Unpreaching the Gospel

It's What We're Doing by Staying Silent on Abortion

By Rolley Haggard

for BreakPoint 

A recent article in “World” Magazine titled “Still-silent shepherds” summarized the top reasons evangelical pastors give for not preaching against abortion. Among them is that “preaching on the issue might politically stigmatize the pastor or politicize the pulpit, scaring seekers off.”

Aside from the fact that such reasoning is purely pragmatic—concerned with results (what works) rather than principle (what's right)—it is also severely problematic in three of its underlying assumptions:

One, that pulpits should avoid moral issues with controversial political overtones;

Two, that silence is justified on issues that may “scare seekers off”;

Three, that ignoring issues like abortion won't adversely impact gospel ministry.

I submit that pulpits operating on these assumptions are undoing the very work they hope to do. To varying extents, they are “unpreaching” the gospel.

continue reading at http://www.breakpoint.org

Rolley Haggard is a feature writer for BreakPoint.

BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life.

More information on BreakPoint at http://www.breakpoint.org

Sisters of Life - Offering Hope in the Goodness of Life

From Choose Life

Please help our Sisters in their missions to pregnant women and at the service of the Sisters of Life community.

 They are in need of new (or newer) computers! Many of the computers that they use in their missions are old and are running Windows XP. Unfortunately, Windows is discontinuing their support and updates for XP this April, which will make any XP computers we're still using at that point a security risk to our whole network. Thus, they are specifically in need of new (or newer) computers that are running Windows 7 or Windows 8. Desktop computers are great: they actually have quite a few screens, keyboards, and mouses, so what they most in need of is just the computer tower (or workstation) itself and they can use it with the screens, etc. they have already (though they'll accept screens, etc., too, if they're part of the package). Laptops are fine as well.

Due to this upcoming security issue with old XP systems, they're unable to take any more computers running Windows XP (or Vista) at this time unless they can be updated easily to Windows 7 or 8.

These sisters serve 800 moms and children a year and need our help and support.  

Please pass on the word and help so someone might be able to help these holy women in cash or kind (God will repay you ten fold buddies  )

If you would like to help the Sisters of Life with a donation, CLICK HERE  for more information. 

History of the Sisters of Life

During a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp, the then Bishop-elect John J. O’Connor placed his hands inside the red brick crematoria oven and “felt the intermingled ashes of Jew and Christian, rabbi, priest and minister.” Struck to the heart, he proclaimed, “Good God, how could human beings do this to other human beings?” In that instant, he received a life-transforming grace and vowed to do all he could, from that moment forward, to protect and enhance the sacredness of every human life, wherever it was most vulnerable.

Several years later, now John Cardinal O’Connor, Archbishop of New York and the leading voice for life within the Church, he prayed to understand why the efforts of the pro-life cause were not gleaning the results expected. His eyes fell upon the passage from Scripture, “This kind of demon can only be cast out by prayer and fasting,” and another, life-transforming, grace was his. This time, though, the grace was not just a personal one, but one for the whole Church; it was the grace that gave birth to a new charism, a new religious community in the Church, the Sisters of Life.

Find more information on the Sisters of Life at http://www.sistersoflife.org

ADVANCE DIRECTIVES ARE A BAD IDEA

By Judie Brown
American Life League

Depending on how you look at it, planning on how you wish to be cared for at the end stages of your life can be nothing more than playing a game of Russian roulette. The only difference is that the person holding the gun to your head is not you!

Recent headlines draw me to make that conclusion, so allow us to examine the reasons why this is so.

First, let us define advance directive: 

It’s a document intended to instruct medical personnel on the kind of healthcare you would like to receive should you become unable to communicate your wishes. Common examples are a “living will” or a type of document called a “durable power of attorney for healthcare.” This latter document gives the power to make decisions about your healthcare to another person of your choosing. Every state now has laws authorizing one or more forms of advance directives.

This may have sounded good in the old days, but no more! Since 1991, we have had a federal law, the Patient Self Determination Act, in place. The PSDA “requires that whenever any adult is admitted to a hospital for any reason, he or she must be informed about ‘living wills’ or other types of ‘advance directives’ available by law.” 

continue reading at http://www.all.org

THE TIME I SAT NEXT TO AN ABORTIONIST...

By Brendan O'Morchoe
Students for Life of America

When you are working or volunteering in the pro-life movement day in and day out, you can easily get consumed by the big picture and lose sight of what is happening every day in our nation’s abortion mills. As we worry about money, politics, and time away from family, we can get too immune to the killing. 

But then you sit next to a late term abortionist…

Last Saturday, I was boarding a flight coming home to Virginia from Omaha, Nebraska. I had been in Kearney, last weekend speaking to students and local pro-life activists about how to create a Culture of Life in their community and how we are all called to the pro-life movement. Oddly enough, a lot of people asked me that weekend how I kept up my busy travel schedule and where I get my passion and energy. It is the moments like what happened on my flight Saturday night, confronted by evil, that keep me going.

When I sat down and looked across the aisle, I saw none other than notorious late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart on his way to kill 3rd trimester babies, as his does every Sunday morning, at his Germantown, MD facility. I was face-to-face with a man who has killed thousands upon thousands of babies with his own hands, who is responsible for the deaths of at least two women and who has so callously defended his business. 

And I had no idea what to do.

What do you really say to someone like that? How can you reach them?

I wasn’t sitting close enough to have a conversation as the aisle and his wife were between us. Plus, I felt he would shut me down right away, anyway. I knew I couldn’t sit that close to a man who represented so much evil. My entire body was shaking uncontrollably.

So, I asked to be moved up a couple rows where I couldn’t see him, but he could still hear me. Then for the next 2 hours, I prayed out loud for his conversion and an end to abortion. When we landed, I waited for him to walk past me, and I called his name. He looked me right in the eye, and I said, “LeRoy, we’re all praying for you.” He mumbled something incomprehensible and stalked off, but I knew I had gotten to him.

I’m not the first pro-lifer to confront Carhart and, hopefully, I won’t be the last. Just as with any dialogue or conversation with an abortion-rights supporter on a campus, in church, or at work, each of us is only responsible for planting or watering the seed of truth, hoping and praying that it will one day bear fruit. 

And while we might not always know the impact that our actions have on campuses and communities across the nation, we cannot forget what abortion really is, the lives and souls that are at stake every day across America.

Sitting next to LeRoy Carhart reminded me of one thing for sure…we cannot let fear, intimidation, or our busy lives stop us from action. We cannot rest until abortion is abolished from our nation.

I hope today you can renew your support of Students for Life as we transform our nation by empowering and equipping young people to be courageous leaders for Life. 

Federal Court VICTORY for Joe Scheidler‏

From Eric Scheidler, Executive Director
Pro-Life Action League

I've some EXCELLENT news. The NOW v. Scheidler lawsuit that pro abortion forces brought against my father Joe all the way back in 1986 is FINALLY OVER!

Twenty-eight years ago, the National Organization for Women (NOW) sued my father, the Pro-Life Action League, and several other activists for "interfering with interstate commerce" with their pro-life activism.

They even went to far as to use the federal "RICO" statute -- designed to target organized crime syndicates like the Mafia -- to paint pro-life activists as "racketeers"!

After three trips to the US Supreme Court and a unanimous victory in the final ruling in 2006, we thought it was all over. But then NOW refused to pay court costs as require by law!

So the case continued to drag on for years, with NOW owing the League $63,000 and refusing to pay up.

But this week, following a hearing on Good Friday, a three-judge panel from the federal court of appeals issued a FINAL ruling, ordering NOW to pay what they owe.

Here's what the judges had to say in the final sentence of their ruling: "This litigation has lasted far too long. At last it is over."

You can get more details on this epic case -- the longest in U.S. federal court history -- on the League's website at: http://prolifeaction.org

Needless to say, my father and I couldn't be happier! In a system so rife with injustice, it's heartening to see truth and justice prevail.

But this isn't just a victory for my father and the Pro-Life Action League. This is a victory for ALL pro-lifers.

NOW intended this lawsuit to END pro-life activism. With their cynical efforts to delay the final end of the suit as long as possible, they were thumbing their noses as ALL of us.

Today you can celebrate this week's great court victory by making a special gift to the Pro- Life Action League to support the kind of pro-life work that brought on this outrageous lawsuit: https://give.prolifeaction.org

My father's brand of pro-life activism proved such a threat to the abortion industry that they dedicated 28 years to fighting this case.

Yet all along, the League has CONTINUED to save babies and expose the truth about abortion. Thanks for being a part of that effort!

Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI) Coordinates Successful Pro-Life Social Media Event

This past Tuesday, Planned Parenthood tried to take over the Capitol and social media with their pro-abortion spin machine. PFI Community Impact Director Dan Bartkowiak led an effort not just to counter Planned Parenthood's efforts, but to turn them around for the cause of life. Here are some statistics:

• The truth about Planned Parenthood was delivered to Pennsylvania legislators.
• Hundreds of supporters like you sent messages to their legislators urging them to say NO to Planned Parenthood.
• On Twitter, pro-life Pennsylvanians took over the #PAWomenDeserveBetter hashtag, spreading the truth about Planned Parenthood. In fact, pro-lifers tweeted almost as much as pro-choicers using Planned Parenthood's own hashtag. Our effort led to Planned Parenthood of Southeast Pennsylvania responding with their misinformation, which PFI staffers and pro-life activists around Pennsylvania exposed.
• On Facebook, PFI took over the #PAWomenDeserveBetter hashtag, substantially outnumbering pro-abortion commentary.

Thank you for your continued support as we spread the truth about Planned Parenthood.

Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey Among Those Who Signed Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Letter

Pennsylvania's Senator Pat Toomey, along with 15 other Senators, sent a letter to their colleagues on April 29, 2014 urging them to push for a vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S. 1670). (Use this link to view the complete letter.)

Please take a moment to thank those who took a stand for God's precious preborn babies by signing this letter.

We are all so quick to condemn our legislators when they fail us.  We should be just as quick to thank them when they don't. (Use this link  to find the contact information for all who have signed this letter.) 

RH REALITY CHECK PROVES AGAIN THAT THEY DON’T UNDERSTAND THE AFTERMATH OF ABORTION

By Nancy Flanders
for Live Action News

A Louisiana bill was passed this week to require abortionists to inform their patients of the psychological effects of abortion. Women seeking an abortion would receive a pamphlet with information about the psychological effects of abortion along with mental health resources, and the patient would sign a form confirming that they received the information and that they will wait 24 hours before returning for the abortion.  This has abortion supporters up in arms.

One such supporter is Amanda Marcotte of RH Reality Check. She claims the bill is based on lies and is an attempt on by Christian conservatives to ignore science and manipulate women. She says the bill “is focused strictly on false mental health claims.”

continue reading at http://liveactionnews.org

Life is Always a Good

by Janet Morana
Executive Director, Priests for Life
Co-founder, Silent No More Awareness Campaign  

There are few happy endings when doctors pronounce a child in the womb to be “incompatible with life.” But miracles – and good medicine – do happen.

In the Huffington Post, Nicole Stewart wrote of her abortion at 22 weeks after a doctor made that pronouncement. Her post doesn’t detail the problems the doctor diagnosed, but a story from the Dallas News in January gives a few more clues. The baby boy’s brain was “abnormal.” Fluid was building up in his brain and lungs. He would lose the ability to swallow.

Ms. Stewart and her husband made the decision to take the life of their wanted and loved child, and they feel it was the right decision. She speaks publicly about it, and receives kudos for being one of the few women brave enough to talk out loud about her abortion. Of course, the women of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign have been doing that since 2003, but that’s another subject.

But a few weeks before the Dallas News was congratulating Ms. Stewart for her courage in talking about her abortion, a couple in Johnstown, Pa., was reaping the rewards of their courage – and their faith. Jen and Kevin Sheridan, a devout Catholic couple who already were the parents of a baby girl, learned that something was seriously wrong with the baby boy in Mrs. Sheridan’s womb. She was about 14 weeks pregnant when doctors told the couple that a neural tube defect called an encephalocele was causing a portion of the baby’s brain to grow outside of his skull. Abortion was never an option for the Sheridans.

By the time baby Owen was born at Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center on Dec. 6, 2013, the growth was nearly seven pounds, and almost as long as his body. The couple knew that Owen might die shortly after his birth, but that boy had other plans. A team of specialists at Boston Children’s Hospital was able to remove the encephalocele and close his skull. Today Owen is four months old and a treasured member of his family. Exactly what his future will hold is unknown, but that is true for every living creature on God’s Earth.

It is not up to us to decide who is compatible or incompatible with life. It is not our right, in any circumstance, to take a life.

It takes courage and faith to travel the road the Sheridans did. And it takes a doctor willing to accompany a couple whose baby’s survival is in jeopardy. As I wrote in my book, “Recall Abortion,” those doctors can be found. Dr. Byron Calhoun is one. He is a pioneer of the perinatal hospice movement. Parents who know their children might not live long after birth are prepared for that eventuality. They have family with them for the birth, and often a clergy member, and a photographer. They have a chance to hold their child, to surround him with love, to let him die with dignity. Contrast that with a shot of digoxin to the heart and a brutal dismemberment. That’s what a late-term abortion is, and we can’t pretend that choosing that kind of death for a child in the womb could ever be a loving choice.

Ms. Stewart’s experience also reminds me of a situation I encountered almost 30 years ago. A woman who had given birth to twins on Staten Island asked for help from the Mothers of Twins Club, of which I was a member. One of this woman’s twin daughters was born healthy but the other had severe complications. She needed a breathing machine and a feeding tube to live, but the family’s insurance company wanted to drop them from the policy, citing the futility of continued care for this sickly newborn.

I alerted the media, rallied the troops, and joined this girl’s parents in the fight for her life. As it turns out, this is another happy ending for a child whose life was considered not worth saving. She is in her late 20s now. She had a rough start, with lots of medical intervention, but she survived and is now a young woman, a college graduate with a bright future.

Nicole Stewart and her husband made the choice they thought was right. But they were wrong. As St. John Paul II often said, “Life is always a good.”

Silent No More Awareness is a Campaign whereby Christians make the public aware of the devastation abortion brings to women and men. The campaign seeks to expose and heal the secrecy and silence surrounding the emotional and physical pain of abortion.

The Campaign began November 11th, 2002. As of December 2013 the Silent No More Awareness Campaign has held 1,325 Gatherings in 17 countries & 48 states with 5,715 women and men sharing their abortion testimonies. Testimonies have also been shared at 72 high schools and universities in the last 4 years, 14 in 2013.

Use this link to learn more about Silent No More Awareness Campaign

TAKE ACTION NOW BEFORE THEY KILL ANYONE ELSE

From Father Frank Pavone, National Director
Priests for Life

Even as you read this, the villainous abortionist Martin Haskell is operating illegal abortion mills in Ohio under the full protection of Judge Jerome Metz.

Priests for Life is working to put a stop to this travesty of justice but we can’t do it without your help.

Here’s what I’m counting on you to do:

1. CLICK HERE and SIGN the message urging the Ohio Department of Health to appeal Judge Metz’s ruling and close Martin Haskell’s abortion mills in Cincinnati and Dayton.

2. Call the Ohio Department of Health and tell them: “I respectfully urge the Ohio Department of Health to appeal the decision of Judge Jerome Metz that is allowing Martin Haskell to continue operating his Women’s Medical Centers in Cincinnati and Dayton.”  Here’s the phone number: 614 – 466 – 3543.  Be polite but firm!

3. Click here  and support Priests for Life’s nationwide campaign to shut down America’s unsafe abortion mills with a contribution for as much as you can make today!

Make no mistake:

Women are dying in so-called “safe” abortions because pro-abortion apologists lied to them and told them abortion is safe.

One young 22-year-old mother was just murdered in a Cleveland abortion mill.

But few Americans know this because “Big Media” refuses to report on the crimes of violence which the abortion industry inflicts on mothers and babies.  We had to drag them kicking and screaming to the trial of convicted abortionist Kermit Gosnell.  Even then news coverage lasted a very short time.

Which is why it is so terribly important that you and I and all the People of Life make our voices heard today!

Otherwise more unsuspecting women – not to mention their innocent babies – will die as a direct result of abortion.

For years now you’ve helped Priests for Life proclaim the truth that abortion is never a “safe” procedure.  It’s not safe for the women who enter America’s unregulated abortion mills.  And it’s certainly not safe for their babies.

Everyone in the abortion industry knows this.  And yet they accuse those of us in the pro-life movement of conducting a “War on Women.”  But they’re the ones killing America’s women.

And those in government and in control of America’s news rooms know it.

But when abortion is the cause of death, there’s a conspiracy of silence to keep the story under wraps.  Many in the news media ignore what happened.  Health officials distort death certificates in order to hide the truth that abortion was the cause of death.  Lawmakers are curiously silent about the need to enact laws protecting women.  And judges like Jerome Metz corrupt the law and use it to protect the killers.

As a result, abortion mills continue to be, as they were from the start, the most dangerous, unregulated, and unscrupulous “medical” facilities in the nation!

I know this because of Priests for Life’s work with Life Dynamics in producing Lime 5, the book that exposed the seemingly endless cases of malpractice, abuse, mistreatment, and murder of women who go to these so-called “safe” clinics.

Another book that reveals how abortion harms women is Janet Morana’s Recall Abortion.

In addition to being Priests for Life’s Executive Director, Janet is the Co-Founder of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.  In both capacities, Janet has met with and spoken to thousands of women who’ve been brutalized and maimed from abortion.  Recall Abortion is their first-hand accounts that shine the light of truth on the tragic abuse of women that’s being perpetrated inside America’s abortuaries.

Filled with real-life testimonies, Recall Abortion refutes the lies told by the abortion industry and their mouthpieces in the mainstream media.  As Janet shows:

Abortion is a harmful product that kills women and their children.  It needs to be recalled before one more mother exercises her freedom of choice and dies in the process.

Knowing this, I’m collaborating with other pro-life leaders to galvanize the People of Life into a powerful force that will rein in America’s out-of-control and unsafe abortion mills.  We’re working especially close with Troy Newman and Operation Rescue on this.

You can click here to read a special note that Troy’s written to you and other pro-life activists.

Priests for Life and Operation Rescue are waging this fight because it’s time for the killing to stop and the lie to be exposed.  It’s time to tell America:

Abortion is not safe and abortion mills are not helping women.

Please join your fellow Priests for Life family members and support this nationwide campaign to proclaim that truth and demand action from state officials who are responsible for protecting women and the youngest members of our human family.

Take a moment right now to:

•  Sign the message to the Ohio Department of Health.
•  Call the Ohio Department of Health and demand action.
•  make a contribution to help support this urgent and important campaign!

Your dollars will allow us to coordinate with Troy and bring about the closing of every unsafe abortion mill in the country!

There are many other abortuaries that are just as horrific as was Kermit Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” in Philadelphia.

Two of the worst are Martin Haskell’s Women’s Medical Centers.  If Haskell’s name sounds familiar to you it’s because Haskell is the butcher whose medical paper brought “partial birth abortion” to light and trained other abortionists how to use this grisly procedure to torture and kill babies in the very process of delivery.

Operation Rescue has documented one botched abortion after another at his clinics and has evidence that Haskell is killing babies and mangling women!  As Troy noted in a recent email:

“Haskell could be the foremost late-term abortionist in the entire country!”

And in spite of the fact that Mr. Haskell operates his abortuary in obvious violation of an Ohio law that requires abortion clinics to maintain transfer agreements with local hospitals for cases of medical emergencies, Judge Metz is allowing him to continue his deadly assault on innocent babies and unsuspecting mothers.

Not surprisingly, Ohio’s legal system is protecting Martin Haskell and putting women at risk!

There are countless numbers of clinics all across the country that are as dangerous for women as the Women’s Medical Center.  They all need to be shut down.

But that won’t be easy.  Not only are morally corrupt judges protecting abortionists like Martin Haskell, but so are state legislators and officials.  In New York state, for example, state workers refuse to inspect abortion clinics.  Negligence like this is happening in many states.  It was Pennsylvania’s refusal to make routine inspections allowed Kermit Gosnell to operate his “House of Horrors.”

How many women will die as a result of New York’s complicity with the abortion industry?

For all these reasons and more, Priests for Life is going all out to shut down as many abortion mills as we possibly can!

We’re also urging health officials in Maryland to close late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart’s Germantown Reproductive Health Services.  Over the past 13 months four women at his clinic have been rushed to hospitals ... one of whom died!

Other states where we’re actively working to shut down clinics are:

•California
•Pennsylvania
•Texas
•Kansas
•Alabama
•Mississippi
•Nebraska
•Oklahoma
•Georgia 
•And Florida

So far in 2014, seven surgical abortion clinics in four states have announced they were closing their doors.

That follows a highly successful 2013 in which a record 87 surgical abortion clinics and 6 abortion pill-only clinics closed.

You played a key role in shutting down those clinics through your support of Priests for Life.

And because you did, I’m counting on you to:

• STAY ACTIVELY INVOLVED in this project and take the actions I’m asking you to do today.

• Continue to PRAY for our shared mission here at Priests for Life.

• And maintain your FINANCIAL SUPPORT by  making as large a contribution as you can to Priests for Life.Please continue to be as generous with your time, your prayers and your dollars as you have been since you joined the Priests for Life family.

Working together we will move America one step closer to ending the scourge of legalized abortion-on-demand.