PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 278: “Violent Criminals”
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 278: “Violent Criminals”
These are the words our government and the FBI call God-loving, children-loving, freedom-loving families. Bethany Vaughn is with me again today as she tells the horrific story of how the FBI kidnapped her husband in the early hours of the morning at gunpoint, without even showing a warrant! Do you really know what is happening in our country?
www.stifledcry.com
bethanyvaughn.substack.com
https://www.givesendgo.com/prolifedad
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 again, and I have Bethany Vaughn with me again today. She is going to be telling you an eye-opening story. I’m glad you’re here listening. I do trust that many others are listening too. Give your friends a call, because this exposes how we are living in an ultra-socialist/communist country at this time.
I don’t think many realize this. I think that Colin and I are aware. We have in our church fellowship a brother from Venezuela who has come to be with us. It’s only since he’s been with us that he’s really come to know Jesus. But, oh my, we see how he has been under the manipulation of that country, even while he's here in America. I can’t really disclose the whole story, but we are seeing things first-hand of what happens.
To him, it is so concerning what he sees happening in this country now, because he says this is exactly what was going on just before Venezuela, this beautiful country, the wealthiest country in South America, was taken over by communism. Now it’s the poorest country. It’s just unbelievable there, the poverty that is happening now in this nation.
Bethany is out in the country, a neighbor, because they’re only a few miles down the road. This story she is going to tell happened right close to us. But before we get into that, Bethany, maybe you should tell this little story we were just talking about before, about our Above Rubies helpers. You unexpectedly got some Above Rubies helpers years ago, didn’t you?
Bethany Vaughn: Yes! I was just telling your most recent Above Rubies helper that when I was pregnant with Providence, my 15-year-old, two Above Rubies helpers came, I guess, to help Nancy for weeks.
Nancy: They usually come for about two months or so.
Bethany: Well, after they had finished, I don’t even know how this got set up, but they came to my house for two weeks. I was very, very sick with being newly pregnant. They came into my home, and they took over the cleaning, and playing with the children, and homeschooling the children, and cooking with the children, and teaching us interesting words like “rubbish” and “aluminium.” It was a lot of fun! [laughter]
Nancy: Oh, I know! I still say “We’ve got to take out the rubbish! Everybody, go and gather your rubbish when they’re going up to the rubbish place!” But I say the wrong words after being here for so long. We’ve been in the States now since 1991. I still talk my New Zealand lingo.
Bethany: It’s wonderful!
Nancy: We were sharing last week about how, although you began as a young girl getting into pro-life work, you got married. Then you entered into the greatest pro-life work of all of having all your wonderful babies. You have this beautiful family of 11 children, and now grandchildren. But then, as they got older, you began to get back into that sidewalk counseling again. Can you just mention a little bit?
Bethany: Yes. We have spent the last few years back doing some sidewalk counseling out in Nashville. The Lord has certainly brought many, many beautiful stories through that. Then the pro-life event that we went to in 2021 was also in Nashville. That event was the event that started this turn of events that we now find ourselves in.
Nancy: Yes. At that event, your husband was mainly involved in talking to the media, talking to the police, because they came. He was out there on the sidewalk doing that, wasn’t he?
Bethany: He was. I was a few days from giving birth to my 11th baby. We were getting ready to have a baby. Our main pro-life focus around that time was this baby. But they had gone to the event. I had actually gone later on in the day. But he was not arrested that day. He spent time talking to the police, talking to the media. Then that was that. The event was over.
Nancy: But there were some who were arrested that day?
Bethany: There were some from out of town who did sit down in front of the abortion mill door and were arrested. But he was not one of them.
Nancy: I noticed how you called the abortion place “the abortion mill.” Why do you call it a “mill”?
Bethany: My dad always called it an “abortion mill.” It was a death camp. It was a place where children were slaughtered. So, it was not healthcare. It was not a clinic. It was not a place of medical care.
Nancy: It was not a “clinic.” A “clinic” is a place of healing. This is a place of death or murder.
Bethany: The abortion mill was a death mill.
Nancy: I think we have to call things what they really are, don’t you?
Bethany: Yes.
Nancy: So, life went along smoothly. Your precious darling baby was born, little Eden Joy.
Bethany: We were very much focusing on our community and working and raising children. We had children getting married. We had grandbabies coming along.
Nancy: And then, one day, one-and-a-half years later, tell us what happened.
Bethany: On October of last year, 2022, my children, we homeschool but we also do co-op classes with others in our community. Our children attended these school classes three days a week. My husband was about to leave to drop them off at school for the morning. He was getting ready for that. He also had a big meeting that day, a business meeting, so he was getting his shirt ironed up and about to walk out the door.
Three of my children were already out in the back going to their father’s car. We hear this incredible banging and pounding on our house and the yelling and ruckus outside. I was back in my bed, nursing my baby. I’m thinking, “What is going on? Something is not right here.”
Soon after, one of my daughters came in the room, and she said, “The FBI is here. They’re arresting Daddy.” I was like, “What in the world is going on here? What is happening?”
I passed off the baby to her and I’m looking down the hallway. I see men in our doorway, and on our porch with assault rifles, tactical gear. “What is going on? Who are you? What are you doing?”
They had my husband turned around against the door, slapping the handcuffs on him. My husband made some comment to me, and he said, “This is the time in which we live.”
He had an undershirt on at the time. He said, “I need a shirt.” One of the agents said, “Go get him a shirt.” I ran back to my room, grabbing something warm to wear. He’s obviously going to jail. I grabbed my phone. I was shaking so bad, and I was pushing buttons on my phone, thinking, “Video something, I need video of this.”
I did not know that my camera was videoing, but as I walked up to the door again, I was demanding, “Who are you? What are you doing here?” The video picks up, and I caught a short clip of the exchange between me and the agent as my husband had already been put into the back of an unmarked vehicle.
They told me nothing. They showed no warrants for my husband. They showed no warrant to me. They didn’t tell us what it was about. They did not tell us where they were taking him. They told us nothing. They refused to identify themselves. It was the most intense, surreal feeling I’ve ever had in my life.
They’re backing out of the driveway. I’m following. I go down with my phone, and I’m approaching the second vehicle, and I see a man coming from our backyard, with a long assault rifle out. He gets in the car, and they shut the door, and they drive off. I’m standing at the end of my driveway thinking, “This must be a dream.” I didn’t feel any of the rocks on my feet. This must be a dream.
I go to walk back to the house, and I feel the jags and the pokes of the rocks. I’m like, “This is not a dream. This is an absolute nightmare.” I run back into the house and my children are in the living room, crying, sobbing, shaking. I have a child on the rocking chair, curled up in a ball with her hands over her head. She’s crying. I told them, “I don’t know what happened here, but Daddy is going to be OK. God is going to take care of him. What just happened here is absolutely evil.”
So, for six hours, we had no idea where he was. They literally showed up at our house in the early morning hours and kidnapped him.
Nancy: Without a warrant, which is against the law.
Bethany: After they had detained him, handcuffed him, got him into their vehicle, and were leaving the scene, they pulled up on their computer, and showed my husband had a warrant. My husband didn’t have his glasses at the time, and he could kind of make out dates. Then he knew, “Oh, this is pro-life related.”
But I did not know it was pro-life related. I had no idea what it was related to. I had no idea. So, six hours later, I got a call from the federal courthouse. The lady says, “As you know, Mrs. Vaughn, your husband has been charged with,” and I interrupted her. I was like, “No, no, no! I don’t know anything. I have no idea what’s going on. All I know is the FBI agents showed up at my house and kidnapped my husband.”
She told me the charges, and that he would later be released in Nashville. After they took him in, they arraigned him, and took him before the judge. He was charged, and then they released him out on the streets of Nashville, 60 miles from our house, with no wallet, no phone, no money. He borrowed a stranger’s phone, and he called me.
Nancy: Where did he find a phone?
Bethany: A stranger on the street. He just kept asking people, “Hey, can I borrow your phone?”
Nancy: Wow! Goodness me.
Bethany: He’s charged with violation of space, which is a federal law that was passed during Clinton’s presidency, back in the 93-94 timeframe, which is the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances. It states that you cannot violently block, blockade a woman from her reproductive health choices. The sentence for that is up to one year in prison, with a $10,000 fine. He did not do that on that day at all. Then they tacked on conspiracy; conspiracy to violate rights secured by the government.
Nancy: I beg your pardon.
Bethany: Um huh. And that’s ten years. So, he’s looking at 11 years, and over $250,000 in fines that the Biden DOJ has brought against us.
Nancy: This is unbelievable. This is supposed to be a free country. Oh. So, now, where are you? What is happening with the courts at the moment?
Bethany: We put on the defendant of putting motion to dismiss. The judge denied the dismissal, and said, “No.” The government offered a plea deal. They said, “If you plead guilty, just plead guilty, and stay away from any reproductive health centers, we’ll let you go with no prison time.” My husband said, “No. No deal.”
Nancy: Because he is not guilty.
Bethany: You do not live by lies.
Nancy: No, you cannot live by lies. I think, sadly, that’s what some of the January 6 have done, just to get out of their jail time. They have pleaded guilty when they were not guilty. Others, of course, are still being arrested in this “free” country. In fact, I heard of one recently, who has been charged with 22 years, and he wasn’t even at January 6. They’ve charged him, because he encouraged others to go. Where are we?
Bethany: There is a pro-life case in DC where they just found pro-life people guilty of facing conspiracy, and they’re currently in jail, awaiting sentencing.
Nancy: That’s just for sidewalk counseling.
Bethany: Some of them were arrested at the abortion clinic. One of them was not arrested that day. His crime was that he videoed the event. So, he’s charged with space, and he’s also charged with conspiracy.
Nancy: How many years has he got?
Bethany: They’re facing the same, 11 years.
Nancy: Eleven years. Listen to this, ladies. Do you really know what is happening in this nation? This man videoed this pro-life event. He was not part of it, or involved in doing anything, apart from videoing it. For doing that, he’s facing 11 years in prison. How can all this be happening, when we finished with Roe v Wade? Yet here we are.
Bethany: Well, this is directly related to Roe v Wade. What happened is Roe v Wade was overturned in June of 2022. The very next month, Biden’s DOJ formed the Reproductive Task Force, with the intent of going after pro-life Christians, any pro-life person, in retaliation of what happened with the overturning of Roe. So, it’s a direct correlation.
I don’t know, many of you have heard of Mark Houck. In his case, he was also charged with very similar charges. I think there are upwards of 30 people right now in a very similar situation to my husband.
But I’m reading a lot of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn who was arrested by the Soviet regime. His crime was writing a letter, writing a private letter that criticized Stalin—in a private letter. He spent 11 years of his life in the gulag. He wrote this book, The Gulag Archipelago. I’m reading through this book; I’m listening to it on audio.
It’s the same playbook. It’s a different time, advanced technology. But it’s the same playbook. He said, Solzhenitsyn said, “There is this fallacious belief that it would not be the same here. Here, such things are impossible. Alas, all the evil of the 20th century is possible everywhere on earth.” That’s what we are seeing in this nation.
Nancy: Well, it is a total fight between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. When you think of the hate and evil, and how they’re going after anybody who’s involved in pro-life because they hate life. To hate life, it comes from the enemy. How is it that a human being can hate life? They hate life. They love murder, and they hate the people who love life. This is where we are. It’s just unbelievable.
Bethany: Yeah, hating life; God is life. True freedom and liberty are found in His truth and His life. When you have a regime, or an evil government who hates Him, hates God, hates life, you’re going to see. We shouldn’t be surprised. I think we find in the New Testament that we encounter these various trials, and these persecutions, and these sufferings, when we are standing as a brilliant light against the backdrop of deep darkness.
Nancy: But a lot of these have happened because we, as God’s people, have been silenced. We’ve been hiding, and we haven’t been bold enough to stand for the truth. Even now, it’s so precarious, but still, we’ve got to, even at this hour, hang onto what truth we have, and stand for it.
Be prepared for whatever, as you and your husband, and your whole family are prepared. Like, he (Paul Vaughn, Bethany’s husband) is not prepared to lie, and takes a plea bargain. He is standing completely for truth. Unless we stand for truth, we’ve got nothing else. God is truth.
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” That’s the kingdom of God, isn’t it?
Bethany: Absolutely.
Nancy: That’s what we’ve got to live. Tell me about this woman. There is this beautiful old 87-year-old, who is also facing these same charges.
Bethany: Eva Edl is a dear mentor of mine. I spent time in jail with her when I was 18 years old. She told me her story of when she was a young girl of being in the concentration camps. She wished that Christians in that area would have stood up, and would have stood for life, and rescued them.
She has now dedicated a large portion of her life to pro-life work. She calls the abortion mills here in our country “the American death camps.” They’re exactly like the communist death camps. They’re like the Nazi concentration camps.
So, I spent some time with her in jail, a very, very long time ago. Then, providentially, as God would have it, she shows up at the pro-life event that we were at in 2021. She was arrested. She was in her wheelchair in front of that abortion mill door.
Nancy: Wow! They allowed her to be arrested.
Bethany: They arrested her. Now she is also in the indictment with my husband. It’s significant. I tell my children we need to guard ourselves against squishy, comfortable Christianity. We need to really seek God in how He can use us to be potent Christians. How we can show this endurance, this potency. I think I saw that, and I have seen that in Eva.
Nancy: So, do pray for this Vaughn family, and for the others who are facing these same charges, that God will do a miracle there. That as you wait . . . I think you have to wait until next year?
Bethany: Things have been ramping up. We are going to trial in January of 2024. We will see what the Lord does there. Whether it be a complete acquittal, and not guilty, we will praise the Lord with that. But if they are found guilty, and the judge feels like they need to serve prison time for standing for life, then my husband and the others are willing to show that example, and that love of service to Christ.
Nancy: Now, in this time, how are you preparing yourself and your children?
Bethany: It has definitely thrown me more into seeking, I mean genuinely and earnestly, tears dropping on the ground, seeking the Lord, and a closeness with the Lord that I’ve not had to have before. He has been very faithful to show me much, much grace and much love.
Practically, we are meeting with others every week for a prayer meeting. We are praying regularly in our home about this. We are reading, not only spiritually preparing, which is the most important, but also preparing our body, our physical man, to know the stories of the past, and be familiar with what has gone on in the past, like the Soviet regime, like Nazi Germany.
Even early Christians. Polycarp, Ignatius, these men did not bow to Ceasar. They did not take the oath. They were like the three Hebrew children who did not worship the idols of Nebuchadnezzar. It’s the same story of not bowing, and trusting God, as we hold onto Him. We don’t live by those lies that tyrants try to get us to live by.
Nancy: What would you say to parents today, as they’re raising their children? I think most parents still seem to live in the past blessings of God in this country, without realizing what is really coming upon us. It’s those who are standing up for truth, and for life, and for what is right, who are now being persecuted.
But, OK, are we preparing children to be a compromising people or those who will truly stand for truth? If we do, that means that we could get persecuted. How are we going to prepare our children for this?
Bethany: There’s a book by Rod Dreher, called Live Not by Lies. He has a chapter in there called “Families Are Resistance Cells.” He outlines some points that I really resonated with, that I actually really saw in those people in the past, those mentors, my parents, other people that I saw them being able to stand and face, with courage. I saw these points resonating with them, as well.
But they are models, moral courage. You, as a mom, as a dad, you model moral courage in front of your children. You fill their moral imaginations with good stories, with truth. You teach them not to be afraid to be different or weird by society’s standards. You prepare them to make great sacrifices.
You teach them that they’re a part of something bigger. They’re not just their own isolated individual self. They’re a part of a family. They’re a part of the community, but more importantly, they’re Christian children, a part of this great cloud of witnesses in the great faith chapter in Hebrews 11, the cloud of witnesses that we see in Hebrews 12, who are cheering us on in our race here on this earth.
We teach our children that it’s our time to live now. It’s our dash mark between our birth and our death. We’re to run right now. There’s this huge cloud of witnesses watching us. They’re cheering us on. Their stories inspire us and they show us the faith.
Then we practice hospitality, and we serve others. We give of ourselves. I think something that I’ve been thinking about lately are the sons of Issachar. They understood the times, and they knew what Israel should do, in 1 Chronicles 12:32. By comparing those to the children of Ephraim in Psalm 78, who were armed. They had bows, and they turned back in the day of battle.
We want to arm our children, we want to empower them, inspire them, and teach them the character of God. When they know the character of God, when they know who God is, there is nothing to fear. You fear God; you don’t fear man.
Nancy: Amen! Have you read that book to your children?
Bethany: I’ve read sections of it to my children. Teenagers, completely fine. It’s a little bit over little ones’ heads. But the stories in it are stories of families that endured communist persecution where the dads were taken to jail and the moms in the church have all these children. The dads are in jail and the moms are in church. How are the moms handling dad being in jail? How are they raising their children?
The stories like that are, there are a lot of stories in here, and you can retell those stories to your young children. Standing for God. It doesn’t matter, the hurricane, and the swirling things around us, all that. We step inside that center. We commune with the peace of God. We need to show our children that.
Nancy: Amen. What are some other books that you’ve found really worthwhile, Bethany?
Bethany: Missionary stories. Lots of missionary stories. I’m finding that they share a depth of Christianity, and a depth of faith, and a depth of understanding about suffering that you do not find in our regular, modern circles.
Nancy: Yes! Because up until now, we haven’t really had to face any suffering or persecution. But I think those times are changing, and I do believe that we do have to prepare our children. If they are unprepared, that is the most terrible thing. They’ve got to be prepared to be strong and courageous.
Bethany: And I think some of these missionary stories have probably inspired my children more than what I thought they would.
The Hiding Place, of course, by Corrie Ten Boom.
Evidence Not Seen, by Darlene Deibler Rose.
Tortured for Christ, by Richard Wurmbrand. His wife also has, I think it’s called The Pastor’s Wife. Richard Wurmbrand’s wife spent some time in prison as well.
God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew. It’s an amazing story.
God’s Double Agent, by Bob Fu. Those are some stories. We’ve had those on audio, and we listen to them in the car. The stories encourage your faith. They grow you. They bring you up to this perspective up here, the 10,000-foot view that you often do not get.
The devil wants you to stay down in your circumstances and what you see around you. The great stories of the Bible, the stories I was talking about before, and the missionary stories, they share a level of Christianity that is deep.
Nancy: Yes. Amen! That is so great. Thank you, Bethany, for this sharing with us. Now, you do have a few links where people can find you. What would be the main one if they wanted to contact you?
Bethany: I guess you can post it on the bottom.
Nancy: I’ll put all these on the transcript. Some may not get to the transcript, so can you . . .
Bethany: I’m writing at the name: https://BethanyVaughn.substack.com.
I’m writing about the trials that we’re currently going through. But I’m also putting more content out there on mothers. How do you prepare your children? How do you prepare yourself?
Nancy: Absolutely. And then your husband has quite a few links and stuff too, doesn’t he? I will put all those on the transcript so you can follow this case. You can be praying for this precious family. We’re going to believe for God to do a miracle, but not only for them, but for the others who are indicted in this case too. So, thank you again, and waking us all up to what is happening in this nation. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it?
“Dear Father, we come to You again, thanking You that You are God, that You are in control. Oh, Lord God, nothing takes You by surprise, even though this situation was a surprise to this family. But, Lord, we thank You that You have known from all time.
We pray, Lord God, we pray that You will cause justice to come forth, Lord God. Oh Father, we cry out for justice in this land. Justice is turned upside down. Lord God, truth has disappeared in the streets. Lord, we pray, oh God, for justice to be established again in this nation, and truth to be established again.
“We pray that You will bring down all these evil speakers, all these, Lord, who are making nets for the righteous. Lord, they’re making these nets for them, to fall into them. But Lord, we pray that these evildoers will fall into the same nets that they are making. They’ll fall into them themselves! Lord, this is the prayer that David prayed over and over again. It’s biblical, so we can pray it.
“In the Name of Jesus, we pray that the evildoers will fall into their own pits, and their own nets, and Lord, that You will raise up the righteous, You will raise up truth. Lord God, we pray, Father, that Your kingdom will be established, Your kingdom of life and truth! Oh God, we ask it in the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tell other wives and mothers about these podcasts and transcripts!
To receive encouraging writings from Bethany to your email go to:
bethanyvaughn.substack.com
To receive challenging writings from her husband, Paul, go to:
paultn.substack.com
I would heartily encourage you to receive these writings.
Also check out the following:
Support their legal fight here: https://www.givesendgo.com/prolifedad
You can also read about Eva Edl who was also indicted for helping to save babies. Eva is now 88 years old and facing years in jail for peaceful prolife protests. She was also a survivor of a concentration camp and now facing this at the end of her life.
https://www.liveaction.org/news/87-concentration-camp-survivor-pro-lifers-fbi/
Further books suggested by Bethany:
Live Not by Lies by Rod Dreher
Live Not by Lies by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
The Gulag Archipelago - Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (abridged audio version on audible read by his son.) Free online unabridged version on Archive —read and audio versions.
That Hideous Strength - A Deeper Look at How The West Was Lost by Melvin Tinker. If you want to learn more about what is going on in our country and what cultural marxism is. Why much of the Christian foundations of the West have been eroded while the church sleeps. This is a concise deep dive into the landscape we find ourselves in today.
The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom. Story of God’s faithfulness to the Ten Boom family during unimaginable suffering in a German death camp. Even if you have read this before, take another look at it after experiencing the last few years of turmoil in America.
Evidence Not Seen - Darlene Deibler Rose. Newlywed missionary survived four years in a Japanese prison camp in New Guinea. Darlene would endure her husband who was taken from their home and then widowhood, the suffering in a WWII Japanese internment camp with near starvation conditions, forced labor, then accused falsely espionage, serious illness from her conditions, being tortured and enduring solitary confinement. God sustained Darlene through deep suffering and trials. Audio available on audible.
Richard Wurmbrand books - Tortured for Christ, The Pastor’s Wife and In God’s Underground. Richard Wurmbrand was arrested by the communist in Romania for preaching in the 1940s. He spent 14 yrs in prison. His wife, Sabina, spent three years in a labor camp. She was repeatedly told her husband had died in prison. These stories tell of the faith and trust the Wurmbrands had in the Lord and how He sustained them
God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew. Dutch Christian, Anne van der Bijl, known as Brother Andrew, smuggled Bibles into communist countries starting in the 1950s. First person account of his missionary adventures and the things God did with a heart that completely trusted Him.
God’s Double Agent by Bob Fu. Lived through Tiananmen Square. Teacher at communist school by day and preacher of a underground church by night. Tells of his faith in Christ during his arrest and imprisonment and eventual escape to freedom.
Death By Living: Life Is Meant to Be Spent by N.D. Wilson. This book is a poetic exploration of faith, futility, and the incredible joy of this mortal life.” The mundane times in life are opportunities. Strive to live hard and die grateful. Live with a wonder at life. Write a past you won’t regret.
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. 17th century -An uneducated lay cook in a French monastery discusses his pursuit and findings on how to enjoy a profound awareness of God moment by moment in our everyday life. Striving to live consistently in the presence of the Holy Spirit despite the busyness, distraction, suffering or persecution we find ourselves in. Maxims and thoughts.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Lewis writes a small book of one elder demon, Screwtape, writing his nephew, Wormwood, training him on how to be a successful tempter of humans and throw them off course and destroy them.