22 January 2025
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“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] Pastor Suspended as Pennsylvania Church Continues Fight to Leave Evangelical Presbyterian Church
[3] Canada Town and Mayor Fined for Refusing Pride Month
[4] Pastor Found Not Guilty of Murdering Eight-Year-Old Girl Walking to Church’s Summer Bible School
[6] Michigan Church Votes to Exit Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Additional Articles of Interest
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[1] Pastor Suspended as Pennsylvania Church Continues Fight to Leave Evangelical Presbyterian Church
[Ruling] Elders may also be suspended if they don’t cooperate with presbytery demands.
The pastor of Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church (BHPC) has been suspended from his office, and the church elders (session) have been admonished to repent and cooperate with the requests of the presbytery.
The Pittsburgh-area church is a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) denomination and has been seeking to dissolve its affiliation and exit the denomination for over a year.
https://ministrywatch.com/pastor-suspended-as-pa-church-continues-fight-to-leave-epc/
+ MinistryWatch, 2514 Plantation Center Drive, Matthews, North Carolina 28105, 866-364-9980, info@wallwatchers.org
+ Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 17197 North Laurel Park Drive Suite 567, Livonia, Michigan 48152, 734-742-2020, Fax: 734-742-2033, webmaster@epc.org
Hyacinth McIntosh, known as ‘XY’ under a Court of Protection ‘transparency order’, can now be named after she died on Christmas Day following her life support, food and fluids being withdrawn against her family’s wishes.
Hyacinth, aged 54, who entered a deeply unconscious state following a heart attack and hypoxic brain damage in May last year, defied expectations that she would die following removal of artificial ventilation on 14 December under the order of the Court of Protection.
The order ruled that prolonging her life was not in her “best interests” and that she should only receive ‘palliative care’.
However, following the Court order, the NHS also refused to provide her with any clinically assisted feeding or hydration over the next 11 days, condemning her to die of dehydration.
Following the scandal over the ‘Liverpool Care Pathway for dying patients’ in 2013, the guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) require that clinicians should consider providing patients with adequate hydration at the end of their life.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, and represented by barrister, James Bogle, Hyacinth’s daughter, Shanika Davis, also secured the support of the retired palliative medicine expert, Professor Sam Ahmedzai, who had chaired the committee preparing the 2015 NICE guidelines for end-of-life care.
In an urgent application submitted to the Court of Protection, Professor Ahmedzai argued that withdrawal of fluids from Hyacinth would be “cruel, inhuman and degrading.”
He added that current guidelines make it clear that “the provision of palliative hydration could be an integral part of good palliative care”, which was what the Court had ordered.
However, the Urgent Applications Judge at the Court of Protection, John McKendrick KC, rejected Professor Ahmedzai’s evidence as attempting a “head on challenge” to the earlier ruling of the Court that all treatment was to be withdrawn.
His decision was upheld by Lord Justice Peter Jackson and Lord Justice Baker in the Court of Appeal on Saturday 14 December.
Life support, food and fluids were immediately withdrawn by King’s College Hospital the same afternoon.
After keeping Hyacinth without fluids for 6 further days, King’s College Hospital finally allowed to let her daughter take her home, but the discharge letter to her GP stated the patient was “not for fluids”.
On Monday 23 December the family was visited by a social worker, accompanied by a doctor from the local hospice. After Hyacinth’s daughter argued that her mother should be given an infusion of fluids to save her from dehydration, the social worker intimidated her by suggesting that she was concerned about her ability to care for her own children.
Hyacinth’s family was devastated when she died the morning of Christmas Day.
Hyacinth, described as a ‘vibrant character’ and a ‘pillar of her local church’, had suffered a heart attack in May 2024 that had left her brain damaged from being deprived of oxygen before she received medical help. She initially went into kidney failure but that resolved with ICU treatment.
However, she remained unconscious for the following 6 months and the doctors at King’s College Hospital concluded that, while she was not terminally ill and with appropriate care and treatment could survive for some years, her ‘quality of life’ was unlikely ever to improve.
They refused to perform a tracheostomy and a gastrostomy to enable her to be discharged home to be looked after by her family, and instead applied to the Court of Protection arguing that prolonging her life was not in her best interests.
Family’s pleas ignored
The application was strongly opposed by Mrs McIntosh’s large family, including her ex-partner, both children, granddaughter, grandson and two cousins.
The family told Justice Arbuthnot they were convinced that, because of her personality and Christian beliefs, ‘XY’, as Hyacinth was known then, would have wanted to be kept alive and leave it to God to choose the time of her death.
The family argued that Hyacinth’s neurological condition had improved, and the family members said they had witnessed her reacting to their voices by eye movements and squeezing their hands when asked to do so.
However, the judge ruled that the evidence of the family and Hyacinth’s own wishes were “outweighed” by the medical opinion about her poor prognosis.
The family complained that the reporting restrictions imposed by the Court of Protection prevented them from looking for an alternative hospital, to ask the public for donations to fund private treatment, or to expose the unfairness and cruelty of the system which is enforcing death of their mother against her wishes.
The hospital said that there was no benefit to Hyacinth in maintaining her life “artificially” and it would be in her best interests for Ventilation and Clinically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration all to be withdrawn.
‘Inhuman and degrading’ says expert
Their family’s grief has been amplified with the knowledge that the NHS and courts ignored expert evidence from Professor San Ahmedzai who led the guidelines for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Guidance on end-of-life care.
In his report, Professor Ahmedzai, said it would be ‘cruel’ ‘degrading’ and ‘inhuman’ for Hyacinth’s life support to be withdrawn in this way.
“In my opinion, although the present Court order is for withdrawal of all life-sustaining medical treatments, it would be cruel, degrading and inhuman if she spontaneously lives longer than a few days, for assisted hydration and feeding to be permanently withheld. In a dying person, current guidelines make it clear that assisted hydration is not intended primarily to prolong life, but rather to provide comfort while HM is living [see NICE 2015; GMC 2022]. Thus the provision of palliative hydration could be an integral part of a good Palliative Care Plan.”
He added further on in his report: “There is no justification for withdrawing existing nasogastric hydration and feeding in such a case, even after withdrawal of assisted ventilation. Even if, after extubation, HM lives for only a matter of days, then removal of the NG tube would be an unnecessary and unusually cruel, degrading and inhuman thing to do.”
Professor Ahmedzai now says that the case highlights an ongoing crisis in the provision of end-of-life care by the NHS.
He says: “Although the majority of patients who come under specialist palliative care services do achieve a good death in terms of pain and other symptoms, the provision of assisted hydration at the end of life is much more hit and miss.”
This, he adds, “reflects a reluctance by some services providing end of life care to let go of the Liverpool Care Pathway, which was abolished by Parliament in 2013 precisely because it offered a one-size-fits all approach including the withholding of hydration, even to those begging for it”.
Professor Ahmedzai produced a report for a Parliamentary group published in 2023 called ‘When End of Life Care goes Wrong’, which highlighted many continuing instances of withholding hydration and other features of the abolished Pathway in NHS and hospice services.
Professor Ahmedzai said: “Our report was an invitation for the Government to examine how some patients and families are receiving substandard and inhuman care at the end of life. All MPs received a copy but not a single question was raised in Parliament after its publication. It is incredible that a practice abolished by Parliament in 2013 is still being used and led to a lady dying from dehydration on Christmas Day.”
‘Beyond cruelty’ says daughter
Speaking on behalf of the family, the daughter of Hyacinth, Shanika Davis, said: “How my mother died was beyond cruelty. There was no dignity or respect, and we refuse to believe that it was in her ‘best interests’ to die.
“My mother was at the centre of our large family and a big part of her community and a pillar of her local church with lots of friends. She was a popular person who cared deeply about other people. Everyone who knew her said that she would have wanted to take every chance to continue to live and would not have want to be put to death.
“Our wishes as a family and my mother’s right to life have been trampled on by the hospital and the courts. Even now, authorities are refusing to put on my mum’s death certificate that the immediate cause of her death was dehydration.
“Contrary to the doctors’ predictions, my mother survived the removal of ventilation support and breathed very well on her own, with oxygen saturation between 95 and 100 per cent at all times. However, the NHS and the Court refused to revisit their earlier decision and condemned her to a cruel death from dehydration rather than admit that they might have made a mistake.
“Like many families before us, the whole system has come against us and it leaves you almost helpless and powerless. Death was forced on us rather than helping us pursue options for life. That is wrong and we are appalled by how many other families have had to go through this.”
Highly concerning
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “The ruling from the court enforcing the removal of food and fluids from Hyacinth against the family’s wishes and the presumption of life shows clearly that the current system cannot be trusted to protect life or respect the views of patients and families who believe, often because of their Christian faith, that it is in their ‘best interests’ to live rather than die.
“At the time it should take urgent action to sort out the end-of-life care crisis so as to promote the best palliative care promoting life not death, our Parliament remains sadly fixated on legislating to expand the ‘right to die’.
“This story raises the spectre of how vulnerable patients and families will be treated under any ‘assisted dying’ legislation.
“It’s highly concerning. Good law protects life, does not blur boundaries and should never promote death.
“If this is happening, before assisted suicide legislation is passed imagine what we will see if such legislation comes into force.
“To ignore Professor Ahmedzai’s evidence that the withdrawal of food and fluids in this way was ‘inhuman’ is extraordinary. It demonstrates the lengths the courts are already prepared to go when their judgment will result in certain death rather than upholding life and treating patients with dignity according to their wishes and the wishes of their family.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
[3] Canada Town and Mayor Fined for Refusing Pride Month
The following is excerpted from “Canadian town fined,” Fox News, Dec. 1, 2024: “A Canadian town is facing a fine of $10,000 for refusing to participate in Pride Month and fly the ‘LGBTQ2 rainbow flag’ outside its municipal building. The town of Emo, Ontario, which has a population of about 1,300 and is situated near the border with Minnesota, was found to have violated the Ontario Human Rights Code by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for refusing to proclaim June as Pride Month, according to a report from the National Post. The town was also issued a citation for its failure to fly ‘an LGBTQ2 rainbow flag,’ the report notes, despite Emo not having an official flag pole. In addition to the $10,000 fine, officials from the town were ordered to complete mandatory ‘human rights’ training. According to the report, the decision to cite Emo began with a 2020 incident in which the town was approached by a group called Borderland Pride, which issued a written request asking that Emo declare June Pride Month. The request was defeated by a 3-2 vote at a later Emo township council meeting, where Mayor Harold McQuaker argued there was ‘no flag being flown for the other side of the coin… there’s no flags being flown for the straight people.’ … Borderland Pride sought a $15,000 fine for the Township as well as a $10,000 fine for each of the three council members who voted no on the group’s request, according to the report, though the tribunal eventually settled on the $10,000 fine for the township and a $5,000 fine for McQuaker.”
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
[4] Pastor Found Not Guilty of Murdering Eight-Year-Old Girl Walking to Church’s Summer Bible School
A jury has found an 84-year-old retired pastor not guilty of murdering an 8-year-old girl who was walking from home to her church’s Bible school. The verdict in the decades-old case has cleared him of all charges.
Jurors reached their decision after a four-day trial in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where David Zandstra had been accused of taking the life of Gretchen Harrington in 1975, The New York Times reported.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-found-not-guilty-of-murdering-8-year-old-girl.html
+ The Christian Post, National Press Building, 529 14th Street Northwest, Suite 420, Washington DC 20045, 202-347-7734, info@christianpost.com
+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org
The Darlington nurses have today given evidence in court that they have been ‘intimidated’ by a male colleague identifying as woman called ‘Rose’ after launching legal action against an NHS Trust that forced them to undress in front of him.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, the eight nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital launched legal action against County Durham [England] and Darlington National Health Service Foundation Trust after they were told they needed to be ‘re-educated’ and ‘more inclusive’ after raising concerns to HR about having to change in front of a man.
Alarm from dozens of nurses, at least one of whom had experienced sexual abuse as a child and reported that she was having panic attacks after getting changed and being questioned by Rose in the changing room, were ignored.
Instead, HR and The Trust’s bosses have dug in on their policy which allows anyone who merely ‘identifies’ as a woman to use the female changing room.
The case has had high-profile national and international media attention, with the nurses receiving public backing from J.K Rowling, health secretary Wes Streeting and leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch.
Today, Newcastle Employment Tribunal considered the application made by the Trust’s legal team for reporting restrictions to prevent Rose’s identity being made public.
‘Rose’ claims that he needs anonymity because he is afraid of further media attention which he says puts him ‘at risk’ of being targeted with hostile online comments.
Two of the Darlington nurses bringing the challenge, filed witness statements to rebut Rose’s attempts to present himself as a ‘victim’ when he had escalated his intimidation of them at the hospital.
Bethany Hutchison said that since the nurses raised concerns about the Trust’s changing room policy, Rose’s ‘behaviour changed’ and ‘we started to feel quite intimidated.’
After the legal claim was launched and the story appeared in the media, a sign with NHS logos was taped on to the female changing room door which said: ‘INCLUSIVE CHANGING ROOM’.
The nurses have also since been given inadequate ‘temporary’ changing rooms, which are offices, while Rose continues to use the female changing room.
Mrs Hutchison said other nurses reported that Rose’s behaviour was ‘intimidating and completely inappropriate’ with one saying that as they passed Rose in the corridor, he “intentionally eyeballed them and walked towards them aggressively swinging keys.”
Bethany added that Rose has been unnecessarily asserting himself and creating a presence in the nurse’s unit.
Due to this behaviour, Bethany said she was ‘sceptical’ about his claims of ‘distress and anxiety’ and questioned if this was so, why is he continuing to use the female changing rooms and unnecessarily appear on their unit?
Another Darlington nurse giving evidence, said that Rose has failed: “to consider the risk we and other women face every time he or another male is in our changing room. The Trust’s policy puts us at risk. It is very important the public are aware of this.”
Rose has also claimed that he is ‘a private person’, but the nurses in response submitted evidence that revealed him campaigning for Stonewall on Facebook, being a member of a ‘Transgender shitposting’ group, and images of him appearing as a male and getting engaged to his girlfriend.
After initially indicating she would give an order today, Employment Judge Sharon Langridge said she would reserve judgment on whether to grant Rose further anonymity.
The hearing opened today with the Trust’s lawyers asking the Tribunal to use feminine pronouns to refer to Rose. The nurses’ barrister, Bruno Quintavalle, insisted, however, that Rose was legally a male and he was instructed by the nurses to refer to him by masculine pronouns which reflected their case and the law of the land.
Throughout the hearing, Mr Quintavalle referred to Rose as “he” while Employment Judge Langridge tried to compromise by saying ‘they.’
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “When we pause to consider this case we will ask ourselves whether the system has gone mad. This case is about truth. It’s about hard reality. It’s about whether a man can be a woman just because he says so.
“It’s insane to say that a man can enter a female nurses’ changing room in a hospital because he says he is a man. It’s insane that we are having court hearings about whether to protect him rather than the nurses.
“It is the female nurses who have been intimidated and put at risk by the Trust’s policy, not the man who says he is a woman who wants to get undressed in the female changing room.
“This case is about what reality is, about what a woman is and what it means to be human. If we suppress access to open justice and media comment on this case, we suppress the truth.
“This is an extraordinarily high-profile case that has had huge public interest. Its full details must be wholly available for the media to scrutinise and report.
“Nobody wants to invade anybody’s privacy, but there is no reason not to trust these nurses, the media and the public to discuss this important case responsibly, as they have done for some months now. This important public debate should not be gagged by court injunctions and threats of imprisonment for contempt.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
[6] Michigan Church Votes to Exit Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Concerned by “theological progressive leaning” within the EPC, one of the largest churches in Midwest Presbytery voted in June to leave the denomination. First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, Mich., has since voted to affiliate with the Presbyterian Church in America.
+ Jude 3 and the PCA, https://jude3pca.org/
+ Christian Reformed Church in North America, 2850 Kalamazoo Avenue Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49560, 616-241-1691, Fax: 616-224-0803 crcna@crcna.org
+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
Additional Articles of Interest
– Deaths from COVID Jab Occurring Years after Injection
– Dr. Vernon Coleman: If You Are Over Fifty Your Government Wants You Dead
– Report: Over 380 Million Christians Face Persecution Worldwide
– Total of 145 House Democrats Vote to PROTECT Sex Offenders from Deportation
– The Christians Disappearing from Biblical Lands
– Pope Francis Says God Loves Homosexuals ‘As They Are’ in New Memoir
– Red Alert Issued as Excess Deaths Still Skyrocketing in Covid-Vaxxed Children
– US Food and Drug Administration Lab Uncovers Excess DNA Contamination in COVID-19 Vaccines
– Renowned Oncologist: ‘Evil’ COVID ‘Vaccines’ Caused ‘Turbo Cancer’ ‘Explosion’
– Pfizer Caught Hiding Sudden Deaths During COVID ‘Vaccine’ Trials
– California to Probe Why Pacific Palisades Reservoir Was Offline, Empty When Firestorm Exploded
– “Assisted Dying” Programmes Used to Harvest Organs; Is It Already Happening in Canada?
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