Dear Friends in Christ,
Thank you for your prayers and support for my family during this unprecedented season of life. I apologize for not getting more updates to this site. I have attempted to write each one individually as I was able and to send you the substack page where I'm trying to keep up with the ongoing details of the case and the thought processes that surrounds the spiritual nature of the case. Be sure to check that out and subscribe at https://paultn.substack.com
Here is a high level timeline of events to catch you up to date on how the case if progressing.
- DOJ Indictment - 13/2022
- FBI Arrest - 15/2022
- DOJ Press Release - 15/2022
- Personhood Press Release on behalf of Paul Vaughn 16/2022
- Defendants Motion to Dismiss - 3/9/2023
- Government’s Response to Motion to Dismiss - 4/12023
- Defendants Rebuttal to Government’s Response to MTD - 4/28/2023
- Motion to Dismissed Denied - 7/3/2023
- Trial Scheduled for January 16th 2023
The family is doing as well as one would expect having a federal indictment with a potential 11 year sentence hanging over their husband and father. But in the midst of the political insanity we call America, God shows his grace in incredible ways and is faithful through every trial. Last week we started homeschool coop for this year and everyone is getting back into a normal routine. Our 2nd daughter is getting married this December and we are all excited for the young couple and look forward to watching God work in their lives.
I still report in to the "Federal Overseers" in pretrial services on the 1st of each month. I am limited in my travel to the middle district of TN and prohibited from being within 100' of a "Reproductive" Health Facility. But other than those reminders of the tyranny we live under, in our once free nation, life is progressing each day. Since abortion is against the law here in TN we are not doing sidewalk counseling, but we are looking for new avenues of ministry and I hope to announce something on the Personhood Tennessee Channel soon.
In the mean time, we continue to seek the face of God, praise Him for his wonderful works, and His patient and loving hand upon our lives. He continues to provide opportunities to speak His truth. I was on a local Tennessee Podcast this week and was able to discuss some ways we can address our nation in both the church and in our political culture. You can check it out on the Tennessee Stands site.
Lastly, since this is the fund raising site, I will share our needs. This is difficult because we do not know which way this will go. If God grants us victory in January and we are vindicated with actual justice, then our financial need will be to raise money for a countersuit. If justice is absent from the courtroom in January, it is possible I could go directly to jail, as we saw in the recent Washington DC case.
In either case, we will need your help even just for the basic needs of a large family without a provider. I have asked that we raise this campaign goal to $100,000, which is a small amount of what we expect the costs to be. Fundraising is not a natural gifting for me and I hate asking for money but one of the things God has shown me in this trial is the blessing of participating in the sufferings and persecutions of others. I have seen a spiritual reality that I had heard and given lip service to in the past. Through this experience, I have had people participate with me in a real and tangible way, some by offering a cell phone when I was released on the streets of Nashville with no wallet or phone, and others by giving money through campaigns like this one. Through this experience, I have seen this participation as more than just an act of kindness. It is a real and tangible participation in the suffering of Christ through his people. I don't claim to know or understand fully the spiritual reality of that, but I have experienced it as a reality.
It is one thing for someone to give you $5 and say, "Hey, sorry you are having a hard day". It is something else when someone enters into that suffering with you. When they identify the injustice and the trial as being related to Christ. When they enter into prayer and offer support not just out of sympathy, but because they identify with a spiritual truth that is happening to you. That is a powerful support mechanism that strengthens your faith in ways I have yet to be able to explain. But I think 1 Peter 4:12-19 gives a glimpse into that process.
- "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
- But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
- For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."
Thank you for your ongoing support and prayers for my family. It is greatly appreciated and strengthens our faith in ways I can not begin to express. Please be in prayer for the trial date in January.
In Christ,
Paul
For the entire Vaughn Family
