OTTAWA, May 17, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – 40 Days for Life founder David Bereit stunned the hundreds of youth present at the Campaign Life Coalition Youth Conference, which takes place yearly the day following the Canadian March for Life, with the story of one former abortion facility and the strange experience of its new Christian owners.
Bereit told the gathered youth that in 2004, while maintaining the crazy schedule of a 40 Days campaign, he was brought to visit the former abortion mill in Michigan on a street called Ransom.
The residents explained that the building was originally a Jewish synagogue, then later a Greek Orthodox Church, but was eventually turned into an abortion facility. Thus the place where God was honored, he said, became the largest abortion facility in western Michigan. More than 20,000 babies were aborted there.
After many years of prayer and attempts to purchase the building, concerned local Christians were still not successful. Finally, however, in 2004 the owners of the building sold it to them at an overinflated price; they immediately evicted the abortionist.
When the new owners first entered the building after taking ownership, it was 5 days after the last abortion had taken place. Bereit arrived two days later. While being given a tour of the place, Bereit says he was struck with the gruesome reality of abortion and the fact that 20,000 innocent lives had been taken in the very room where he stood.
He says he learned there and then that abortion “is the defining issue of our generation.” “This is the struggle between good and evil, between light and dark, between heaven and hell.”
The new owners told him this curious story: After taking control of the building and evicting the abortionist, they gathered together pro-life and Christian leaders for prayer. They began praying at the point where the abortionist entered the building – a back alley entrance that was closed by a large metal bolted door.
The group stood in a circle holding hands and praying for God to cleanse the place of the evil that had happened there. At the conclusion of the prayer, at a pastor’s “Amen,” that metal-bolted door burst open and slammed against the wall outside and those present felt a rush of air going out. A few seconds later they felt a cool gentle breeze coming in. Stunned, the group walked back to the front in silence.
As they stood there, a neighbor came by to ask what happened to the statue of the demon she had for years noticed on top of the building. She said that she noticed that day it was gone. As far as anyone knew there had never been a statue, but the sincerity of the woman led the group to believe that she had in fact seen one on the building.
It was, the local pro-lifers said to David upon his visit, a “spiritual transfer of ownership.” Noting Canada’s Christian heritage, Bereit told the Canadian youth that what is needed in Canada too is a “spiritual transfer of ownership.”
That Ransom street building is now home to a pro-life outreach center called Life International.