REPLAY: Virgil Walker — Abortion Exceptions?
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Summary
Virgil Walker of the Just Thinking Podcast joins Allie to discuss the Alabama legislation allowing abortion up to 20 weeks if a woman is a victim of rape or incest. Allie and Virgil discuss how Christians should view rape and incest as separate issues and what Christians should do on the front lines of the pro-life cause.
Transcript
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Hey guys, happy Friday. Welcome to the podcast. Today we are going to talk to my friend Virgil
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Walker of the Just Thinking podcast. You have probably heard of Just Thinking if you've been
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listening to either their podcast or my podcast for a little bit. I had Daryl Harrison, who is
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the co-host of Just Thinking. A few weeks ago, we talked about wokeness in the church and Virgil
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Walker. His expertise is abortion. He does a lot for the pro-life cause. And so we're going to talk
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about the legislation in Georgia and Alabama, this non-exception or this lack of exception in the
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Alabama legislation for rape or incest, how we as Christians should view that, and really what we
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should be doing on the front lines of the pro-life cause. Virgil, thanks so much for joining me.
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Thank you for having me, Allie. Yeah. First, if you could just tell everyone who might not be
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familiar who you are, what you do, and why you care so much about this issue of abortion.
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Yeah. Well, I'm Virgil Walker, and I'm part and parcel of the Just Thinking podcast with Daryl
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Harrison, the famed Daryl Harrison, Daryl Dangerous Harrison. You've interviewed him on your podcast,
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and so I work side by side with him. I do a lot in the area of abortion. I've been involved in abortion
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at the abortion mill for the last seven years or so, six or seven years, doing sidewalk ministry and
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the like, and just an advocate of the pro-life position. Okay, I gotcha. And you work for a church,
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correct? Correct. Correct. Here in the Omaha area, absolutely. Okay, I gotcha. So there's a lot of
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conversation going on about abortion right now, and this is something that you and I share this
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passion for, the pro-life cause. I've heard you say before that you are more of an abolitionist
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than a pro-lifer. So what do you mean by that? Yeah, definitely more of an abolitionist. I think
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that for the most part, I think the pro-lifers get it right, but I think oftentimes we're involved
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in half measures or we're willing to cede ground on the issue of incest and rape. I mean, you see
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that in the conversation as I've been talking, even over the course of the last few days with regard to
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this particular issue, what you find is that most who argue the pro-life position have ceded the issue
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of rape and incest. I mean, it's almost as if they want to steer clear of those two areas in the way
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of exception. And my thought is, it's inconsistent. It's really inconsistent from a standpoint of a
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biblical worldview. You know, the rape and incest thing has been brought up a lot this week because
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of the Alabama legislation. The Georgia legislation, it made an exception for rape and incest. It said,
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okay, a woman can still get an abortion up to 20 weeks in Georgia if she is a victim of rape or if
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this is a consequence of incest. A lot of more, a lot of pro-lifers were probably a little bit more
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comfortable with that, like you said. But Alabama says, sorry, no exceptions. And you see a lot of
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people who call themselves pro-life saying, well, well, well, that's a little too far. So can you tell
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me what you would say or how you would kind of confront that kind of caveat?
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Yeah. I think, again, we have adopted, rather than holding to a biblical worldview of the sovereignty of
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God and that he is the one who is the giver of life, we've decided that we're going to see that.
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We're going to put that aside and adopt a secular view where we've elevated our feelings and emotions.
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And again, I don't say that in a way to minimize a woman who's been traumatized by the issue of rape.
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I think that's a horrific situation. And what we need to do with regard to the issue are to separate
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the two things. One, we've got to separate the issue of the rape and look at that differently.
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We've conflated the issue of the rape and the life of the child. We've conflated both issues and have
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made the decision that they should both be treated in the same manner rather than recognizing that
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they're two separate issues. The rapist, that situation needs to be adjudicated from a standpoint.
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I love what your friend Ben Shapiro says, either castrated and or killed. Once that rapist has been
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proven guilty, I think the worst harm should be done to that individual. But with regard to the life of
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the child, we need to hold to a biblical worldview that says that the child is an image bearer of God
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and is worthy of distinct value, dignity, and worth. And rather than adopting the ideas that the
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world has given us with regard to feelings and emotion, we need to stop for just a moment,
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recognize the value of the child, and realize the child has done nothing wrong deserving of death.
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And I also think we need to think about how to amplify the culture that says that this is shameful,
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that carrying a child born out of rape is a shameful situation. We need to recognize the heroic
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nature of a woman who's gone through that difficult process and makes the decision to carry a child to
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term. I was talking with a friend who mentioned the fact that we often quote Romans 8, 28, that
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that God has given us all things to work together for His good, right? When we think about that,
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most Christians who are pro-lifers would agree with the fact that we know that all things work
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together for the good of them that love God and are called according to His purpose, except for in
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the instance of incest and rape. Those are situations where we've got to realize the sovereignty of God.
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He is the giver of life. And to really think through that process, providing all the support
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necessary for a woman so that she can bear the child and either make the choice of giving the
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child up for adoption or keeping the child as a result. Is there anything that Christians need
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to be doing? I know that you mentioned obviously sticking up for the personhood of the individual
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from the point of conception, no matter the situation surrounding the conception of the child,
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also taking care of these moms, making sure that they have the real options that are available,
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of course, keeping the child, raising the child, adoption, whatever it is. Is there anything else
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Christians can be doing as far as, you know, the adoption process? We hear a lot. Adoption is too
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expensive. The foster care system is terrible. We hear this as an excuse kind of from the pro-choice
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side. Is there anything Christians can be doing in those realms to make sure that truly it is as easy
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as it possibly can be for a woman to give birth to a child and make sure that child is in a good home?
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Yeah, there are a lot of things that churches in particular, believers can do to be supportive.
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I shared with you earlier, I do sidewalk ministry at an abortion clinic. And when I'm there, it is
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incredibly important to know that I've got an entire church community around me that I can call
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at a moment's notice. If something were to happen right there at the location and everything from
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providing a place to stay for that woman, if she's in an abusive situation, to providing food,
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to providing clothing, to providing every single need that she might have up and into and through
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adoption, I think two thoughts. One is often pro-choicers try to use the excuse that we can
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murder a child or that they can murder a child in the womb on the basis of the fact that someone's not
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adopting that child. And that's a flawed argument. That's a false statement. That life is not a value
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whether or not someone desires it or not. Secondly, Christians can do more. We often make
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the claim that we are pro-life, and yet all we do in a way of advocating that position is every four
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years voting for the person who claims that they are going to be more pro-life than not. And we've
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got to step up to do more. I'm thankful that I'm in a place and a space where there is that level of
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support at the point of need. And we've got to look for ways to advocate, look for ways to be
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uncomfortable where we can be in an effort to help these women who are really going through
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some very difficult times. So can you offer any advice to the man or the woman who doesn't,
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they don't know where to start. They don't know if there are any pregnancy clinics in their area.
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They would love to have their church be involved in a pro-life ministry, but maybe their church isn't.
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How do they start doing something like you're doing? Or just to start making that connection
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between mothers in crisis and whatever sphere they're currently involved in?
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Yeah. I completely appreciate the question that you asked because I remember at the point at which
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I got interested in this issue, began to educate myself. My first thought was, where do I go? I had
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no one to show me what it looked like to be on the sidewalk at an abortion clinic. And while some
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people are willing to do that, others are not. There's all kinds of pregnancy advocacy places
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in town. Where I live, there's a Shure women's clinic. They do a lot of great work. So you've got
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to find where there are organizations who are already doing the work, where you can plug in,
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where you can be a part of. I think those kinds of things are definitely important. We've got to
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seek those out and do more than simply every four years vote for the person that we think is going
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to advocate for our position. I'm even concerned. And Ali, I wanted to throw something back to you
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really quickly if I could. I'm concerned about where things go from here with regard to the Supreme
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Court. We know that this decision that's happened in Georgia was designed for the purpose of getting
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thrown back into the Supreme Court to challenge Roe v. Wade. I don't know about you. I don't know
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that I have the confidence to believe that things will be overturned. And I really think that most
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conservatives will be reeling at that point if indeed Roe v. Wade is not overturned based upon this
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case. Do you have any thoughts about that? I would say considering how Kavanaugh has ruled on a few
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other cases, not even involving Planned Parenthood or abortion, it looks like he's leaning further to
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the left than a lot of us had hoped. Now, he might call himself personally pro-life. We know that he's
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Catholic. A lot of the Catholic community considers themselves pro-life. But sometimes you have some
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cognitive dissonance where people say, well, I'm personally pro-life, but I don't want to limit the
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rights of other people. I don't know if Kavanaugh falls into that camp. And so judging by Kavanaugh,
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I don't think that we are going to get the ruling on Roe v. Wade that we want. Now, I could
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psychoanalyze Kavanaugh and say maybe it's because he wants to show the left who hated him so much
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that he's really not going to do all the terrible things that he said that or that they said he was
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going to do. I'm not sure his motives behind that. And I can't predict necessarily what's going to
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happen. I was more optimistic just at the thought of thinking, OK, we've got a like you said, a more
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pro-life than not or a more pro-life than Hillary Clinton president. And so we've got a few Supreme
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Court vacancies up for grabs. And so it's a possibility that this could happen. But unfortunately,
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unfortunately, probably people like Kavanaugh and and maybe some other conservative justices,
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too, I'm just not sure, have bought into this lie that, you know, being all the way pro-life is
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too extreme. It's too extreme. And maybe Planned Parenthood does do some good things. And it may be
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abortion in some cases is really compassionate. I like what you are saying about being an abolitionist.
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I think too many people are scared to really say that, including people in power. Do you agree?
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I completely agree. In fact, most of the conversations that I've had since this
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legislation got enacted with Christians is, yeah, I'm pro-life, but I mean, that that's it's in fact,
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I mean, you could you could say this is a new I think this issue is bringing up even the clarity
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of thought or at least an opportunity for people to begin thinking about their their true position.
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And what I'm running into is this new category of Christian calling themselves pro-life, but and
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and it's a shame because they're looking at it from, I believe, from a secular perspective rather
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than from a consistently biblical worldview. As we talked about being image bearers of God, I think
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we've got to look at that. We've got to examine that and even be willing to say how much of that was
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taught to us by our own, quote unquote, pro-life movement. That's why I've distanced myself a bit from
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saying I'm pro-life to telling people I'm an abolitionist. While I recognize that that has
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its own connotation to it, because there's a group out there and doing some different things that I
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disagree with. I do agree from a standpoint of we need to be all about the abolition of abortion.
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And that means not just legislatively, but also in creating a culture of life to make I've heard
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this phrase before and I really like it, making abortion unthinkable or as unthinkable as possible.
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There's always going to be evil in the world. There's always going to be people that insist upon
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killing their child for whatever desperate reason they feel like they have. That's always going to
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exist. No law can outlaw all kinds or every single kind of evil. But legislatively and also in what
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you're doing and what a lot of people are doing is making sure these women are cared for. I think
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the biggest myth that we hear from pro-choicers is that people who don't like abortion are only pro
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what they call forced birth, that we're only for birthing the child and then we want to abandon the
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child. And they usually say that's because we don't agree with their government programs or we don't
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agree with all the stuff that that they believe the government should be doing. So we must not
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really be pro-life. I think I know what you're going to say, but what do you say in response to
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that? Well, one, that there's never justified reason to end the life of a child, first of all,
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never justified reason. But more times than not, I mean, the people that I know who care the most
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in those instances and who are willing to care are not folks advocating for for the death of a child in
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the womb. It's those of us who are believers, who are advocating for life, who are willing to help,
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who are reaching out and trying to do more than, you know, than, than others to see a child taken
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care of. One of the things that's been interesting to me as well, in addition to, to, to the rhetoric
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is the, the lack of, of, of the arguments that are being made from the other side. I mean, they,
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they just, they have no substance to them whatsoever. They, they are either ad hominem
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attacks or genetic fallacies rather than anything substantive that really anchor our position. Like
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if I'm going to argue with someone, I'm going to at least want to make sure that I'm, I'm properly
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categorizing what they believe. I'm properly articulating what they believe. And none of them
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understand that at the end of the day, the argument that we're, that we're positing is this
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is a human life and, and we need to treat the human life in the womb in the same way that we
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would treat a human life at any other stage of development. No one seems to get that on the
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other side. And so they're, they're coming up. And I know you saw that the argument about these white
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men who advocated this position. I wondered your thoughts about that as well.
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Yeah. Well, neither of us are white men and we are, we are having this conversation and I think
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it's just a way you said so many good things there. And one of the things that I just wonder,
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and you don't want to assume always bad motives on the other, on the, on the side of the people that
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you are disagreeing with. It's, I think, particularly hard to do that with abortion, just because the
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other side, the reality that they're advocating for, whether they know it or not is so grotesque and is
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so black and white, uh, that it's really difficult not to assume bad motives. But even if we were to
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give the benefit of the doubt to most people, I think there are a lot of people on the pro-choice
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side that do realize the argument that we're making, that do understand the argument that we're
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making, but, but they know that if they do the way that you said, if they do say, I understand what
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you're saying, Virgil or Allie, that this is a human being, that this is just an early stage of
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development, but I still think it's okay to kill a human being that makes their arguments sound
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really bad. And they know that that is very brutal. And most of them, what they're just not
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willing to verbalize that because it hurts their conscience too much, which should tell you something
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about the human heart. But I think it makes them feel better. It puts a balm on their guilt or shame
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to say, well, this is not a human being. This is not a person. Um, it, it just reminds me the kind
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of dehumanizing language that we hear from them to justify their arguments. It reminds me so much
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of the arguments made for slavery. And I wonder if you agree with that since you call yourself an
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abolitionist. Absolutely. I mean, the, the, the same arguments that are being posited today,
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uh, are the same ones that were, that were posited in during the time of slavery. It's the devaluing
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of, of a human being who's created in God's image. Uh, that the, the, the arguments today are my body,
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my choice. Uh, the arguments back then were, were my slave, my property. Um, and so those are the same,
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those are the same arguments that, that are, that were being posited then that are being posited now.
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And the, the, the, the interesting thing is, like you said, they, they recognize that in the public
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arena, in, in social media, in, in media in particular, their arguments sound very, very harsh.
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They, and, and they recognize those don't hit the ear very well. Uh, but what's interesting Ali is at the
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abortion clinic, these women are making those arguments. Uh, these women walking into these
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abortion clinics. I was there this past mother's day weekend. They don't care. They recognize this
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is a human life. I'm calling out to them and letting them know, Hey, we're here to help you.
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We're here because we care about you. You don't have to end the life of your child. You know,
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I know you're doing this to cover, uh, perhaps cover sin in, in, in, in an area of your life,
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but man, Christ died for your sins. There's no reason for that. There's, we're here to help you.
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We love you. These women flip me off. They'll, they'll tell me they know it's a human being and
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walk right into the abortion clinic. And so it's, it's a different thing at the, at the point of,
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uh, you know, where, where rubber meets the road, so to speak. But I recognize that, you know, in the,
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in the, you know, in the area of social media and the area of media in general, uh, those arguments
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don't play well, but they do, they do coincide with the same arguments that were being had during
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the time of slavery. And what you obviously realized just from that short story that you just
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told me. And what I think a lot of Christians maybe sometimes forget, or don't want to think
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about because it's just another layer of discomfort, but the answer to this essentially and ultimately
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is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because you, you mentioned that these women, these women get very
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angry when you mentioned sin or Jesus or what they're doing. And you just look at either, uh,
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Romans one, or you look at Ephesians four that says they are darkened in their understanding.
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Why? Because they don't know God. It says they are, uh, callous. They are, uh, ignorant in their
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hardness of heart. And when I think about so many people that, uh, are adamantly pro abortion or pro
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what they call pro choice, it, it, uh, Ephesians four rings, uh, so true that it is callousness,
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it's ignorance, it's darkness, it's a hardness of heart. And what can soften all of those things?
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Only Jesus Christ. That is it. And I think a lot of Christians, um, even well-intentioned Christians,
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they don't want to believe that that is the ultimate answer because again, sharing the gospel
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for a lot of people feels very awkward. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think I, one, you're,
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you're spot on with that too. I think we're going to come face to face with that. If indeed,
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uh, the, the, the Roe v. Wade decision, you know, goes the wrong way. Let's say this goes to the
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Supreme court. Um, and, and, and, you know, Roe v. Wade's not turned around. Uh, I know that
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there'll be people continuing to, to, to advocate for that. I think that I think a lot of Christians
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will be disheartened, uh, by that. But at the end of the day, I think you, you landed spot on it,
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uh, which is the other day I was listening to, to one of your relatable, uh, podcasts where,
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where you quoted from Romans one 18, you walked us through 28 through 32, and you talked about
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all the things that are in the heart of, of mankind and that we not only agree with those
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things, we give hearty approval to those that do. And I think when, when you look at that reality in,
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even in the life of, of believers, where we've allowed some issues around this abortion to cloud
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our mind rather than holding to a biblical worldview, there, there will be a cost. And ultimately
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at the end of the day, we've got to get back to the proclamation of the gospel at the end of the
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day, the proclamation of the gospel that changes the hearts of the human condition is what will,
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what will turn this around. Right. One thing that I did want to get your insight on, I think I've
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heard you talk about this, uh, before, but how abortion, this is switching gears just a little
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bit, but how abortion disproportionately, uh, affects impoverished communities, minority communities,
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and in particular, the black community and how that point seems to be completely ignored by the
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side that is so quick in every other situation to call out racism. Right, right. Well, I think
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between you and I, you being a female, me being a black male, we can put our intersectionality
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points together and maybe speak with a little bit of authority on this, on this particular issue. And
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that is the reality that, that when I'm at the abortion clinic, one of the things that I think is
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interesting or surprising, at least for, for women who are driving in disproportionately in Nebraska,
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where I'm from, uh, blacks represent 6% of the population, but represent about 28% of abortions
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that are taking place, uh, in the state disproportionately affecting us. And in other
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areas, it's even worse. Uh, you know, you, you, you've, uh, I've heard you talk about the fact that in
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New York, uh, that there, there are more, more black babies who are murdered in the womb than are
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actually born. We know that statistic well, but it disproportionately affects black communities. And if,
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if those who, who really believe that black lives do matter, they would find themselves on the front
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lines at abortion clinics to ensure that the black genocide that is taking place stops immediately.
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And I think women who come to the abortion clinic are often shocked or surprised to see a black male
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there at the clinic. And, and so I, I do feel at times that I have an extra opportunity, uh, to share
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with them, Hey, black lives do matter. If you want to use that language, if you want to use that mantra
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from your secular worldview, if black lives matter, they should matter today and it should keep you
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from aborting your child. And, uh, and every time they hear that mantra, I want them to remember if
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they go through with that abortion on that day, they weren't thinking that that black life mattered
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much. Now there's definitely forgiveness, uh, through Jesus Christ and by way of repentance of
00:24:08.980
sin and placing faithful faith in him. Uh, but I, but I want them to, to recognize that,
00:24:14.080
acknowledge that and to keep them from walking into the evil, uh, that they're about to do as
00:24:19.000
they murder their child in the womb. Well, I think that this fight is just beginning, um,
00:24:26.220
for unborn lives. And if we think that if we think I, and I do agree that in some ways the pro-life
00:24:35.300
cause has gained a lot of ground and we have done wonderful things or the abolitionist cause against
00:24:41.300
abortion has done wonderful things. And God has given us so much grace and so much power and so
00:24:47.760
much discernment in this, but it is also easy to look at the arguments from the other side,
00:24:53.540
to look at the things going on in particular States like New York and be scared and be disheartened.
00:25:00.180
And just for me, there's no other issue that makes me just want to pull my hair out and say,
00:25:05.760
what, how the heck can people have this mentality and where in the world are we going? So if you
00:25:13.920
could just give some advice, some encouragement to people who they might be happy about the Georgia
00:25:21.240
and Alabama legislation, but they're feeling scared, nervous, confused, helpless, out of control.
00:25:28.680
Um, they want to do something for unborn babies and women. They don't know what,
00:25:32.100
and they don't know if anything is going to be fruitful. Can you just give some, a charge to
00:25:36.860
them maybe? Yeah. Yeah. That what you said reminds me of when I first kind of got into this about six
00:25:41.940
or seven years ago, uh, as the issue began to get real to me and I felt like I've got to do something,
00:25:50.060
but had no idea what to do. Um, man, I began to seek out people who, who knew more than I did about
00:25:57.220
the issue, who understood the issue well, and, and gave examples of how to, how to go about fighting,
00:26:03.060
uh, this particular issue, whether that means, uh, finding someone who's at an abortion clinic,
00:26:07.720
doing a sidewalk ministry, whether that's at, at an advocacy clinic, uh, where you could spend time
00:26:13.660
there with those folks, whether it's, whether it's praying. Oftentimes I'll, I'll post on Facebook
00:26:18.320
when I'm headed out to the abortion clinic and I'll just ask people to pray for me. And, and, uh,
00:26:23.560
because again, uh, I recognize that in those spaces and places at the end of the day, and this is the
00:26:28.660
one thing that all of us need to remember, and that is God is sovereign. And that if, if he wanted
00:26:35.280
to wipe things out tomorrow, he would indeed do it. And we pray earnestly, uh, for him to do just
00:26:41.460
that. In the meantime, we have to be faithful to, to telling truth, to sharing that truth and love
00:26:48.220
and operating from a standpoint of the absolute proclamation of the gospel, which is what, what,
00:26:53.160
what's required, uh, to see hearts changed and transformed and folks receive repentance, uh,
00:26:59.740
faith in Christ and, and follow him all the days of their life. Amen. Thank you so much for all of
00:27:05.340
your insight and thank you for what you do and for leading by example. And I know that you don't take
00:27:11.840
credit for any of it and that it's all the Holy spirit through you, but thank you anyway, uh, for that.
00:27:19.340
And of course, thank the Lord for what he's doing through you and what he's doing through that
00:27:22.780
ministry and how many lives have been changed for generations to come. So I just, I just want you
00:27:29.000
to know that you are appreciated. Oh, thank you for having me. So appreciate it a bunch. Appreciate
00:27:34.140
you, uh, with Daryl and myself with just thinking, and we definitely want to wish you all the best as
00:27:40.880
you get ready to have a brand new baby. We'll definitely be praying for you and looking forward
00:27:45.500
to when you, I know you're going to take a little bit of a hiatus break. Uh, we'll definitely miss you
00:27:49.880
and look forward to when you get back. We, uh, we just know that we watch you follow you and our
00:27:54.220
big fans. Okay. Thank you so much. And if you will just tell everyone real fast, if you'll just tell
00:27:59.120
everyone where they can find, uh, just thinking or where they can find you, if you want them to
00:28:03.560
follow you on social media or wherever you want to direct them. Well, you can, you can catch me on
00:28:09.060
Twitter, Virgil W L K R. So Virgil spelled V I R G I L W L K R Omaha, which is kind of my moniker on the
00:28:17.320
just thinking, uh, podcast. Uh, you can find just thinking wherever you, wherever you download your
00:28:22.040
podcasts on, on Apple or iTunes and or Android. And so, yeah, I would love to connect with you.
00:28:27.580
Love to love to check us out at just thinking. Uh, and I definitely appreciate, uh, uh, have it,
00:28:32.440
having me on, Allie. Thank you so much, Virgil. I appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoyed that
00:28:38.220
conversation. Uh, he is such a good example for all of us just to be bold in our faith.
00:28:44.060
A lot of times, uh, I'm probably guilty of this as well. When I am contending with the other side,
00:28:50.480
forgetting that the, uh, essential problem, uh, with those who think that unborn life is expendable
00:28:58.460
is that they don't know God is that they don't know Jesus Christ. And that is the capacity for all
00:29:04.180
of us. Now there are people who don't know God who are pro-life, but even that is, uh, wisdom and
00:29:10.120
grace from God that they understand that life inside the womb is made in the image of God.
00:29:15.660
But as Christians, we know that for sure. We are convicted by that in our souls and in our hearts.
00:29:21.520
There is no way to get around that. If we are children of God, we recognize the value of vulnerable
00:29:27.960
life. And we care about life, uh, not just inside the womb, but we also care about these mothers.
00:29:33.440
And it is our responsibility to do something, uh, for life that starts at conception and also these
00:29:40.180
mothers who find themselves in crisis situations, but to create an entire culture of life to make
00:29:45.440
them feel helped and cared for. That is part of what it means. That's an example of what it means to
00:29:50.820
be the hands and feet of Jesus. I'm thankful for, uh, for Virgil. He certainly challenged me. I hope
00:29:56.380
you feel that way as well. And I hope you feel enlightened and encouraged by that conversation.
00:30:00.620
I hope you guys have an awesome weekend and I will see you on Monday for Theology Mondays.