is happening . . .

In our church fellowship, we have a dear man, very sweet man. He is from Venezuela, and he escaped Venezuela when it was becoming communist. He’s now a US citizen. But this man, oh, how often he shares with us how he is so burdened and how he is so grieved. Because he loves his nation of Venezuela, and he loves this nation, he keeps warning us.

He says, “Don’t you know that the same things that were happening in Venezuela, in preparation for communism, are just what are happening now? I see it all again. Everything that’s happening is just what was happening in Venezuela.” He said that’s what was happening there, this whole border invasion. We all know we are in the midst of this incredible border invasion, where Kamela Harris is supposed to be the border czar.

Instead of protecting our border . . . Every nation has borders. God intends every nation to have borders. We read in the Word of God how God assigns the nations of the world to their different areas. God does that, and He doesn’t expect every nation to just come in and invade another nation. That’s war. This is what we have now.

In fact, what are the latest statistics? I wrote them down. Let’s have a look at them. These are the latest statistics. They have allowed, this is only since 2020, Kamela Harris and Biden negated the 93 mandates that Trump brought in to protect our border. They wiped the lot of them, so now we have 20 million illegals. Actually, the update is now 25 million illegals in this country.

Why are they bringing them in? They want the votes. They’re bringing them in to vote. Now by the way, I know I’m talking to ladies all around the world, so many different countries. But dear ladies, as I’m talking about the States here, it also affects you, because what happens here will affect the whole world.

So, now we have 25 million illegals, and of those, listen to this, ladies:

13,099 are released murderers from their countries

15,811 are rapists

435,790 are convicted criminals.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has reported 662,566 non-citizens, these are the non-citizens, these are the invaders, the illegal aliens with criminal histories. Then they give the quote I’ve just given you, 435,790 are convicted criminals. The other 226,847 have pending criminal charges.

And 350 terrorists.

Now, ladies, all these people are now roaming our country. In fact, more than that, not only have they allowed them in but now they are giving them hotels free. They live in beautiful hotels, free. They have everything free. Healthcare free. None of us get healthcare free. This is such a curse upon our nation.

And I haven’t given you the worst statistic yet.

THE WORST STATISTIC OF ALL

324,000 are missing children who has been sex-trafficked through the border. This has all been allowed by our current administration, Biden and Harris.

If we, as God’s people, think that we can just do nothing about that, there’s something wrong with us. We have got to take a stand. We’ve got to vote against Harris, because how can we continue to allow this? Already there have been many who have been raped and killed by these people. How many more will there be?

What is yet to happen? We know that now there are sent-in groups from Iran. Their whole plan is to assassinate Trump. They’re all coming through this open border. It was the most protected border at any time when Trump was there.

We have a responsibility. What does the Word of God say in Ephesians 5:11: “To have no fellowship with the works of darkness, but rather, expose them.” We not only must expose them, but we must do something about it. We are meant to love righteousness and hate evil. This is all pure evil! We’ve got to hate it. If we hate it, we’ll do something. We’ll vote against it.

A NON-VOTE IS A VOTE

A non-vote is a vote. Anybody who says, “Well, I don’t believe in voting,” you are voting! You are helping to bring in the other side of darkness. We have a responsibility. If you are not yet registered, do it. If you are registered, make sure it’s up to date, and please, let’s just save this nation. Amen?

This is what was happening in Venezuela. They opened their borders. I was just talking to my dear friend, our friend, this morning on the phone. He was telling me again about everything. He said, “This is one of the things that started in Venezuela, and they opened their borders for anybody to come in. Many Chinese came in and they gave them everything free.”

Do you know, do you remember that, before communism came into Venezuela, it was the richest country in the whole of Latin America? Rich with oil, rich with gold, rich with diamonds, the most glorious lifestyle. But now, but now, it is the poorest country in Latin America. Do you know what the average wage is in Venezuela? You won’t believe it. It is $2.50 a month.

When our friend first told me that, I thought, “Oh well, that’s most probably Venezuelan currency.” I said, “What currency is that? Is it US?” He said, “Yes, US.” Can you imagine surviving on $2.50 a month? That is why hundreds are dying. They’re dying from starvation. Of course, millions are trying to flee the country.

But that’s how it started with many of the same things that are happening here in our country. He was also telling me . . . he loves to talk about his country. The city of Caracas was also so beautiful, but he said now it’s like Los Angeles and parts of Chicago, with all the homeless people lying on the streets. This is what communism does, because you cannot have communism start in a poor country. It has to start in a rich country, because they need the means to start it.

But then, what happens, they just use it up, and then everybody becomes poor. Everybody becomes the same. It’s all tied in really, too, with the New World Order, which as we know, the very first thing on the top of their list is, “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” That’s what they want. They don’t want to have any class distinctions. They want everybody the same. You’ll own nothing!

Well, I don’t think you’ll be happy, because that’s not God’s plan. When we read of God’s blessing back in the Word of God, we read of how every man sits under his own vine and tree. Yes, that’s how God wants it. Every man owning his own home. That’s his castle. It’s not just everyone the same and everyone ending up with nothing. We’ve got to face the facts of where we are in this country.

I was just looking at something else I’d written here, and I wanted to tell you about it, but I think I have lost it at the moment. Anyway, lovely ladies, I do want to encourage you that these elections are coming up and that you will be motivated to vote. Wouldn’t it be amazing, wouldn’t it be amazing if the 40 million Christians who haven’t bothered (in many ways, it’s not even caring about your country).

I am not American born but I am an American citizen. We came here. Of course, we had to first get our green cards. That took time. It cost a lot of money. We eventually got them and then we had to wait so many years before we could then apply for our citizenship. That took money, and that took time. That took effort, but we had to come legally. That is right. But to come in illegally is wrong.

I was mentioning on my Facebook the other day about praying for President Trump and someone on the thread said, “Oh, I don’t know . . . ” (They obviously listen to CNN. So many people are brainwashed. Even in other countries, they don’t have conservative media. They only hear the liberal media which pour forth lies and deception every time they open their mouths).

They said, “Oh, but what about all these poor people coming it? Aren’t we to look after them?” Of course, God wants us to look after the poor. Goodness, we have millions of poor people in our own country. We can’t even look after them because they’re giving all the money to these invaders. The Bible talks about when a stranger comes in, they are to have the same laws as everyone else. But now, in this country, they are giving all the free things and all the blessings to the invaders. Our own poor people can’t even be looked after.

It’s not a matter of only those. It’s a matter of praying. I have to ask you, are you praying? Dear ladies, there is less than a month until this election. I believe every God-fearing family in this nation, and across the world (ladies who are in other countries, would you be praying for these elections too? Because they will affect you. Everyone will be affected by what happens in America on November 5^th).

But they do start early voting. I think that’s about the 16^th of October, so it’s good to vote early, in person, of course. We believe in in-person voting, and showing our ID. That’s what it’s meant to be.

Pray, we’ve got to pray! Look, come before the Lord every morning and every evening as you have your family prayer time together. I trust you do that every day. Gather your whole family to pray. Pray, pray for protection on President Trump. Pray that God will supernaturally keep him. He has survived two, well, he’s survived many, many attempts even when he was in office. God has been sovereignly watching over him.

But it’s only the prayers of God’s people and we must keep praying. We must pray against the cheating and the fraud because they’re trying to do it again. There’s already, already a lot of cheating going on.

I was in Michigan, taking an Above Rubies retreat just recently. One of the ladies was telling me of how someone who is involved in trying to watch over what is happening said how they found already in Michigan, they found all these votes that have come in for this election from a whole area, apartment complexes where actually no one’s been living. But they’ve got names for them all because they’ve got addresses.

There’s all this kind of cheating going on. And of course, they’ve got all the invaders. We, as God’s people, have to get out and vote. But we’ve got to pray. Pray against it. That is our greatest weapon, to pray.

BEGIN A PRAYER MEETING IN YOUR HOME

Do you know of a prayer meeting that is praying for this election? Maybe you don’t. I’ve asked people when I meet them, “Do you know of a prayer meeting near you where you can pray for the election?”

“No, never heard of one.” Well, that’s easy to fix! You start one in your own home!

We have two prayer meetings every week to pray for this nation and for what is going on in this nation, and for this election. Why don’t you just ask another family that you know? Maybe another two or three families. Say, “Hey, look! Just once a week, until this election, let’s get together and pray!”

Have your whole family. You don’t have to eliminate children when you pray. You incorporate them! At our prayer meetings, the children are all there right down to the little ones—the nursing babies, the toddlers, everyone comes! Maybe the little ones aren’t praying but they’re there in the midst of the prayer. It’s so beautiful to look around, and see even little ones—three, four, and five years, worshipping the Lord. Oh, it’s so beautiful!

But ladies, could I just ask that you do that? That you’d begin a prayer meeting? And begin to pray with others? I recently started a prayer box for the election. I have loads of prayer boxes. I have nine prayer boxes that we use every day. We don’t use them all. We usually choose one, sometimes two. We take a card out. If it’s praying for Israel, or the nation, or the persecuted church, or whatever.

ELECTION PRAYER BOX

I thought, “Wow! I’ve got to have one especially for this election!” So, I just made one, PRAYING FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP AND THE ELECTION. I have all these cards in it, so we’re now using that every day. You can make a little box. If you need some ideas on what to pray for, email me, and I’ll send them to you. You can write them on cards, and you can all be praying! Because praying is our greatest weapon. Amen?

Oh, I just hope you’ll be with me, dear ladies. I do trust that you’ll realize that this is not some political podcast. This is about the saving of our nation. This is about saving us from going into communism. This is their plan. If Trump doesn’t get in, this is what will happen. Please, let’s all wake up, and begin to pray.

2 Chronicles 7:14: “If My people who are called by My Name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will hear their prayer and save their land.” Oh, we can claim that promise as we do that.

Another thing we’ve been doing recently in our prayer meetings is ending with the Lord’s Prayer. We usually sing it and it’s so powerful. The words are so powerful. It’s worth doing that too.

All right, now as I close this session, I want to tell you what’s coming up. We have already recorded the next three podcasts. I was with a most beautiful mother. Her name is Genevieve, a mother of 11 children. She tells the stories of her births. She starts off how, as a young child she was absolutely terrified of needles, and terrified of thinking that one day she might have to have a baby. It was an incredible fear upon her life.

But she got married at 27 years and then, wow! Then she faced having children. Oh, my. It took three podcasts for her to share the stories. Every birth was unique. In some, she nearly lost her life. But God brought her through victoriously, and she never gave up trusting God. Oh, you’ll love to hear these stories! So, that’s coming up next!

Let’s pray, shall we?

“Lord God, we thank You so much for this great nation, Lord, a nation that You want to be a light upon a hill, a light to the world. And Father, I pray that You will give every one of us such a burden for this nation, such a burden for this coming election that determines, Lord, not only how we’ll live, but the lives of our children and grandchildren.

“Lord God, we long to live in this nation of freedom. This is really the last bastion of freedom in the world. We pray, Lord, that You will help us to keep it. I pray that You’ll raise up prayer warriors all over this nation and the world. And Lord, that everyone who loves You will begin to pray like they’ve never prayed before! Lord God, I pray for this great battery of prayer to rise up, Lord God, as we face this election.

“Lord, we know it’s a spiritual battle. It’s not flesh and blood. It’s a fight between darkness and light. It’s a fight between the kingdom of Satan, and the kingdom of God. I pray, Lord God, that You’ll touch every heart to become involved in this battle. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.”

Nancy: Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

P.S. The Venezuelan guy and I was talking about on the podcast (and who is now a USA citizen) said to me the other day: “I’ve lost one country; I don’t want to lose another.” (I can’t give you his name because even though he escaped Venezuela, he was blackmailed even here in the States to pay so many thousands every month to the Venezuela government. If he didn’t, they sent pictures to him with soldiers pointing guns at his aging parents!)

ONE MORE REMINDER:

PLEASE VOTE FOR TRUMP!

How can I blatantly ask you who to vote for? Because, if we don’t, we face the direst consequences. A vote for Harris/Walz means that never again will have a free election. If they win this time, they will continue to steal the elections forever after.

IF YOU DON’T VOTE, IT IS STILL A VOTE. IT IS A VOTE FOR HARRIS.

A non vote is a vote! It is a vote for Harris/Walz.

That means a vote for –

Communism

Late term abortion, and even after it is born

Transgenderism and the mutilating of the bodies of the children of our nation

Increasing persecution of Christians

Increased soaring prices

Continued wars (there were no wars when Trump was in power)

Total invasion of our nation with the continuation of released murderers, rapists, convicted criminals, assassins, terrorists, and the worst of all, sex-traffickers

 

WHAT KIND OF A WORLD DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN AND SUCCEEDING GENERATIONS?

 

QUOTE BY THE GREAT REVIVALIST, CHARLES GRANDISON FINNEY”

“The Church must take right ground in regard to politics . . . Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as part of their duty to God . . . God will bless or curse this nation, according to the course Christians take in politics.”

~ Charles Grandison Finney

 

 

LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell

EPISODE 329: Update With Bethany Vaughn

Bethany's husband, Paul, has now received his sentence for seeking to save babies at an abortion clinic. I talked with Bethany today about this update. I previously shared their story in podcasts 277 and 278.

Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.

Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! Now today I have someone new with me, Bethany Vaughn. Bethany is the mother of 11 children. The last time we spoke, Bethany, you had eight grandchildren. Do you still have eight?

Bethany: Actually, nine. A newborn a few weeks ago. So nine, and two more are on the way.

Nancy: Wonderful! Isn’t it exciting when you're a big family? It never becomes stagnant. It’s always growing. It’s the same with us. We have over 50 grandchildren, and currently we have 28 great-grandchildren! Isn’t that amazing? And five more on the way. We had one more born last week. That was Chalice, Serene’s daughter. She now has three little girls, all close together. She is such a wonderful mother.

But it’s so exciting. You never have to get bored. I can’t imagine life in a family of two children. They grow up, and sadly today, many of these in two-child families grow up without a vision for family. They delay marriage, and then they get married, and then they are delaying childbearing.

And there are the poor parents, waiting, waiting for grandchildren. It’s not meant to be that way. We’re actually meant to have the children God wants us to have until we can’t have anymore, which is when we reach menopause. But then, oh, then the grandchildren start coming on. It’s the way of life, the way God intends it to. And it’s so exciting.

Although Bethany is here with me today, and I said I have someone new, Bethany did two podcasts with me quite some time ago. I can’t remember when, but the podcasts were 277 and 278. You’ll be able to go back and catch up if you missed those because that was when Bethany told her horrific story of how one morning they were woken up by guns and bangs. It was the FBI coming to kidnap her husband.

We won’t be telling that story again, but it’s there. You can go back and listen to it. They arrested her husband, Paul because about, wasn’t it 18 months previously, he had been involved in standing up at an abortion clinic. Standing for life, which, of course, means standing for God. Standing on God’s side, because God is the giver of life.

Well, life went on, and it was 18 months later that suddenly they were arrested. There was the FBI at their door, kidnapping her husband, taking him away. She didn’t even know what for. But anyway, you’ll be able to go back and hear that on those podcasts.

But now, time has gone on, and we’re going to hear what has happened now. You had your sentencing. They were hoping to sentence Paul for up to ten years in prison, but God was very good. You can tell the story, Bethany.

Bethany: 21 months after the FBI raid, we finally got to the sentencing date. The trial had been in January. He was found guilty. Six months later they scheduled the sentencing in July. A lot of stress going into that, but the Lord’s peace and his comfort definitely surrounded our family.

Nancy: That must have been a big thing though, Bethany, for you as a wife, and all your children. Waiting, waiting, wondering, “Are they going to take your husband and this father away for up to ten years?”

Bethany: We, as well as the lawyers, were expecting at least some prison time. We didn’t know how much. We knew it could be up to ten years. It was a day. It was a day. We able to get through the sentencing.

The judge considered the pre-sentencing report that had gone and that recommended a certain amount of jail time. The prosecution was recommending a certain amount of jail time. And then, he and the other defendants received hundreds of support letters that went to the judge. She said that she did consider the support letters, the letters requesting leniency, letters from family, friends, and people from all over the country.

Even our state senator and our state representative had submitted a letter to the judge requesting leniency and attesting to his good character. She sentenced him to three years’ supervised release, with the first six months on house arrest. And no fine or court costs. We were facing hundreds of thousands in fines. She had determined that we couldn’t pay the fine anyway, so there was no use in giving a fine.

I had a lot of questions. A lot of people have asked, “Oh, at that moment, did you feel such great relief? Finally, it’s over.” I would say that I am grateful that he did not receive a prison term. It was a mercy. However, it still was not justice. What it did that day was just clarify that the battle would be fought from our home base and not from a distant prison. That definitely was a mercy.

Nancy: Tell us. You had loads of people filling the courthouse that day, didn’t you?

Bethany: Yes, we walked up to that big federal courthouse in Nashville and there were hundreds of Christians outside singing and praying. We also ran into about seven or eight pro-aborts that were standing there with their signs that said, “Lock them up!” One of the signs actually had my husband’s name on it. They were very angry. Paul actually used that as an opportunity to speak to them and share the gospel with them.

Then we went into the courthouse. They had opened two courtrooms. They had us in one courtroom and they had an overflow courtroom because there were so many people there. That was in one day.

Nancy: That must have also affected them, to see all these people there. Not people there protesting, but people singing hymns and glorifying the Lord.

Bethany: Yes, yes. Moms and dads and children. We were so grateful for the support and the prayers and the love that we’d been shown through this.

Nancy: So, actually, there were ten people who were there for sentencing, weren’t there?

Bethany: There were ten people indicted. There were 11 people indicted; one had turned and testified against the other ten. There were six felonies, so six were charged with FACE (The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act). They were charged with conspiracy.

My husband was one of those. Then there were four misdemeanors that were just charged with FACE. Those are still in the process of being sentenced. They don’t sentence you all at one time. They pick them one at a time and sentence them. There are still, I think, out of this group, two who are scheduled to be sentenced very soon.

Nancy: Those two received house arrest, but only one prison time.

Bethany: Most of them received a similar sentence to my husband. There is one that did receive six months in prison. He will be checking in pretty soon, in October.

Nancy: And all of this is just for standing up for life.

Bethany: Yes.

Nancy: Which you have been doing all your life, really. You’ve been involved in doing this, haven’t you?

Bethany: Pro-life, definitely. God is life. He’s the giver and the maker of life. We reflect Him, and we represent Him, so we stand for life.

Nancy: Amen. OK, so what’s life like now with Paul on house arrest?

Bethany: House arrest. About a week after the sentencing, we had a government supervision agent who will be overseeing him. His overlords, they’re actually called “Intensive Supervision Specialists.” So, he has an Intensive Supervision Specialist who is monitoring his house arrest.

They were required to come out to our house to inspect our home. We tried to get this put off. We tried to avoid this, but ultimately our efforts in pursuing that, trying to get it to be stayed failed. So, they showed up.

Nancy: That was pretty intensive, wasn’t it?

Bethany: Yeah, it was not comfortable having government agents come in your home. That was a very difficult day. They came and they walked into our house. I had my phone. I videoed and took pictures and stood behind them as they walked through our house.

They looked in our children’s bedrooms. They walked into my master bedroom. They asked questions about our property. They go outside. They look around outside. They look in our outbuildings. Then she proceeds to tell Paul the rules. He’s to be home at these times. He’s not to have any weapons in the house and she will need the name and the number of the person who has our weapons so she can call and check.

Then she turns to me. She says, “Pictures and videos, you can’t give pictures and videos to the media.” Then they leave. About a week later, we get calls on Saturday morning from this Intensive Supervision Specialist who wants to check and make sure that Paul is obeying his house arrest rules and is at home. He does have the ability to work, and he does have the ability to go to church. There are curfew hours.

Nancy: That’s really quite amazing because I’m thinking of Rebecca Lavrenz. You have heard me speak of her. She’s also done a couple of podcasts with me. She was arrested for going into the Capitol on January 6. She went in for about ten minutes, walked around, and came out.

But she also did not receive prison time, but house arrest. Her house arrest is pretty much—she’s there, ankle monitored, and also has a thing on her phone. She’s not allowed on the internet. She’s really squashed down completely.

Fortunately, she has a bit of land around her house which she can walk around so she can feed her chickens. Even then, she’s only allowed to go out of her house, just for that little time, morning and evening, to feed her chickens. Otherwise, she has to be in her house. And she was also fined $103,000.00, and her charge was only a misdemeanor. They say that that must be the hugest fine for a misdemeanor in history.

Bethany: Yet the pro-life misdemeanor defendants have ankle monitors. They have similar restrictions, but yeah, the whole thing is just ridiculous, to have these pro-life Christian men and women monitored to this extent.

Nancy: So, here we are, in our nation at the moment. I have Bethany here, and you’ve also heard Rebecca share. These are just beautiful normal family people. Here is Bethany, a grandmother. Rebecca herself is a great-grandmother. Here they are, standing up for truth, standing up for life, and yet, facing . . .

Tell me, your First Amendment is taken away. They won’t allow Paul to vote. It’s even against the Constitution, all for things that our Founding Fathers stood for. They stood for life, they stood for truth. They stood for the Word of God. And here, now people are being sentenced for standing up for life, for truth. It’s unbelievable.

What are we doing? I don’t know. I think so many people are just carrying on their lovely lives, with all their challenges each day, of course, but not realizing what is happening. These things are happening to ordinary people, and they can happen to us if we open our mouths too much. And yet, we dare not close our mouths! We dare not, because when we keep silent, we are giving up our freedoms. We’ve got to fight for life, and fight for freedom, and fight for truth.

Bethany: Definitely. I think there’s a tendency to see what is going on in our country, especially for moms to be tempted to fear, and to shirk back in fear and be scared. I hope that our story, I hope that what has happened to us, I hope that that actually encourages and inspires other Christian families to trust the Lord, and to not fear man.

When we fear man, we become bound. When we fear God, we’re free. And to realize that He will give you the strength at the time that you need to endure the trials that He sends your way. It really is an exciting time to be alive. It’s not a time to fear. It’s not a time to hide and try to protect ourselves and isolate ourselves.

Nancy: That’s right. So, now in the situation you're in now, you've always been very proactive for life. How are you doing that now?

Bethany: One of the ways is that God has definitely opened up platforms of opportunities to speak and to encourage others who may be facing similar trials, or who may in the future be facing some more trials.

Then too, just carrying on our normal large family life. Throughout this trial, our life still went on. We still married off children, and grandbabies are coming, so life doesn’t stop just because the DOJ comes in and interrupts your life. I think that their intent, they want to crush you, they want to scare you, they want you to flee.

By the grace of God, we can use these opportunities of persecution and trial to refine us, to burn off the chaff, to solidify us. Instead of being crushed and pulverized, we’re actually turned into those diamonds and that gold that shine the light of Christ to a very dark world. Our nation is very sick right now. It’s very dark. We’re needed.

Nancy: Yes, we are. I believe that every Bible-believing God-fearing family, husbands, wives, and children, we must be standing up. We can no longer be silent. If we belong to God, well, we must confess Him and His truth. He says that “If we confess Him, He will confess us before His Father, which is in heaven. But if we deny Him, He will deny us before His Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32, 33 and 2 Timothy 2:12).

I think too many are in a state of not wanting to open their mouths. They can believe in their hearts but it’s not enough to believe in our hearts. Even our conversion is not enough to believe in our hearts. How are we saved? The Bible says that “If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:8, 9).

This is how we begin our walk with God. We confess with our mouth. That’s just the beginning. We continue. We continue to confess His truth. If we deny them, we’re denying Him. If we are too afraid to speak up for life, we are denying God, because He is life.

I just wrote the other day, I wrote these words down coming from John 10:10, which says: “The enemy comes to kill, rob, and destroy. but Jesus comes to give us life, and to give it more abundantly.”

But I wrote these words:

“Satan comes to divide, deceive, devour, and destroy.

Jesus comes to bring life, love, light, and liberty.”

We must choose which side we’re on. If we’re on God’s side, we are on the side of life. We have to stand for life. We must fight against the murder of precious life which begins at conception.

I think we’ve got to, in every way, and I think most people today, just about everyone’s on Facebook or some kind of social media. It can be the biggest time waster in the world. Or it can be a tool for God, a tool to proclaim His truth.

I would encourage every one of you precious ladies today, and even young people listening, to use your social media to proclaim truth. Find wonderful quotes about life, and against abortion, and post them. Post them on your social media. Young people, post quotes about life! Find every quote you can get, or every picture you can get that comes against abortion and post it!

We should be flooding the media with these positive truths and quotations and quotes, because the leftists, the socialists, the abortionists, the feminists, they are all flooding the media. Sadly, it’s God’s people who are hidden at the moment. The more we are hidden, the more they are going to take over. The more we push back and proclaim the truth, the more we possess the land again!

So, please, can I ask you to do that? It can be just a little way, in your home, with your children, but you can be a proclaimer of truth to the nation by just using your social media, and every other way. Of course, writing or calling or messaging (usually you Facebook) or calling your senators or congressmen to encourage them against abortion.

We should really talk about what’s happening now in abortions in this nation, shouldn’t we, Bethany? What is happening? What do you know at the moment?

Bethany: I was sharing with you a little bit before the podcast on this election cycle in November, coming up. As most people know, Roe was completely overturned, right? What that did is that it sent it back to the states. There is a fierce battle going on in many, many states over enshrining child murder into the state constitution.

Nancy: Yes, isn’t it sad? It was such a great victory, that Roe v Wade was overturned federally, and is now back to the states. That’s a good thing, of course. It’s now back to the states, but we would have hoped that every state had an opportunity now to uplift life. Instead, these states are trying to legalize murder of life.

Bethany: Some states already have, like Michigan. It’s not just a few weeks. Michigan is . . .

Nancy: Up to right when the baby is born. Isn’t that interesting? Did any of you watch the debate the other night with Trump and Kamela? You will know, if you are truly conversant with the truth, that everything she said was a lie. From the moment she opened her mouth until she closed it, she spouted forth lies.

One of the lies, of course, when Trump challenged her, was that “Oh, no, we don’t allow abortion up to the ninth month,” which many states do. It’s law in Michigan, and even after the baby has been born, if it is being scheduled for abortion, well, they’ve got to let it die. It’s horrific. Tell me the other states.

Bethany: This election cycle, there are actually ten states. I’ll read off the states.

Nancy: Listen, ladies, because it might be one of the states that you live in. If it is, you’ve got a battle on your hands.

Bethany: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, South Dakota.

Nancy: I’m surprised at South Dakota.

Bethany: The other thing is, we must not just think, “Oh, we live in a red state, so we’re pro-life. This will never happen here.” We cannot underestimate the evil, and the viciousness, and the tenacity that the enemy has.

They are going into these red states, and by any means possible, they lie, they steal, they kill, they destroy. They’re going into these red states, and they’re trying to push this even into states that we think, “Oh, this is not a blue state. I’m fine. I’m safe.”

Nancy: I’m sure you listened to those. If your state was mentioned, well, you may need to be doing some calling or writing to your senators, and really standing up for life, and of course, praying. Isn’t it sad that we live in a nation where there are people who are absolutely intent on murdering life? It comes from the enemy. It’s the enemy who comes to destroy. Satan comes to destroy.

If we don’t come against that, what does the Bible say? “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather, reprove them,” or expose them. That’s Ephesians 5:11. We have a responsibility to expose them and reprove them.

Bethany: I will say too, to think about, that if your state borders any of these states, that also matters, because what that means is that women from your state, from your community, may have very short travel times just to get over to a border state that does do abortions.

So, what are we doing in our churches and in our Christian communities help these women? There is such an opportunity right now for crisis pregnancy centers, for maternity care. The opportunity to help in this area, and minister in this area, even if you are in a state that does not have an abortion law, it’s very great.

Nancy: Yes. Young people, if you are listening, that is a very beautiful thing you can do. Often, you graduate, and you wonder what’s next to do. I know many young people, and even some of my Above Rubies helpers who have come to be with me, to help with Above Rubies. Most come for about two months at a time. When they’ve gone back, they have gone back with a vision to get involved in a crisis pregnancy group so they can help these mothers. That’s a beautiful ministry. That’s something you can do. There are so many practical things that you can do.

Yes, let’s engage in this battle, dear ladies, moms, and young people. Oh, it’s your generation that are the ones who are most deceived. They’ve been totally brainwashed in the colleges today. They’re brainwashed against life. It’s just brainwashing. You take away the brainwashing and we get down to tin tacks, to what our real conscience is. Anyone with a true conscience knows that it’s evil to murder life! Everybody knows today because we have ultrasound. Nobody can deny that this little baby, when it’s conceived, it’s life.

I think of that quote by Martin Luther. He said, "If I protest with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at the moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be confessing Christ. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. And to be steady on all the battlefield besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

That’s a very interesting quote, because it’s saying we can be boldly talking about everything. But the one thing where the devil’s attacking most, if we’re quiet about that point, well, we’re missing it. We’re denying Christ. I think this matter of life, because it’s always about life and death, this matter of abortion, which is the murdering of a precious life in the womb, because every one of us began with conception. We wouldn’t be here if we had been aborted, and yet, here we are today, at all varying ages.

We have to face this battle. I think of the Scripture in 2 Peter 1:12. Peter is writing, and he says: “Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.” Here’s he’s speaking about the “present truth.” Every word in the Word of God is truth. Every word! There’s not one word that is not anointed with truth, because it is the living, breathing Word of God.

But here Peter talks about “present truth,” like Luther was speaking about. This one thing that is happening at the moment is a present thing. It’s something we’re facing at the moment. It’s a present truth. He’s saying, “I want to remind you about this.” We are reminding you today, this is a present truth, a battle we’re facing today.

We can’t put it aside or put our heads in the sand. We’ve got to be one way or the other. We’re either on the devil’s side, which is to destroy, or we’re on God’s side, which is life. We’ve got to engage in that battle.

I have to ask the Lord, “How can I engage more? What more can I do, to bring God’s truth?” Each one of you have to ask the Lord, “What do You want me to do? Show me what You want me to do, Lord God, because I’m on Your side. I’m fighting on Your side. I’m Your soldier. Just show me what to do. Show me the strategy.”

Of course, we know that the first strategy is, guess what? It's prayer. Prayer, praying. I think I’ve asked you before, but can I ask you again? Do you pray with your family morning and evening, about this issue, about life, about this nation, and what we’re facing? We’re facing an election very, very shortly.

We heard the debate the other night, and, of course, so many people who are deceived and do not know the truth, as they listened to Kamela, well, they could think, “Wow, I’m going to vote for her!” They don’t know, because every word she said was a lie! They don’t know that they are bringing in communism, total communism! We have to vote against it, and we have to pray against it.

We think of Venezuela right now. The people voted and won the recent election. They won by 70%! They won! But Maduro, who is the tyrant who has total tyranny over this nation, and brought it into communism, he refused to receive that. They went out and put down their people.

Their people are so poor. It was once the richest country in South America. Now it’s the poorest. They’re hardly eating. They’re dying. They are so poor. Now, even after winning another election, they’ve lost because he will not allow it.

Fifty-three countries around the world stood against him to say that they did not accept his election because it wasn’t true. So, what does he do? As the tyrant, he wipes every one of those embassies and they’ve now got to leave the country. They’re wiped. They cannot even be in Venezuela. He has total control.

Ladies, do you realize that, if Kamela, who is the representative of this tyrannical, communistic government they want to bring in, that’s what we will come to. We have got to be in the battle. We’ve got to pray. Not only praying with our families but gathering some friends. Have a prayer meeting in your home.

Oh, I think every single God-fearing family should be having a prayer meeting in their home for this issue about abortion and life, and these elections, and what we’re facing in this nation! If we’re not, I don’t think we understand where we are. If we really understand where we are in this nation, and what could be happening very soon, we will be crying out to God! We will be gathering friends. “Come on! Let’s come! Let’s meet each week, and let’s cry out to God, and pray!” Well, I share this. I hope it’s not just words, and you will really take this up.

But anyway, Bethany, anything you want to share as we close this time?

Bethany: Thank you. Thank you for that encouragement. I just wanted to leave the ladies with a challenge and encouragement to fear God. Don’t fear man. When you think that everything is so overwhelming, and you say, “What do I do,” the first thing you can do, is you can determine in your heart that you're going to fear God. You’re not going to live by lies. You’re going to embrace the truth.

The other important thing that I wanted to bring out is that you yourself model repentance and virtue to your children, and to those around you, and to not be scared to become dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. And to teach your children diligently to do the same thing.

Nancy: Amen. That is beautiful, Bethany. I’d love to have your husband Paul come. He would be able to share with us a little more knowledgeably about what’s happening with abortion in this nation.

Bethany: Yes, he’s actually doing a podcast later on today about that very topic. You can also find out more details about our case, and what’s going on, on our substacks. My substack is //substack.com/@bethanyvaughn">https://substack.com/@bethanyvaughn>, and my husband’s is //substack.com/@paultn">https://substack.com/@paultn>.

Nancy: Thank you, Bethany. I wonder if you’d like to pray for the ladies as we close.

Bethany: Oh, yes! Thank you.

“Lord, we thank You for the amazing opportunity that You have given us to live at this time in history that You have put a story in us. You have put us in a larger story in Your history. Lord, we pray that we would embrace the story You have for us, that we would model repentance and virtue to our children, that we would seek Your face, that we would humbly submit our lives to Your lordship.

“And that we would live with a joyful obedience to Your will, and that we would not be afraid to shine the light of Christ to those around us, and that You have put salt, and You have put light in us.

“Lord, help us be diligent and excited to share that with the world. Lord, we trust You with our lives, we trust You with our children, and with our families. Lord, we pray that You would be near to us, and that we will follow you faithfully all the days of our lives.”

Nancy: Amen.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell

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www.aboverubies.org

Transcribed by Darlene Norris

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DON’T FORGET TO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THESE PODCASTS AND TRANSCRIPTS.

“LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell, Above Rubies”

DON’T KEEP THE BLESSINGS TO YOURSELF.

UPDATE:

Cal Zastrow was also one of the ten who was arrested for saving babies’ lives. I think you will be interested in reading the poem he recently wrote, in the light of going to prison himself.

‘

NO ONE’S SAFE

By Cal Zastrow

Many of us know the following lines, written in the 1800s by Hiram Mann.

No man survives when freedom fails,

The best men rot in filthy jails,

And those who cried, “Appease, appease,”
Are hung by those they tried to please.

Hiram Mann - 1800's

Cal Zastrow has written the following poem, inspired by the above lines. Cal Zastrow is going to prison this month for six months because of standing up for life. Another of the ten was given 16 months in prison. I think you will be challenged by Cal’s poem, especially as he writes it with the knowledge that he will begin his prison sentence this month.

NO ONE’S SAFE

No one's safe when Christians are lukewarm,

When we look away from the coming storm,
Instead of being courage-filled,
We won't Rescue the babies getting killed.

No one's safe when Christians won't pray,

While we play and stray, refusing to obey

Instead of volunteering for God's will,

Our sweat and blood, we won't risk to spill.

No one's safe while Christians hide,
Not standing in the gap against evil's tide,

Short-sighted, we're at ease in Zion,

Compromise has left America dyin'.

No one's safe when Christians are slow starters.
Not prepared for persecution, forgetting faithful martyrs,

But suffering and sacrifice are part of the way

To be prepared for Judgment Day.

No one's safe when Christians shun the Cross,

Committed to things, afraid of their loss,

While we love our face and our place

We are then living under false grace.

No one's safe when Christians hide His light,
While we refuse to care, ignoring the spiritual fight,

Our own comfort is our goal,

Seeking pleasure, not a pure soul.

No one's safe when Christians won't be His salt,
While we pretend that we're not at fault,
Accepting, instead of crucifying sin,

We're timed of conflict, so we won't win.

No one's safe when Christians live in fear,

Making safety an idol, our lives too dear,

Stop listening to the world a callin',

Jesus is Lord! Babylon has fallen.

No one's safe while Christians live for survival,

Come on! Get up! Let's trust God for Revival!

Repent! Throw off this lethargic spell,
Let's go storm the gates of hell!

We'll all be blessed when Christian arise,
Living by faith, and not by lies,

Our salvation is not from Uncle Sam,
Join me now in shouting, “Worthy is the Lamb!”

The solution to our problems now?
Eyes on Jesus, hands on plow!
No compromises, just press the attack,

Eyes on Jesus! No looking back!