The president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is calling out a man who is telling people that he is killing babies through abortion as a “ministry.”
Dr. Willie Parker, a former medical director for Planned Parenthood, has been performing abortions (including late term abortions) at a clinic in Jackson, Mississippi. He has been leading the fight against the state’s law requiring better health care standards for abortion clinics and for doctors to have admitting rights at hospitals if they perform abortions.
Dr. Parker claims that he is doing “abortion ministry” by killing babies for women who don’t want to become mothers. He compares himself to the good Samaritan of the Bible and even had a newspaper feature championing his “abortion ministry.” He said he can’t understand why people think he might not be a Christian.
“The protesters say they’re opposed to abortion because they’re Christian,” Parker explained. “It’s hard for them to accept that I do abortions because I’m a Christian.”
Southern Baptist ERLC head Russell Moore says that people question Dr. Parker as a Christian because he’s killing babies for profit. He also says Parker’s claims that he’s like the “good Samaritan” are flawed at the core.
“That would be true, of course, if the Samaritan in Jesus’ story had euthanized the neighbor, to put him out of his misery. Of course, he didn’t. Instead, the Samaritan took the neighbor on as his own kin, nursing him back to health and caring for him, a picture that looks a lot like what many of the pro-life churches and organizations Parker dismisses are, in fact, doing for women in crisis and their babies,” said Moore.
“We can pray that this abortion doctor hears and receives that sort of mercy that transforms the direction and purpose of his life. We can pray for a ‘come to Jesus’ moment that puts him on the right side of the Jericho Road.”
Private moments made public – they happen a lot in large families, and it helps to keep a sense of humor when it does! One such moment happened recently when I was going about my daily business with routine household tasks, thinking the house was empty. I was meditating on the Lord and all that He has called Jim and me to do, and I guess I was talking to myself when I heard a voice from the other room:
“Mom, who are you talking to?
“Mom, is there somebody in there with you?” Continue reading →
A Portland, Oregon children’s ministry is coming under fire from a group of citizens who object to kids being told that all human beings are sinners who need salvation through Jesus Christ.
Portland residents are attacking the Portland chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship over their voluntary summer camps in the area. The CEF teaches children as part of their camps that everyone, including them, are sinners and that because of Jesus Christ our sins can be forgiven.
Some of the “never mention sin” group have started a group called Protect Portland Children to harass parents into not taking their children to CEF events. The group was founded by an anti-Christianist who aims to keep the group from not only speaking to children at camps, but keep the group from having Bible study groups at area schools this fall.
The group says that they’re not saying anything that hasn’t been said for 2,000 years.
“The message of the gospel, teaching of the core Christian tenets of the Christian faith that have been taught for 2,000 years in the Bible is what we’re teaching,” CEF Vice President Moises Esteves said. “There’s nothing new here.”
Most of us want our lives to count for something good. When you are a Child of God, your life on this earth takes on a greater cause than just accomplishing something in the natural. A Child of God is not satisfied with worldly accomplishments – a Child of God wants to store up treasures in Heaven where moths and rust cannot corrupt them.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21 Continue reading →
Birmingham police have stopped two Christian organizations from feeding the homeless in the city.
The police and city officials say that because of a new ordinance passed at the behest of restaurant owners to stop food trucks in the city the ministries can no longer take their trucks to hand out free hot dogs and water to those in need.
“I’m just so totally shocked that the city is turning their back on the homeless like this,” Pastor Rick Wood told WBMA-TV. “It’s like they want to chase them out of the city. And the homeless can’t help the position they’re in. They need help.”
The Lord’s House of Prayer has been feeding the poor and homeless in Birmingham every Saturday for the last six years before the police stopped them from feeding the hungry.
Birmingham’s mayor is all in favor of keeping the ministries from feeding the homeless because he says there has to be consistency to the law.
“What’s the quality of that hot dog? Where did it come from?” Mayor William Bell snapped when asked about the situation.
Don Williams of Bridge Builders Ministries said that police also stopped his group from feeding the homeless. Williams noted that there is nothing in the city’s law that addresses feeding the homeless for free from a truck, so the Mayor and police are acting beyond the bounds of the law.
On one of our recent shows that Jim was taping without me (because I was just too ill to come to the set) he mentioned that I had to get well so that I could run Lori’s House. I just want you all to know that there is no greater motivation for me than to know that Lori’s House will be operating soon and we will be saving tiny, innocent lives. Can you imagine anything that would touch the heart of God more? Jesus said pure and undefiled religion is taking care of the widows and orphans (James 1:27) and with the help of our partners and friends, we will do it very soon here at Morningside! We can do many ‘good works’ that we think please God, but with this effort, we can know it does!
Statistics have confirmed that in this country, 40% of all women have had abortions – almost half! Until recently, that statistic was 25% or 1 out of every 4, supporting the fact that abortion is becoming more and more prevalent. In this country alone, we have aborted over 55 million (and counting) babies. Abortion does more than stop an innocent heart from beating. The long-term effects of having an abortion are proven to be debilitating for women of all ages. Continue reading →
Arvella Schuller, who founded Crystal Cathedral Ministries with her husband Robert Schuler, has died at the age of 84.
Schuller’s family says that she suffered a brief illness last week but everyone was shocked that she passed away from the illness. She was known as the “first lady” of Crystal Cathedral Ministries and a staunch supporter and encourager of her husband, Reverend Robert Schuller.
Schuller was the driving force behind the internationally known “Hour of Power” television program. She developed the program as a live, local broadcast but saw the potential for the program to impact lives around the world. She initiated the changes that turned the program into a worldwide beacon for Christ.
Broadcaster Ed Arnold, who was a volunteer announcer for Hour of Power in the 1970s, said that Arvella Schuller was the “brains behind the church.” He said that Reverend Schuller would lay out a vision he felt God giving him and Arvella would do all she could to make that vision comes to pass.
She is survived by her husband and five children.
My readers often ask me how I do it – how I manage marriage, motherhood and ministry all at the same time. The short answer is “I don’t” and the long answer is “He gives me grace”. Though a book could be written on each aspect of my life and someday, probably will, today I want to start addressing these topics in little bites on my blog. You’ve heard the expression “How do you eat an elephant” and most of us know that the only way you can do that is “one bite at a time”. So, that’s how we’re going to start to cover these topics… a little at a time.
I will begin with a little background on where I came from and my thoughts about where I’m going. I will always be completely open and transparent about everything because I believe that people are looking for other REAL people, not people wearing masks or personas. The Lord knows we have enough of those kind of people! When I’ve opened up like this in the past, some have said that it’s just TMI (too much information) and I need not tell every little detail of my life! Continue reading →
Jim and I and our entire family are still basking in the glow of the ministry that took place here at Morningside this past week during the Fourth of July Celebration. We know that all who were here and all who will see these broadcasts will feel the same way.
When something of this magnitude takes place in the Spirit, you can be certain that it will change you! That’s the wonder of God’s Holy Spirit – the transforming, empowering, emblazoned mark on the hearts of those who receive it! Continue reading →
Being completely open and transparent, I have to tell you that there are days that I have been ready to ‘throw in the towel’ so to speak. These days usually come on the heels of exhaustion or after I’ve read or heard the umpteenth unkind remark about something Jim and I are doing in ministry. It seems that no matter what we do, there are those who are more than willing to criticize and condemn it.
While many see us as modern-day Josephs, bringing a welcomed message of preparedness in a very chaotic world, there are those who gnash their teeth at us for having the audacity to preach that there will be Times of Trouble just before Jesus comes again. Continue reading →
