Truth Magazine

By Frank Ritter

Reprinted from The Tennessean [8 June 1987], pp. 1-2 A

Whether waking or sleeping, Deborah Garton cannot forget the nightmare that plays over and over in her mind.

Lying on the surgical table, she had turned her eyes to the counter top where her doctor was piecing together tiny, torn bits of flesh.

“Oh Jesus!” she screamed. “You told me it was still a fetus! It’s a baby! It’s a baby! “

Today, she says, “I freaked out. I watched the doctor go to the sink with it, wash it off and then count every little finger, every little toe, I watched her reassemble my baby. I could see it was a little girl – all torn, mangled, bruised.

“And then I just laid there with hate going through my mind. Hate for the doctor, for myself – mostly hate for myself because I could have stopped and didn’t.”

Nearly six years have passed since the day when Garton, now 28, underwent what was supposed to be a routine abortion in her Nashville doctor’s office. But she did not know then that instead of being only three months pregnant – a time length considered safe for abortion – her pregnancy had actually progressed to about five months. And to day it is that unplanned, unforeseen set of circumstances, along with her vivid recollections, that Garton cannot escape.

As a mother of two, she knows she should be content and thankful for her healthy children, her husband and her life. She has a 21-acre farm in Cheatham County, a nice house, Arabian horses and pedigreed dogs.

But her ability to live a happy, normal life has been hampered by tangled emotions that keep escaping from the past. There is shame, hate, sadness, anger and sorrow. There is guilt that she didn’t somehow keep it from happening. There is fear that the laws of fate one day will retaliate by hurting people she loves.

And, most of all, there is a hunger to warn other women – not as a stand for or against abortion, but as an encouragement that they search out all options beforehand so they do not follow the path she took.

“I always wanted a family. I wanted a house with a white picket fence and a place where I could raise horses and dogs.”

But no picket fence came with her wedding at age 15 after she became pregnant, dropped out of high school and married her classmate sweetheart. The Gartons soon had their first child, Stonie, now 12; and then a daughter, Felisa, now 8.

In 1980, Garton underwent a gallbladder operation and an appendectomy. Her physician warned that future pregnancies were unadvisable for medical reasons. But the following year Garton became pregnant.

“My husband didn’t want the baby. He was afraid because of surgeries I had. And I didn’t want to be big and fat and unattractive. I called up this doctor and told her I needed an abortion. She said, ‘We call it a termination,’ and asked when I wanted it. I said ‘as soon as possible.”‘

“It was Dec. 3, 1981,” she recalls, mechanically reciting details of the nightmare. “J walked to the front desk, paid $350 and got a receipt. My husband sat down in a chair and said, ‘It’ll be all right; it’s nothing.’. No hug. I looked back and he had his head buried in a book.”

When Garton stepped into the examination room, she explained that both she and her husband had felt the baby move inside her, but the doctor replied, “You’re not that far along” and instructed Garton to undress.

“The doctor never asked me anything. She never said, ‘Deborah, do you want to go though with this?’ There was no counseling. The right counselor could have found out in five minutes that this was a mistake for me. And a caring doctor could have determined I was too far along in my pregnancy.”

The doctor performed a pelvic exam, gave Garton sedatives and then began the procedure by using a suction device that is effective in pregnancies of three months or less.

“The suction wouldn’t work. The doctor finally quit and threw the device in the sink. Then she got out a long sharp instrument. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, ‘The only thing I can do.’

“I didn’t realize what she was doing until I saw an arm and a hand. And that’s when I felt my baby move up inside me as far as she could, away from the sharp instrument. It was like she was trying to grab my heart, saying, ‘Stop this! Stop it now!'”

That is when Garton began to scream – and hate.

“I knew my baby was dying – dying very slowly. The doctor was cutting little by little, pulling her out, and all I could say was ‘Oh, Jesus! It was a baby! And then the doctor stood there and counted every little finger, every little toe.”

Each May, Garton leaves her husband and children and goes either to her mother’s home in Nashville or to a motel. May is difficult because she has given her baby a birthday.

“My birthday and anniversary are in April. I couldn’t give her a birthday in April, even though that’s probably when she would have been born. If she had lived, she would be five years old.”

For the rest of the year Garton tends to her family. She is a good mother. She takes her children horseback riding, boating, roller skating and to movies. She loves them very much. But on Dec. 3 – “the date of my second daughter’s death” – she again retreats from husband and children.

She sits and thinks, “I have nightmares. In my mind, I see my little girl in the woods, cut up, whacked up, or my little boy bashed in the head.”

She gave her aborted baby a name, Misty Angel “Angel” because she believes the child is with God.

“I know I sound crazy,” she says, telling of how she had an angel tattooed on her right thigh. And how, when she gives blood at the Red Cross, she has them mark it with Angel’s name.

She had a good business in Ashland City – Fashions for Less – but she gave it up. She couldn’t bear to tell her partner the truth about why she didn’t want to continue.

She sought professional counseling but withheld her last name from the counselor until only a short while ago.

She went to her longtime family doctor for treatment of ulcerative colitis. When he asked if she had any clue as to why she had this ailment caused by nerves and anxiety, she replied that she didn’t.

She was ashamed to tell her children why she cried the day she encountered an anti-abortion display at a carnival and stood, stunned, looking at the photos of aborted fetuses.

And she was afraid to tell her priest, “I was Catholic. But you don’t have an abortion and be a Catholic. To me, there’s no forgiveness for what I did. Not when the pregnancy is that far along. Not when it had moved inside me. And not when, after the doctor pinched it the first time, the baby tried to get up in me as far as she could, as if to hold onto my heart.”

The people to whom she told the truth urged her to put the pain behind her. “It’s over and done with and there is nothing you can do about it now. ” She tried, but she couldn’t.

Then one day recently she called the doctor who performed the abortion. “I need to come in now. This is an emergency.” What was the emergency? “Because of a termination.”

She went to the doctor’s office and confronted her with angry questions. The doctor said, “You wanted an abortion. I gave you one. It was your doing, not mine.”

A few days ago she went back to the Catholic church she used to attend. She walked around it and came at last to a statue of Mary holding the Christ child. She stood there for the longest time, praying. When she had worked up her courage, she knocked on the priest’s door.

As soon as he saw her, he knew something was terribly wrong. In tears, she told him the truth. She told him she didn’t think she could ever be forgiven.

“You should have come sooner,” he replied. “God has forgiven you – don’t you know that? But you need to forgive yourself. You’ve got two great children and the third one is now with God. She is growing and she knows you. She knows your pain.

“Some day, you will see her again and hold her and love her.”

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 19, pp. 592-593
October 1, 1987

By Jim King

It is a fair rule of thumb to be at least suspicious of practices in the church which take their cue from practices in the world. I have employed this rule for some time while watching the migration of preachers from place to place. Since I am planning to “relocate” soon, the way in which preacher meets church and church meets preacher is of particular interest to me. And though relatively new to “full-time” preaching, I am being duly initiated.

As the secular working world is filled with hiring and firing, promotions and demotions, resumes and cover letters, so brethren have begun to use the same jargon. The preacher attempting to make a move will quickly encounter it. He soon discovers that the disciples are looking for that nebulous, but much sought after evangelist – “an older, mature man, with experience.” Indeed, this demand seems so widespread, it is enough to make one wish for wrinkles and covet gray hair. Though no Bible passage gives this qualification for an evangelist, each church certainly has the right to decide what qualifications they require. What is disturbing is the seemingly subjective way in which many go about the selection process.

Instead of viewing each preacher on his own merits, it seems customary to greet the inquirer with, “Send a resume.” And it appears that many churches with problems or without problems, with elders or without them, feel an insatiable urge to judge that resume mainly by how many years “experience” the preacher can legitimately claim. Never mind that age and maturity are not synonymous, nor experience a sure indication of ability. Rather, if a Timothy or a Titus cannot put down that magical number, let him find some less discriminating brethren with whom to work. Of course, one can always do as Paul did, and go into some area where the gospel is unknown, not building on another man’s foundation (Rom. 15:20). This approach has much to commend it. Yet it seems a shame that a younger man must pursue it by necessity, and not by choice.

It is especially interesting to note advertisements for “preachers needed.” The brethren usually ask for very little. Most simply request the wisdom of a Paul coupled with the eloquence of an Apollos, all wrapped in that all-inclusive phrase, “we desire an older, mature man, with experience.” Some wax bold, and insist that he rob other churches to do them service – that is, they inform him that he must bring his own support.

The difficulties mentioned here are really part of a larger problem – the whole system of preachers looking for churches and churches looking for preachers.. From search, to “try-out,” to selection, the entire process seems strange compared to first century standards. I find it hard to envision Peter and Paul vying for the “preaching job” at Jerusalem, or feverishly sending out resumes to Corinth and Antioch, hoping that their credentials will look good on paper. Surely there is a better way.

I make no pretense at having all the answers. But I believe certain actions would point us in the right direction. Let preachers appreciate the gravity of their work, and never think of themselves nor allow others to think of themselves as mere clergy juggling for positions with the most “desirable churches.” And let brethren initially be clear and forthright about what qualifications they seek in a preacher. If they require certain years of experience, regardless of a man’s capabilities, then let them say so at the beginning. This one courtesy could save much time, money, and inconvenience. And let churches refuse to be wedded to a concept that says a “mature” preacher is the panacea to all problems – problems that in some cases should have been dealt with by the elders long before.

Some congregations have made it a point to give younger men the chance to work among them and grow. May their tribe increase. Until a more objective, practical way is found for a preacher and a congregation to begin their work together, many preachers will yet hear that depressing request – send a resume.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 19, p. 589
October 1, 1987

By Andy Alexander

There are times when we need to be silent and other times when we need to speak out. Our Lord, the master teacher, knew exactly how to handle every situation. In John 19:9-10, Jesus stood silently before Pilate, knowing that silence would bring about his crucifixion and the salvation of those who chose to obey him.

When faced by religious error, Jesus always spoke out and condemned the false teaching and the false teacher.

Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit (Matt. 15:13-14).

Jesus’ love for the sinner prompted him to teach truth at all times, whether the sinner wanted to hear it or not. In Matthew 19:16-26, Jesus taught the rich young ruler the truth about what he needed to do in order to be pleasing to God. The young ruler could not bear to give up his riches for Jesus, but this did not stop Jesus or cause him to alter his teaching to fit the situation and make the ruler feel comfortable about his particular sin. Jesus’ love for the sinner would not allow him to ignore sin and false teaching.

Religious leaders of today will not debate their doctrine publicly or privately and their followers are just as apathetic as they are. The followers have little or no Bible knowledge; therefore, they are afraid to speak out, because they are not sure what they believe. The religious leaders know that if they speak out, their doctrine will be proved false when compared to the doctrine of Jesus. The false teachers in Matthew 22:46 were not “able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him another question.” If their doctrine is shown to be false by controversy, they will then lose some followers who are interested in knowing the truth. More importantly, they will lose the money these followers were giving. The false teacher has everything to lose and nothing to gain by speaking out.

Our Lord was never silent when challenged on an issue. Chances are, your preacher is silent on any and every issue where his teaching contradicts the Word of God. He will not speak out for fear of the consequences and mistakenly calls this silence “love.” Is it “love” when we stand on the shore and watch someone drown without trying to save him? Is it then “love” when we see one lost in false teaching and stand silently by watching him sink into hell?

We can thank God that Jesus was not silent.

(The article by Andy Alexander entitled “Is Silence Golden?” is his first article for a religious journal and we are glad to have it published in the Guardian of Truth. Andy is thirty- three years old, is a faithful Christian, and is working toward the goal of giving his full time to the work of an evangelist. He is already a good Bible student and a competent speaker but plans to spend several more months in preparation before beginning full-time labors in the gospel. His father Charley is an elder here at West Columbia, and his brother Pete is also a faithful member in the church here. Andy’s convictions are firm and he is diligent about his duties on the job, in his family, and in the church here. It is a privilege to commend Andy to our readers. I believe he is typical of many young men who are preparing themselves as Bible class teachers, future elders, deacons, and evangelists. In a world of darkness, it is encouraging to see a good number of young married Christians who are striving to serve the Lord in every way possible from place to place. – Ron Halbrook, 654 Gray Street, West Columbia, Texas 77486.)

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 19, p. 587
October 1, 1987

By Stanton See

On a television program in May, 1987 the subject was discussed whether or not the large numbers of preachers who are falling away today is a fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and thus if we arc in the “last days” immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. Can we know if we are in the “last days” and if so, when did they start? Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” (emphasis mine, SS) Paul gives Timothy a description of the characteristics of the people who would be living in the “last days.” But notice that Paul tells Timothy to “turn away” from people with these characteristics. It does not take a scholar or really a person with a lot of intelligence to understand that if Timothy had to turn away from these types of people that would characterize the “last days” he had to have been living in the “last days” at some point in his lifetime. Therefore, we know that we have been in the “last days” for at least nineteen hundred years and that it does not just describe the characteristics of the people who would be living immediately preceding the second coming of Christ.

Another passage that helps us to know when the “last days” started is found in Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. We read in Acts 2:16-17, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. “‘ Again it does not take a scholar to recognize that when Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, states that what had happened in verses 1-4 was in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy of the “last days” that Acts 2 is the beginning of the “last days.” Since Acts 2 is the beginning of the Christian Age and the “last days,” we can see that the expression “the last days” is referring to the Christian age that began on the Day of Pentecost and will last until the end of the world, not just to the days immediately preceding the second coming of Christ.

Another passage that will help us to know when the last days started is found in Hebrews 1:1-2. “God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.” This passage emphasizes the fact that ever since Jesus sealed his gospel with his death (Heb. 9:16-17) we have been in the “last days.” Again this shows that we have been in the “last days” for over nineteen hundred years.

This helps us to understand what Paul means by the expression “in latter times” in 1 Timothy 4:1. Paul states that “in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” Paul is referring to the fact that at some point in the future, there will come a falling away which had already started during the lifetime of the apostles (2 Thess. 2:1-7). And as any casual student of church history knows, a failing away did take place after the apostles died in fulfillment of this passage.

The television program stated that the large number of preachers who are falling away could well be a fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and thus we could be in the “last days” immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. The fact that the conclusion was contrary to the plain teaching of the Scriptures emphasizes the need to be like the Bereans who “received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.”

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 19, p. 591
October 1, 1987