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RCRC
bless Abortion Clinic
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INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.lifenews.com/2015/10/12/united-methodist-and-episcopalian-church-clergy-lead-prayer-rally-to-bless-abortion-clinic/
United Methodist and
Episcopalian Church Clergy Lead Prayer Rally to “Bless” Abortion Clinic
State Sarah Zagorski Oct 12,
2015 | 1:16PM Cleveland, OH
In
Ohio, United Methodist Church pastor, Reverend
Laura Young, says she believes pro-life protesters in front of Planned
Parenthood and other abortion facilities have “misguided faith.” In fact, she
thinks these clinics should be blessed, which is why she went out to an
abortion facility called Preterm
on October 8th in Cleveland. In 2014, Preterm was involved in the
abortion-related death of Lakisha
Wilson.
Young
explained her acceptance of abortion like this: “Christianity,
like most faiths, is founded on love. Watching protesters shouting judgment and
hate based on what they call religion is horrible. Is that loving God? Is that
loving your neighbor as yourself?”
Think
Progress reports
that the group hopes their “blessing” will protect Preterm from “preachy
protesters, as well as encourage the strength and bravery of those providing
and relying on its services.” Young plans to go out to other abortion
facilities in the state if their event in Cleveland is successful.
Young
also says religious groups are fueling the so-called war on women. She
explained, “Women are being attacked at a moral level
by the radical Religious Right. They’ve hijacked the political discussion. This
event is an opportunity for progressive religious leaders to stop the silence.
We need to be in the conversation.”
The
abortion reverend heads up a group called the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive
Choice, and they run an “all-options” counseling hotline for women
facing crisis pregnancies. She said, “It breaks my
heart to know women are sitting in pews across the country feeling shamed,
believing that they’re cursed for making this decision. That’s a question I get
a lot on the phone, ‘Am I going to hell?’ When God instead is there to support
women through it all.”
On their
website, the
group says their mission is to “ensure reproductive choice through education,
advocacy, and counseling. The Coalition seeks to give clear voice to the
reproductive issues of people of color, those living in poverty, and other
underserved populations.”
As LifeNews previously reported, on July 29, the Planned
Parenthood Clergy Advocacy Board said the undercover
videos
exposing the organization’s organ harvesting business are simply an attack on
women’s health care. Jeffrey
Walton from the Institute on Religion and Democracy reports that the
board is made up of religious leaders from the United Church of Christ,
Episcopal Church and American Baptist Churches as well as clergy from Reformed
Jewish and Unitarian Universalist congregations.
In
a statement the clergy said, “As faith leaders
committed to justice, honesty, and liberty, we are troubled by the decades-long
campaign of harassment against Planned Parenthood and those they serve. Our
faiths demand care for those marginalized by poverty and other oppressions.
Faith leaders have supported Planned Parenthood for nearly 100 years because of
our shared goals: every person — regardless of income, race, or religion —
deserves access to safe, affordable, high-quality health care.”
They
concluded, “Our religious traditions call us to offer
compassion, not judgment. People who work for Planned Parenthood give care and
respect to those in need, doing God’s work. For this we are grateful.”
Thankfully,
pro-abortion religious groups are in the minority and countless prominent
religious leaders have expressed disapproval for Planned Parenthood’s
outrageous practices. For
example, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, OFM Cap., archbishop of Boston and
chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB), said that the videos reveal “the now standard
practice of obtaining fetal organs and tissues through abortion and fail to
respect the humanity and dignity of human life.”
Then
he reminded Catholics that Pope Francis has called abortion the product of a
“widespread mentality of profit, the throwaway culture, which has today
enslaved the hearts and minds of so man.”
Additionally,
Rev. Franklin Graham and Baptist theologian Albert Mohler commented on Planned
Parenthood’s lucrative business after the footage was released. Rev.
Graham said, “Abortion is a sin and is
clearly murder in God’s eyes. The people who perform it have no conscience, so
I’m not at all surprised that they would be selling organs, tissue, and body
parts from babies. Planned Parenthood should be put out of business. They’ve
done enough damage.”
In
some ways, Mohler used even stronger language than Rev. Graham to describe
Planned Parenthood and said they “stand at the
epicenter of the Culture of Death.” He also dismissed the abortion
giant’s justifications for their executive’s unbelievable comments.
He
said, “They are not going to be able to explain this video
away. I have no reason to believe that the video is anything less than totally
credible. But, even if Planned Parenthood somehow finds a way to evade justice
in terms of criminal activity, the part of the video that Planned Parenthood
does not –and cannot — deny reveals their senior medical director enjoying a
conversation over a meal in which she describes tearing apart the bodies of
unborn human beings in order to get the desired organ: “I’m gonna basically
crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all
intact.”
INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/methodist-episcopalian-clergy-bless-cleveland-abortion-clinic-in-prayer-ser
Methodist, Episcopal clergy ‘bless’
Cleveland abortion clinic in prayer service
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We gather today to
bless a sacred space of decision. #GodBlessTheClinics
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CLEVELAND,
OH, October 12, 2015 (LifeSiteNews)
-- More than a dozen religious leaders from a variety of denominations gathered
last week to support abortion and "bless" a Cleveland abortion
facility.
The
"blessing" of the Preterm facility was initiated and coordinated by
Rev. Laura Young, a Methodist priestess and the executive director of The
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice’s (RCRC) Ohio chapter.
"Bless this building,”
prayed Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean of Cleveland's Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, at
the abortion facility. “May its walls stand strong against the onslaught of
shame thrown at it. May it be a beacon of hope for those who need its
services."
RCRC
is based in Washington, D.C. Its national president, Rev. Harry Knox,
participated in the Cleveland demonstration as well, and told the
Columbus Dispatch, “I’m here today standing alongside my fellow clergymen
and clergywomen to say, thank God for abortion providers.”
Knox is a "married"
homosexual who has also spearheaded same-sex “marriage” efforts in Georgia
and Florida.
The
group held signs that said to be pro-abortion is to be "pro-family"
and "pro-faith." Other signs read, "Good
women have abortions."
One
demonstration participant, Molly Marvar, had positive things to say about her
abortion at the Cleveland Preterm clinic, calling
her abortion a great, caring experience, and a privilege. “It was a
defining moment for me," she said. "It’s really important to me
that I speak up about my abortion to help other women.”
“There is a reverence for life that happens in this clinic,” Marvar told Think Progress.
“And the decision to get an abortion is often a really, really, spiritual
decision.”
In
an interview with Think
Progress, Young explained that she believes God supports abortion.
"Women
who have had abortions are being attacked at a religious level, and the faith
community has a moral obligation to heal these spiritual wounds,” she said.
Young,
a self-described "progressive theological thinker and a feminist,"
said if her demonstration and "blessing" is successful, her group
will bless other state clinics as well. She recently testified
against a pro-life bill in the Ohio senate, along with Unitarian, Universalist,
United Church of Christ and Episcopalian clergy.
Young
also recently led the invocation for the Ohio House of Representatives. She was
assigned to lead Ohio's RCRC by her Methodist bishop, Gregory Palmer.
Young
says pro-lifers are exercising a “misguided faith” when they peacefully tell
women entering Preterm that there is a better way, according to the
National Right to Life. Rather, Young insists that pro-lifers are
"hurling hate and judgment" on women who have abortions. Young
rhetorically asks, "Is that loving?"
However,
the Very Reverend Jason Kappanadze, priest of Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in
Elmira Heights, New York, differs with Young. “The Church never judges people,
but judges actions,” he explained. “We do, however, tell the truth, to help
people discern the godly, loving path.”
“How
far we have strayed from true understanding, when we characterize an attempt to
save lives as hateful, and characterize the taking of life as loving?” he
asked.
“To
tamper with the creation of human beings by God - intentionally and by His
loving will - is an example of human arrogance and hubris, and is indicative of
a loss of fundamental reasoning and the understanding of life.”
Kappanadze
says he sees the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice as emblematic of a
deeper problem. “The growth of the acceptance of abortion is parallel to the
loss of direction of many Christians, who can no longer call people to
repentance because of their division,” he said. The division of Christians, he
said, “prevents them from speaking with one voice, as it was in the beginning
of the Church.”
INTERNET SOURCE: http://liveactionnews.org/blessing-abortion-clinics-wont-help-women/
‘Blessing’ abortion
clinics won’t help women
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Rev. Laura Young, celebrating Planned
Parenthood’s “Pink Out Day” (via Think Progress/JANINE DUNMYRE)
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At
Think Progress, Alex Zielinski has written a glowing report on
clergy’s efforts to “bless” an Ohio abortion clinic – more than a bit out
of place in the pro-abortion news site’s “health” section.
Also
completely out of place are many assertions made by Mr. Zielinski and
those featured in the article – clergy and others who view abortion as
something that should be ‘judgment-free.’
Zielinksi
writes:
On Thursday, Rev. [Laura] Young and other religious leaders plan on blessing Preterm, a local abortion clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. While many states face contentious anti-abortion legislation, Ohio is especially threatened by measures that could shutter clinics and essentially “regulate abortion out of existence,” according to local reproductive rights advocates.
Preterm
in Cleveland was the abortion clinic of choice for 22-year-old
mother Lakisha Wilson, who suffered a heart attack during her second
trimester abortion (performed by Dr. Lisa Perriera) and subsequently died a
week later. Preterm has a history of problems, but
just this year at least two of the patients there have been
transported to hospitals by ambulance. Perhaps this is a clinic that needs
to be ‘shuttered’ for the safety of women.
And
what’s the real point of this “blessing”?
The group hopes their blessing will protect the facility against the kind of abuse stemming from preachy protesters, as well as encourage the strength and bravery of those providing and relying on its services. If it’s a success, Young said the group will go on to bless other state clinics.
Oddly,
only in the realm of abortion does informing women equate to “abuse.” And
what will Young use to determine whether “blessing” an abortion
clinic is a success? Will the facility’s abortion numbers increase?
Will fewer protesters show up to “abuse” women with biological facts about fetal development? What?
Pro-choicers
are just so much more open-minded than those preachy pro-lifers, writes
Zielinski:
In Ohio, where Young serves as the Director of the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, progressive clergy are doing similar work. Young also spends her time answering calls on an “all-options” counseling hotline run by clergy members. Unlike other religious organizations that use the guise of counseling to discourage women from getting an abortion, this line is judgement-free. Women can call looking for spiritual counseling before and after they get an abortion (if they decide to) and will find general support — something often missing in a church setting.
Ah,
yes. Pro-life counseling is ‘fake’ but counseling in support of abortion is
legitimate. Perhaps if abortion clinics offered counseling for “all options,”
these pro-choice clergy wouldn’t need to operate their own counseling hotline.
And I wonder why “general support” for abortion is so “often missing in a
church setting.” Hmm.
According
to these pro-choice clergy, God is in full support of whatever choices women
make – including abortion:
“It breaks my heart to know women are sitting in pews across the country feeling shamed, believing that they’re cursed for making this decision,” Young said. “That’s a question I get a lot on the phone, ‘Am I going to hell?’ When God instead is there to support women through it all.”
That
women sit in silent pain in churches breaks my heart, too. But there is an
answer to this feeling of shame, and it isn’t in encouraging them to feel
that God approves of their abortions. Excuse me while I get religious for a
moment: When we sin, we should
feel ashamed – but Christ offers forgiveness! We are under a curse – but Christ came to
free us through His shed blood on the cross. We are destined for hell –
but again, Jesus Christ came to offer Himself as a ransom for us so that
through Him, we might be saved. So this
is the good news – forgiveness, hope and healing in Jesus Christ. It is not
good news to say that – hey – whatever choice you make, God’s totally in
support of that. Nowhere in Scripture do we see evidence of this, which causes
me to wonder what kind of theology these pro-choice ministers have learned at
seminary. God cannot support
our sin, including our choice to kill our offspring. But He is faithful to forgive when
we genuinely turn from our sin.
Think
Progress continues with the narrative about how “great” abortion is:
Molly Marvar, one of the many women who has had an abortion at the Preterm clinic, has been asked to share her story with those who come to witness the Thursday blessing. She called her 2012 procedure a great, caring experience and a privilege.
Molly
– who is apparently a holistic health
and wellness advocate – views the killing of her child as “great” and a
“privilege.” We used to call this kind of thinking ‘disturbed.’ Now it seems to
be par for the course. Remember this the next time someone tells you that no
one is actually ‘pro-abortion.’
“It was a defining moment for me. But it doesn’t define me,” Marvar said. “It’s really important to me that I speak up about my abortion to help other women.”
At
least Marvar is correct that killing one’s child can be a “defining
moment” – just probably not in the way she thinks it is.
Her experience also
inspired her to fight the stigma around abortion by creating shirts artfully
screenprinted with a red “A,” something she describes as a “T-shirt campaign for
abortion rights and awareness.” Marvar sees Thursday’s clinic blessing as
another platform to help break the religious shame that’s so often paired with
abortions.
Shame
knows no religion. Advertising a past abortion by wearing a giant “A”
on one’s chest will likely do little to remove the stigma of
abortion, as similar
efforts have shown – possibly because our society (which some say
is actually becoming less
religious) is already aware on some level that abortion kills a human, and
being proud of that is… well, a bit warped, at the very least.
“There is a reverence for life that happens in this clinic,” she said. “And the decision to get an abortion is often a really, really, spiritual decision. Even if someone personally wouldn’t get an abortion, they should at least understand this.”
Straight
from someone who has had an abortion – it is a spiritual decision. Not
just a medical procedure. Not just a “choice” like anything else. Not like
having a cavity
filled. It is a decision that can impact the rest of your life –
because abortion cannot erase pregnancy. There is no
“reverence for life” happening at abortion facilities. There is a disregard
for it.
Attempts
to “bless” a place where children are killed and women are injured
might make for good photo-ops and may assuage some consciences, but religious
leaders like Rev. Laura Young may one day find that they have caused
great injury to women and children – and to the name of Christ – by
supporting and “blessing” abortion.
This is What Apostasy
Looks Like
As
I have often said, sin and rebellion, if left unchecked, will simply produce
more sin and rebellion. It all just spins out of control and compounds,
accelerates and multiplies. This is of course true of the individual, but it is
also true of a culture or even a church.
When
known error and sin is embraced and excused, then more sin and error will be
run with. Pretty soon we have full blown apostasy, if we are talking about a
believer or a church or a denomination. As sin goes by un-repented of, and even
condoned and justified, then we have what Scripture refers to as apostasy.
Various
passages speak to this, and offer strong warnings about falling away and
hardening one’s heart and being deceived by sin. Let me just offer a few of
these here:
Acts
20:29-31 I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and
will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort
the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard!
1
Timothy 4:1-2 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the
faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings
come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a
hot iron.
2
Timothy 3:1-9 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form
of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. They
are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible
women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil
desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the
truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned,
are rejected. But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those
men, their folly will be clear to everyone.
2
Timothy 3:13 Evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and
being deceived.
2
Peter 2:20-22 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome,
they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have
been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have
known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on
to them. Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A
sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
Strong
words and strong warnings. But for many folks they seem to be falling on deaf
ears. And one of the clearest ways to discern if apostasy is breaking out in a
church or Christian group is to simply note if the reigning sins of the age are
being committed or defended by them.
If
the sins being most championed by the world at a given time are also being
celebrated, affirmed and promoted by a church body, then you likely have a
major case of apostasy going on. And usually in such a situation, the best advice
that can be given is to run for your lives. Leave that hell hole and have
nothing to do with their iniquity and perversion.
Today
the two sins most being pushed in the secular culture are homosexuality and
abortion. Both have almost become sacred activities which must always be
promoted and never spoken ill against. Yet we find some pastors, churches and
denominations also fully promoting these abominable sins.
Consider
this utterly mind-boggling story out of the US:
More than a dozen religious leaders from a variety of denominations gathered last week to support abortion and “bless” a Cleveland abortion facility. The “blessing” of the Preterm facility was initiated and coordinated by Rev. Laura Young, a Methodist priestess and the executive director of The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice’s (RCRC) Ohio chapter.
“Bless this building,” prayed Rev. Tracey Lind, Dean of Cleveland’s Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, at the abortion facility. “May its walls stand strong against the onslaught of shame thrown at it. May it be a beacon of hope for those who need its services.”
RCRC is based in Washington, D.C. Its national president, Rev. Harry Knox, participated in the Cleveland demonstration as well, and told the Columbus Dispatch, “I’m here today standing alongside my fellow clergymen and clergywomen to say, thank God for abortion providers.”
Knox is a “married” homosexual who has also spearheaded same-sex “marriage” efforts in Georgia and Florida.
The group held signs that said to be pro-abortion is to be “pro-family” and “pro-faith.” Other signs read, “Good women have abortions.”
One demonstration participant, Molly Marvar, had positive things to say about her abortion at the Cleveland Preterm clinic, calling her abortion a great, caring experience, and a privilege. “It was a defining moment for me,” she said. “It’s really important to me that I speak up about my abortion to help other women.”
“There is a reverence for life that happens in this clinic,” Marvar told Think Progress. “And the decision to get an abortion is often a really, really, spiritual decision.” In an interview with Think Progress, Young explained that she believes God supports abortion. “Women who have had abortions are being attacked at a religious level, and the faith community has a moral obligation to heal these spiritual wounds,” she said.
Young, a self-described “progressive theological thinker and a feminist,” said if her demonstration and “blessing” is successful, her group will bless other state clinics as well. She recently testified against a pro-life bill in the Ohio senate, along with Unitarian, Universalist, United Church of Christ and Episcopalian clergy.
Wow,
this is such a monstrous, demonic and ungodly situation that I am almost left
speechless. These folks stand completely condemned by their own mouths, and of
course by the word of God. We know that God never blesses that which is evil.
He can only curse it.
And
these people are simply bringing curses and the just judgment of God down upon
themselves. They are the perfect illustration of just what wholesale apostasy
looks like. They perfectly reflect the Isaiah 5:20 which pronounces God’s
judgment on those who call good evil and evil good.
Unless
these folks repent, they are in a real bad way. We can pray that the satanic
blinders will be removed from their eyes, and that they will see the gross
error of their ways. And we can also pray that their wilful deception and
promotion of all things satanic is stopped dead in its tracks.
Satan
is alive and well on planet earth and we see the clearest of illustrations of
this with this group. While they might be on the extreme end of deception,
perversion and apostasy, bear in mind that plenty of other churches and church
leaders are quickly moving down this very same path.
How
many even so-called evangelical leaders and churches are pushing all things
homosexual, including homosexual marriage? How many are making excuses for baby
killing and attacking prolifers who seek to keep the innocent from being led to
the slaughter?
While
some of these Christians may not have fully gone down the path of apostasy and
rebellion against God, they are certainly well on the way. And my same advice
applies to them as well: we can pray for them and ask God to help free them
from their deception and blindness before it is too late.
And
if need be, we can pray that if they cannot or will not be improved, that they
will be removed. Things are that serious: when church leaders actually lead
their flock astray, then they are quickly heading into a most dangerous place
indeed, where only the righteous judgment of God is the proper answer, if
repentance is not forthcoming.
As
Jesus said so plainly and powerfully: “If anyone causes one of these little
ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them if a large
millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.” (Mark
9:42)
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