3 June 2009
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Presbyterians Week
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[1] June 2009 Christian Observer Highlights
[2] Infamous Late-Term Abortionist George Tiller Shot Dead While at Church on 31 May 2009
[3] Abortionist George Tiller’s Website Erased After His Murder, but Later Recovered from an Archive Website
[4] Pro-Life Organizations Denounce Murder of Abortionist George Tiller
[5] Wider Perspectives Given by Pro-Life Groups in Response to Murder of Abortionist George Tiller
[6] Is the George Tiller Murder U.S. Abortion President Barrack Hussein Obama’s Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo?
[7] Pravda Columnist Says U.S. Descent into Marxism is Happening with Breathtaking Speed
[8] Opponents of Pro-Homosexual Sex Ed for Kindergarteners Marginalized, Bullied, and Called Names at Alameda County, California School Board Meeting
[9] China Closes Church and Bans Presbyterian Pastor from Serving
[10] Church of Scotland General Assembly Gives Bishop Desmond Tutu a Standing Ovation After Speech Endorsing Homosexual Ministers
[11] Presbyterian Seminary Professor Publishes Part I of Article “Why Homosexual Behavior Is More like Consensual Incest and Polyamory than Race or Gender
[12] Union Theological Seminary Changes Name to Union Presbyterian Seminary
[13] Presbyterian Mutual Society Losses to be Main Topic at Presbyterian Church in Ireland General Assembly
[14] World Alliance of Reformed Churches Denies Readmission
to Dutch Reformed Church of Africa
[15] First Lady of Zambia Praises Reformed Church of Zambia for its Spiritual Guidance
[16] Dutch Reformed Church in Namibia Responds to Namibian Ex-President Dr. Sam Nujoma’s Disparagement of Pentecostal Denominations
[17] Evangelical Presbyterian Church Announces Moderator and Moderator Elect Nominees for 29th General Assembly
[18] CRCNA Pastor Elected President of The Canadian Council of Churches
[19] Dominican Reformed Church Launched 23 May 2009 with the Assistance of the Reformed Church in America
[20] Death of Dr. Rolf K. McPherson, 96, Son of Aimee Semple McPherson and Past Leader of the Foursquare Church
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[1] June 2009 Christian Observer Highlights
New articles in the Christian Observer for June 2009 include:
Live Free or Die! – by Mark Steyn – republished with permission from the April 2009 issue of Imprimis from Hillsdale College;
The Family and Moral Values – by Dr. Joe Renfro;
and, regular features including Sabbath School lessons by Dr. Robert LaMay, and daily devotionals from In the Gates by T.M. Moore.
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[2] Infamous Late-Term Abortionist George Tiller Shot Dead While at Church on 31 May 2009
Abortionist George Tiller, 67, was shot to death on 31 May 2009 while serving as an usher at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas. Johnson County, Kansas, resident and shooting suspect Scott P. Roeder, 51, was arrested without incident three hours after the shooting. Roeder is expected to be indicted on one count of murder and two counts of aggravated assault for brandishing his gun toward two church members who attempted to stop Roeder after the shooting.
According to court records, Roeder in 1996 was convicted of illegal use of explosives, but the conviction was later overturned on appeal due to the illegal search of Roeder’s car. Additionally, Roeder in the 1990’s was active in the “Freeman” movement through the “One Supreme Court” group in Shawnee County, Kansas, which claimed sovereignty from government jurisdiction and operated under their own legal system, which they called common-law courts.
Tiller operated one of a small number of U.S. abortion clinics that performed late-term abortions. Tiller had killed 60,000 children via surgical abortion, 2000 more than the total of U.S. military deaths in the Viet Nam War. Tiller’s clinic performed partial birth abortions where the head of the child exits the birth canal, forceps are used to puncture a hole into the child’s brains, which are then sucked out, then delivery of the now-dead child is completed; and Digoxin/Induction abortions where a lethal chemical is injected directly into the unborn child’s heart then labor is induced to deliver the now-dead child.
+ The Wichita Eagle, 825 East Douglas, Wichita, Kansas 67201, 316-268-6000, webmaster@wichitaeagle.com
+ Operation Rescue, Post Office Box 782888, Wichita, Kansas 67278-2888, 800-705-1175, Fax: 916-244-2636, info@operationrescue.org
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Murdered abortionist George Tiller’s business website was taken off-line shortly after he was killed 31 May 2009. Tiller’s website as it was when archived in January of 2008 is available for viewing at the Internet Archive website.
This web site includes gruesome details of what Tiller offered his “clients,” including baptisms for the dead baby, photographs of the dead child, and an offer for an urn with the dead child’s ashes.
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
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[4] Pro-Life Organizations Denounce Murder of Abortionist George Tiller
In the wake of abortionist George Tiller’s 31 May 2009 murder, pro-life organizations quickly issued condemnations for the vigilante-like killing.
Reformed Presbyterian pastor and Director of the Christian Defense Coalition the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, who had just completed leading two weeks of prayer vigils in Wichita, Kansas during Tiller’s recent court trial, held a news conference 1 June 2009 in front of the U.S. Supreme Court where he condemned the murder of Tiller.
News releases from other pro-life groups condemning Tiller’s murder include:
– Operation Rescue Denounces the Killing of Abortionist Tiller
– You Cannot Murder People and Call it Pro-Life — ‘Stand True’ Denounces the Murder of Abortionist George Tiller
– 40 Days for Life Denounces Slaying of Abortion Provider George Tiller
– Conversion, Not Killing Is the Solution: Pro-Life Action League Condemns the Killing of Late-term Abortionist George Tiller
– Care Net Condemns the Murder of Dr. George Tiller
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
+ Christian Defense Coalition, 540-538-4741
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[5] Wider Perspectives Given by Pro-Life Groups in Response to Murder of Abortionist George Tiller
Several pro-life groups responded to abortionist George Tiller’s 31 May 2009 murder by providing analysis of the wider context of the killing.
Operation Save America (OSA) spokesman the Rev. Rusty Thomas asked “What was an abortionist doing ‘in’ church, any church…being allowed, welcomed, even venerated? [Tiller] killed babies for a living. [Tiller] charged large sums of money to do it. Then [Tiller] went to ‘church,’ made large contributions, and the ‘church’ (Reformation Lutheran Church) [RLC] accepted it??”
OSA added that RLC is “…an apostate church, fully complicit in Mr. Tiller‘s murderous rampage against preborn children. It has provided cover and respectability for him. We have confronted both pastor and church with this trashing of the Gospel of Christ.”
Other pro-life group perspectives include:
– George Tiller was a Mass-Murderer, says Randall Terry — We Grieve That he Did Not Have Time to Properly Prepare his Soul to Face God
– You Cannot Murder People and Call it Pro-Life — ‘Stand True’ Denounces the Murder of Abortionist George Tiller
– As Tiller’s Murder Proves, Lack of Church Discipline Can be Deadly
– Dr. Alveda King — Sorrow that Dr. Tiller Didn’t Live to Repent
– Gingi Edmonds Comments on the Death of George Tiller and Extends a Call to Pro-Life Consistency
– George Tiller is Dead: For Whom Shall We Mourn?
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
+ Operation Save America, Post Office Box 740066, Dallas, Texas 75374, 704-933-3414, 704-932-3361, orn@bigplanet.com
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Despite Christian Anti-Defamation Commission spokesman Gary Cass’ assertion in response to abortionist George Tiller’s 31 May 2009 murder that pro-lifers “…cannot allow pro-abortion activists and politicians to use this tragedy to manipulate public opinion or our laws,” the mainstream media and “The Abortion President,” U.S. President Barrack Hussein Obama, are already doing just that.
A 2 June 2009 report by the Culture and Media Institute explains that the mainstream media and leftist blogs are characterizing George Tiller as a martyr and as a courageous defender of women. The report criticizes these same sources for the hypocrisy in characterizing Tiller’s murder as deadly and a heinous act of violence while ignoring the deadly violence committed by Tiller in the murder of 60,000 unborn children.
A 1 June 2009 article from Fox News reports that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has dispatched the U.S. Marshals Service to protect “appropriate people and facilities around the nation” in the wake of the Tiller murder. A U.S. Marshalls spokesman said that, “I can not disclose the subjects of our security efforts as it is the policy of the U.S. Marshals not to comment on the status of any protective detail.”
Several pro-life organizations express concern that Tiller’s murder will be used by abortion proponents to stifle pro-life testimony during confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Already, People for the American Way’s “Right Wing Watch,” connects Tiller’s murder to the Department of Homeland Security’s recent report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment” said report singling out among others, “groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
+ Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, Post Office Box 1115, Vista, California 92085, 866-508-2232, Fax: 760-630-2232,
contact@christianadc.org
+ Culture and Media Institute, 325 South Patrick Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, 703-683-9733, Fax: 703-683-9736,
contact.cmi@mediaresearch.org
+ Fox News, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036, 888-369 4762, Fax: 212 462 6127, yourquestions@foxnews.com
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[7] Pravda Columnist Says U.S. Descent into Marxism is Happening with Breathtaking Speed
Pravda columnist Stanislav Mishin, in an article titled “American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper,” writes, “…the American de[s]cent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless [herd of sheep].
Mishin continues, “…the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years….First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather then the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas then the drama in [Washington] DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their “right” to choke down a McDonalds burger or a Burger King burger than for their constitutional rights….”
“Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches…were for the most part little more then Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more then happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another…[W]hen explained that they would be on the “winning” side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power….”
“The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama….[Obama’s] spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America‘s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year…America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe…”
+ Pravda, Staraya Basmannaya Street, 16/2 Moscow, Russia, 7-499- 267-99-69, naumov@pravda.ru
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[8] Opponents of Pro-Homosexual Sex Ed for Kindergarteners Marginalized, Bullied, and Called Names at Alameda County, California School Board Meeting
The Alameda County, California School Board in a 26 May 2009 meeting despite vehement and overwhelming opposition from the community voted three-to-two to approve sex education curriculum for kindergartners promoting homosexuality.
Capitol Resource Institute executive director Karen England who had testified at two of three meetings on the subject said “Alameda school board vice president Ron Mooney actually told parents that the school board will provide no protections for one of the state-mandated protected classes: the religious.”
Mooney responded to a question at the same meeting about whether religious students would be respected for disagreeing with the curriculum, he responded that they may disagree, but only at home; they may not carry those views into the classroom.
Many supporters of the curriculum called opponents bigots and homophobes, and some cited religion as the greatest hindrance to stopping bullying and fostering tolerance. England added, “Mr. Mooney’s unprofessional behavior gives license to those who engage in the name-calling and bullying parents experienced at these meetings.”
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
+ Capitol Resource Institute, 660 J Street, Suite 250, Sacramento, California 95814, 916-498-1940, Fax: 916-448-2888
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[9] China Closes Church and Bans Presbyterian Pastor from Serving
The Office for Religious Affairs in Jinghai county, Tianjin, China, on 16 May 2009 issued a notice abolishing Immanuel Church and banning ethnic Korean Pastor Han Changxu from serving in the church.
Pastor Changxu has served Immanuel Church since 2004. During the 2008 Olympics, authorities in Tianjin, China placed Pastor Han on surveillance when they discovered he had contacts with missionaries from South Korea.
Pastor Han Changxu is a native of Heilongjiang province in China and was ordained as a pastor by the Presbyterian Church in 2008.
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
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South African Bishop Desmond Tutu was given a standing ovation by the Church of Scotland General Assembly after his speech supporting homosexual ministers where he said that he found it amazing that churches are discussing “who goes to bed with whom” when people are dying of starvation, AIDS, and in wars.
+ Ecumenical News International, Post Office Box 2100, CH – 1211, Geneva 2, Switzerland, 41-22-791-6111, Fax: 41-22-788-7244, eni@eni.ch
+ LifeSiteNews.com, Incorporated, Post Office Box 25382, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15220, 866-787-9947, lsn@lifesitenews.com
+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 4YN, 0131-225-5722
+ Worldwide Anglican Communion, St Andrew’s House, 16 Tavistock Crescent, London W11 1AP, England, 44-0-20-7313-3900, Fax: 44-0-20-7313-3999, aco@anglicancommunion.org
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Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Associate Professor of New Testament Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D., has published Part I of an article titled, “Why a “Sexual Orientation” and “Gender Identity” “Hate Crimes” Law Is Bad for You,” on Dr. Gagnon’s website.
+ Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 616 North Highland Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15206, 412-362-5610, Fax: 412-363-3260
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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[12] Union Theological Seminary Changes Name to Union Presbyterian Seminary
Upon the recommendation of its Strategic Planning Committee, the board of trustees of Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education (UTS) on 15 May 2009 voted unanimously to change the name of the institution to Union Presbyterian Seminary.
UTS president Brian Blount outlined the reasons for the name change in a sermon where he said that UTS is “who we are, what we promise, and Presbyterian” in its spirit. UTS is “who we are” because UTS is “the 1812 history and heritage of the Virginia and North Carolina Synods working together in vision and faith to create a unique home for theological education….[It is] what we promise” because it represents “the union of theological and Christian education, the union of the Richmond [Virginia] and Charlotte [North Carolina] campuses, the union of residential, commuter, and distance theological education, the union of classroom and technology, and the union of Presbyterian students, faculty, and staff with students, faculty and staff from every church and culture….[and] “Union Presbyterian” reflects the seminary’s vigorous commitment to “serve an ecumenical church and Spirit and seek to be a catalyst for the revitalization of the whole church.”
+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
+ Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education, 3401 Brook Road, Richmond, Virginia 23227, 804-355-0671, Fax: 804-355-3919
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The principle topic to be addressed at the General Assembly meeting during the week of 1 June 2009 of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI), will be the significant losses of 10,000 investors in the Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS). PMS’s problems began in the fall of 2008 when a run on PMS investments began after the Governments in London, England and Belfast, Northern Ireland announced guarantees of deposits up to a certain limit to a group of banks that did not include the PMS.
The assembly will hold debates on the PMS problems on 2 June 2009, but members’ questions about the technical ways in which the society carried out its business may not be answerable, as the PCI and the PMS are separate legal entities.
+ Belfast Telegraph, 124-144 Royal Avenue, Belfast BT1 1EB, Northern Ireland, 028-9026-4000, writeback@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
+ Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Church House, Belfast BT1 6DW, Northern Ireland, 028-9032-2284, Fax: 028-9041-7301, Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
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[14] World Alliance of Reformed Churches Denies Readmission
to Dutch Reformed Church of Africa
At a recent executive committee meeting of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) in Geneva, Switzerland, it was declared that “[the WARC] is not yet ready to admit” the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (Dutch Reformed Church of Africa) (NHKA) to the WARC, as the NHKA has not renounced apartheid “fully and completely.”
The NHKA was suspended from the WARC in 1982 because of the theological and biblical backing the Church gave to the system of apartheid under which South Africa was governed from 1948 until the early 1990s.
+ Christian Today, 200 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YB, England, 44-0-20-7378-5705
+ World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 150 route de Ferney, Post Office Box 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland, 41-22-791-6240, Fax: 41-22-791-6505, warc@warc.ch
+ Dutch Reformed Church of Africa (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika), c/o Monsignor J.F. Viljoen, 012-332-8885, Fax: 012-322-7909, kobus@nhk.co.za
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[15] First Lady of Zambia Praises Reformed Church of Zambia for its Spiritual Guidance
At a fundraising luncheon for a church and manse expansion project of the Reformed Church of Zambia, Zambian First Lady Thandiwe Banda says the RCZ is an important institution that contributes to the development of the nation through spiritual guidance to citizens. Mrs. Banda said that the RCZ needs to be supported as it contributes to the national development and promotes the unity and well-being of citizens. Mrs. Banda added that the RCZ provides community services through the construction of basic facilities such as schools and clinics.
+ Lusaka Times
+ Reformed Church of Zambia
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The Dutch Reformed Church in Namibia (DRCN) this week responded to the recent disparaging remarks about Pentecostal churches by former President Dr. Sam Nujoma.
DRCN general secretary Clem Marais said: “No individual is at liberty to decide when any given denomination is true a church and when [it is] not. It is unfortunate to hear repeated negative rhetoric which to our way of thinking does not contribute to nation building and reconciliation in Namibia. With this declaration we wish to demonstrate our support to the call for reconciliation and tolerance by his Excellency President Pohamba….The DRCN appreciates the role that ex-president Sam Nujoma has played, and still plays, in the history of the country. When he is being referred to as the “Father of the Nation”, we assume that it does not exclude certain faith communities, populations groups or individuals.”
+ The Namibia Economist, 7 Schuster Street, Windhoek, Namibia, 264-61-22-1925, Fax: 264-61-22-0615, info@economist.com.na
+ Dutch Reformed Church in Namibia, 12 Ugab Street, Eros, Windhoek, Namibia, 264-61-236214, thijs@mweb.com.na
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[17] Evangelical Presbyterian Church Announces Moderator and Moderator Elect Nominees for 29th General Assembly
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church has announced that the Rev. Nate Atwood, pastor of Kempsville Presbyterian Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia, currently the Moderator-Elect, will be nominated to serve as Moderator, and that Mr. Rob Liddon, ruling elder at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee, has been nominated as the Moderator-Elect of the upcoming 29th General Assembly.
+ Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 17197 North Laurel Park Drive Suite 567, Livonia, Michigan 48152, 734-742-2020, Fax: 734-742-2033, webmaster@epc.org
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[18] CRCNA Pastor Elected President of The Canadian Council of Churches
The director of Canadian ministries for the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA), the Rev. Bruce Adema, has been elected
as president of The Canadian Council of Churches (TCCC).
TCCC represents twenty-two denominations, including Reformed, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Baptist and free churches, as well as the Salvation Army and the Anglican Church, representing eighty-five percent of the Christians in Canada.
+ National Council of Churches, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 880, New York, New York 10115
+ 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 Canadian Council of Churches, 47 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C3, Canada, 416-972-9494, Fax: 416-927-0405, admin@ccc-cce.ca
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[19] Dominican Reformed Church Launched 23 May 2009 with the Assistance of the Reformed Church in America
The Dominican Reformed Church (Iglesia Reformada Dominicana) (IRD), convened their first General Synod on 23 May 2009 in the Dominican Republic, and included the ordination of twenty-one pastors, the commissioning of fourteen church planters, and the baptism of twenty-five people, mostly children. The IRD seeks to unite independent churches from the Dominican Republic‘s 32 provinces into a denomination grounded in Scripture and the historic confessions of the Reformed tradition.
The Reformed Church in America (RCA) assisted in the formation of the new synod, and three representatives from the RCA were present for the events: Andres Serrano, pastor at Iglesia Reformada La Senda in Corona, California; Brigido Cabrera, the RCA‘s coordinator for Hispanic Ministries, and Ken Bradsell, assistant general secretary for the RCA. The IRD and the RCA will formalize a partnership at the RCA‘s General Synod held 4-9 June 2009 in Holland, Michigan.
+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org
+ Dominican Reformed Church (Iglesia Reformada Dominicana)
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Dr. Rolf K. McPherson, 96, son of evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson and leader of the Foursquare Church from 1944 to 1988, died 21 May 2009.
Dr. McPherson is survived by his wife, Evangeline Carmichael McPherson; his daughter, Alicia McPherson Santacroce; two granddaughters, Heidi Ledesma and Leslie Young; a grandson, Ronald LaRue; and a niece, Victoria Salter. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Lorna De Smith McPherson, and a daughter Marlene McPherson LaRue.
A memorial service for Dr. McPherson will be held at Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, California at a future date.
+ The Foursquare Church, 1910 West Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90026, 888-635-4234, Fax: 213-989-4590
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