ST. PAUL, MN, August 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Five years ago this month pro-life activist Brian Gibson, the Executive Director at Pro-Life Action Ministries, had a very interesting exchange with then-Senator Barack Obama. Gibson reminisced about the incident with LifeSiteNews, sharing how his perception of the encounter has changed in the intervening years.
He noted the original record of the encounter can be found in the October 2008 newsletter of the Gibson’s Pro-Life Action Ministries.
Here is how the initial encounter unfolded as recorded in 2008:
As I was en route to our St. Paul office after my regular sidewalk counseling time at Planned Parenthood August 7, I came across a parked motorcade at the Copper Dome Restaurant. I surmised, with all the police and Secret Service types in the area, that it was Mr. Obama's motorcade.
I parked quickly across the street and then proceeded to see if I could get close enough for him to hear me call out a plea for the unborn. To my surprise, there were very few people there (with a small crowd starting to gather as word spread) and I found that I could easily walk right into the restaurant and see the presidential candidate.
I quickly began to pray for the right words and the right boldness to be a good witness for the babies that Mr. Obama has forsaken in his political career. Once in the restaurant, I learned that I could not get in far enough to see him and that I would have to go outside as he departed the building.
A divine appointment took over and I found myself at the very front of the crowd where Mr. Obama was going to shake hands and interact.
As he came out, many in the small crowd reacted as if Mr. Obama were a Hollywood celebrity. He walked directly toward me and reached out to shake the hand of the woman next to me. At this point I was praying diligently for the right approach and the right words. I think they came to me.
Mr. Obama reached for my hand and came in close enough that I could speak directly to him in his ear. I told him that he needed to change his beliefs and political response to the unborn. That they, like us, are human beings.
He reacted with both a willingness to listen and a bit of a shock that he was being challenged. I continued, with Mr. Obama responding that he knew it was a difficult subject and so forth.
But as we continued to hold the handshake, I spoke again and we conversed for several minutes, many times longer than he spoke to anyone else on the sidewalk that morning.
Our conversation ended with me letting him know that I had just come from Planned Parenthood trying to save lives and that abortion is killing a much higher percentage of black children than any other race.
Gibson told LifeSiteNews that he remembers clearly Obama responding to his explaining his sidewalk counseling saying, “Thank you for doing that.”
At the time, Gibson noted that “The encounter was polite, not like encounters I’ve had with politicians who are pro-abortion in the past” and attributed Obama’s peace to “the work of the Holy Spirit.” He encouraged his readers to pray for the then-presidential candidate to change his mind on abortion
Looking back on the conversation with Obama five years later in the aftermath of Obama’s unprecedented abortion push, Gibson feels Obama’s peace at the time may have been the work of another spirit.
Gibson says: “What is very clear is that he was not genuine in much of the conversation he had with me, he was saying these to try to appease me as somebody campaigning for office. Clearly by his actions and words since then he was very disingenuous. I don't believe he really struggles on this issue at all, he is firmly radically pro-abortion.”
Gibson added: “It frightened me was that he was not taken aback at all that he was challenged on his position. He was totally comfortable. More than anyone I've ever dealt with before on this issue when being challenged.”
Gibson notes however that Obama was afforded the truth first hand. “I know he was told the truth because I had the opportunity to tell it to him,” he said.
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