24 May 2023
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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] Death of the Rev. Gordon Keddie
[2] Death of the Rev. Dr. Harry Reeder III
[3] Death of the Rev. Timothy J. Keller
[4] Three-Parent Baby Created in the U.K.
[5] The Human Rights Campaign Propagandizing the “Trans” Agenda in American Schools
Additional Articles of Interest
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[1] Death of the Rev. Gordon Keddie
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America pastor and author the Rev. Gordon Keddie died 19 May 2023 after a long battle with prostate cancer. Son David Keddie made the following announcement on the same day:
It is with heavy hearts that we share that Gordon Keddie, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and pastor, has passed away Friday, May 19th, at the age of seventy-eight after a long struggle with prostate cancer. He held on until all three of his sons could gather and was surrounded by family at the end. As a young man he heard a sermon on Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” It was this scripture that brought him to confess Christ as his Lord and savior and ultimately embark on a forty-year labor as a gospel minister in Pittsburgh, Scotland, State College, PA, and Indianapolis, IN. He is survived by his wife, Jane, sons and daughters-in-law Donald, Iain and Erin, David and Christina, and grandchildren Joshua, Sophia, Alexa, and one more expected. When his health started to fail he wrote some reminiscences, in the preface of which he quoted Psalm 16:6: “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.” He was greatly blessed by the Lord and a great blessing to others. A good inheritance indeed.
Visitation:
Thursday, May 25, 5:00-8:00pm, Southside Reformed Presbyterian Church, 6969 S Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46217
Funeral:
Friday, May 26th, visitation 9:30-10:30am, funeral 10:30am. Southside Reformed Presbyterian Church
Livestream: https://youtube.com/@southsiderpc1294
Interment:
Saturday, May 27th, 10:00am, Reformed Presbyterian Church Cemetery of New Galilee, 112 County Line Rd, New Galilee, PA 16141
+ https://theguardianobits.com/
+ Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-1177, Fax: 412-731-8861
[2] Death of the Rev. Dr. Harry Reeder III
Presbyterian Church in America pastor the Rev. Harry Reader III of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama died 18 May 2023 from injuries sustained in a car accident. Briarwood Executive Pastor the Rev. J. Bruce Stallings sent the following statement:
Dear Congregation,
It is with a deeply heavy heart that I communicate to you that our Lord has called Pastor Reeder home through a car accident. Please pray for Cindy, Jennifer, Ike, Abby, and their entire family as well as our staff and church family as we all grieve this tremendous loss together.
But we do not grieve without hope because we know our pastor is with His Savior and has been received by grace with – “Well done My good and faithful servant.”
In Christ our Lord!
Bruce Stallings, Executive Pastor
A service of celebration for the life and ministry of Dr. Harry L. Reeder, III was held at Briarwood Presbyterian Church on Wednesday, May 24 at 1:00 p.m. with a reception and receiving following in the Fellowship Hall.
In lieu of flowers the Reeder family requests that gifts be made to the Harry Reeder Scholarship Fund at Birmingham Theological Seminary or the Harry Reeder Memorial Fund at the National Christian Foundation or Westminster Theological Seminary.
+ WallWatchers, 2514 Plantation Center Drive, Matthews, North Carolina 28105, 866-364-9980, info@wallwatchers.org
+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
[3] Death of the Rev. Timothy J. Keller
NEW YORK, May 19, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ — Christian pastor and author Timothy J. Keller died this morning at age 72.
Timothy Keller was the son of William B. Keller and Louise A. Clemente Keller. He was born and grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, receiving his B.A. from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Seminary in S. Hamilton, Massachusetts, and both a Doctor of Ministry and a Doctor of Divinity from Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia.
Keller was married to Kathy Louise Kristy of Pittsburgh in January 1975. Together they raised three sons: David Andrew (b. 1978), Michael Stephen (b. 1980), and Jonathan Daniel (b. 1983), each born in Hopewell, Virginia. As a family, the Kellers planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City in 1989, which grew to a weekly attendance of over 5,000 people, and out of which God brought many fruitful ministries, such as Redeemer City to City, Hope for New York, and Redeemer Counseling Services, among others.
In 2001, Keller co-founded Redeemer City to City, a nonprofit that recruits, trains, coaches, and resources leaders to start and strengthen churches and renew city life in urban areas throughout Africa, Asia, India, Australia, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe. After transitioning out of his position as senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in 2017, Keller moved into a full-time role with City to City, focusing on teaching, mentoring and ministering in global cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, Seoul, Taipei, London, Paris, Krakow, Hong Kong, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, and New York. City to City has helped start more than 1,000 churches in over 150 cities, and trained or reached more than 79,000 leaders.
“Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians,” said Christianity Today about Keller in a May 2006 article.
Keller became a Christian at Bucknell University through the ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, where he later served as an associate staff member. He was ordained into the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) in 1975 and served as pastor of West Hopewell Presbyterian Church from 1975-1984, during which time he served as chairman of the committee for church planting in the Mid-Atlantic presbytery of the PCA. From 1984 to 1989 he taught at Westminster Seminary of Philadelphia in the Practical Theology department and served on the staff of Mission to North America as director of Mercy Ministry of the PCA. From 1989 to the end of his life, he lived in New York City, first as senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (1989 – 2017) and then as a staff member of City to City.
Keller authored numerous books, with some of the best known being The Reason for God, The Prodigal God, and The Meaning of Marriage, which he co-authored with Kathy. Overall, God allowed him to author thirty-one books that have sold over 6 million copies and have been translated into twenty-nine languages.
Keller is survived by his wife Kathy, his three sons David, Michael and Jonathan, his sister Sharon Johnson of Sorrento, Florida, his daughters-in-law Jennifer, Sara and Ann-Marie, and seven grandchildren—Lucy, Kate, Charlotte, Miles, William, Eleanor, and Daniel.
The Keller family has asked that in lieu of flowers, gifts be made to Gospel in Life.
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
[4] Three-Parent Baby Created in the U.K.
The following is excerpted from “First Baby,” The Guardian, May 9, 2023: “The first UK baby created with DNA from three people has been born after doctors performed a groundbreaking IVF [In Vitro Fertilization] procedure that aims to prevent children from inheriting incurable diseases. The technique, known as mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), uses tissue from the eggs of healthy female donors to create IVF embryos that are free from harmful mutations their mothers carry and are likely to pass on to their children. … The process has led to the phrase ‘threeparent babies’, though more than 99.8% of the DNA in the babies comes from the mother and father. … The procedure is not without risks. Recent research has found that in some cases, the tiny number of abnormal mitochondria that are inevitably carried over from the mother’s egg to the donor egg can multiply when the baby is in the womb. So-called reversion or reversal could lead to a disease in the child.”
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
[5] The Human Rights Campaign Propagandizing the “Trans” Agenda in American Schools
The following is excerpted from “Is This Why Transgenderism Is Exploding?” PJMedia, May 13, 2023: “Writing for the Capital Research Center (CRC), Kali Fontanilla … provided a graphic demonstration of just how deeply the transgendering movement has penetrated American society: ‘Historically, gender dysphoria only affected a small percentage of children, less than 0.01 percent, and almost all the cases were boys. Today, the U.S. has seen an estimated 1,000 percent rise in gender dysphoria over the past decade, and the UK has reported a more than 4,000 percent rise in girls demanding gender treatments. And 70 percent of sex reassignment surgeries were done on girls.’ … more important [to this increase in dysphoria] are public school teachers and administrators and the Far-Left advocacy groups funding the movement’s training and propaganda resources, especially the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Ever heard of HRC’s Thrive Conference? Odds are you haven’t, but the influence of this program is undeniable. Every year, Thrive trains thousands of ‘youth-serving professionals,’ including teachers and counselors, on how to ‘create safe, inclusive, and welcoming environments for LGBTQ+ youth.’ According to Fontanilla, the materials provided by the Thrive event include comprehensive lesson plans now used in thousands of public school elementary and middle school classrooms. Lesson titles for some of their kindergarten– 2nd-grade lesson plans include ‘Jacob’s New Dress : Understanding Gender Expression;’ ‘They, She, He, Easy as ABC: Understanding Names, Pronouns, and Gender Expression;’ ‘Chimera Butterflies: Non-Binary Animals;’ and ‘I am Jazz: Understanding Transgender Children.’”
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
A Church of England primary school in Norfolk has refused to amend its extreme and graphic relationships and sex education lessons and to address safeguarding concerns following parent complaints.
Lessons and materials introduced, without effective parental consultation, to Swanton Morley VC Primary School in Dereham, Norfolk, teach that children as young as seven can be born a boy but feel like a girl, which indicates that they can be born in the wrong body, which goes against government guidance.
Teaching used contested terms such as ‘pangender’ and ‘cisgender’ and allows pupils to take part in pretend same-sex weddings.
School leaders have also refused to rule out inviting drag queens following a commitment from National Education Union (NEU) to introduce them into schools.
The teaching is delivered under the banner of the government’s Relationships Health and Sex Education (RHSE) programme.
Schools are obligated to deliver an RHSE curriculum, but it is at the discretion of each school and headmaster as to how far they go with the teaching, especially teaching on human sexuality and gender.
In March the government described its own guidance, which was shaped by Stonewall in 2019, as ‘inappropriate’ and launched an urgent review.
Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is said to be personally alarmed by the guidance, yet Ofsted has recently since said that it is ‘powerless’ to sanction schools teaching children as young as 12 about ‘gender unicorns’ and anal sex.
MP Miriam Cates in the New Social Covenant Unit (NSCU) report backed by 50 other MPs, said that:
“Across the country, children are being subjected to lessons that are age inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate, often using resources from unregulated organisations that are actively campaigning to undermine parents. “This is not a victory for equality. It is a catastrophe for childhood.”
Last month the Policy Exchange published a report on the extent of extreme transgender ideology in UK schools saying that:
“Safeguarding principles are being routinely disregarded in many secondary schools, which are neglecting their safeguarding responsibilities in favour of a set of contested beliefs in a way that risk jeopardising child wellbeing and safety.”
Breaching guidance
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, one parent with two young children at the school, who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of backlash due to speaking out, escalated a complaint about the RHSE provision to an ‘independent’ review hearing.
The parent’s concerns began when the school rolled out its plans for RHSE without any detail or effective or democratic consultation.
Neither the RHSE policy nor the RSHE teaching materials were put on the school’s website. Parents had to attend the school to see a copy of either.
When approaching the RHSE coordinator at the school, the parent noticed that she immediately became ‘sheepish’ when asked about the materials in the programme. The coordinator began probing him about what he wanted to know.
The parent found in the 300 pages of material that the teaching presented no opposing viewpoints to gender identity ideology.
The teaching material included that children would be introduced to a wide spectrum of gender identity belief vocabulary and themes. This included requirements to learn about contested terms such as ‘heteronormativity’ ‘cisgender’ and ‘pangender’, while terms such as ‘heterosexual’ and ‘straight’ were omitted.
‘Pangender’ is a term for people who feel that they cannot be labelled as female or male in gender and ‘cisgender’ is a person whose sex was assigned male at birth and identifies as a boy or a man, or someone whose sex was assigned female at birth and identifies as a girl or a woman.
Children would therefore be taught that “some people are born like a boy (with a penis), but feel like a girl inside or born like a girl (with a vulva) but feel like a boy inside.”
They would be asked “to think about what gender they are”, and the options provided are – “boy”, “girl”, and “not sure”.
Children in year 4 are asked to “volunteer to come to the front of the class and pretend to get married”, and told that “they can be the same or different gender to each other.”
There were also graphic diagrams of sexual intercourse and mentions of foreplay.
Believing these themes to be too complex, and in some cases sexualised, the parent said that in good conscience he could not allow their children to attend the lessons.
Many parents at the school appear to be in the dark on what is in the proposed teaching while other parents who shared concerns are afraid to speak out and take a stand.
After getting legal advice and doing his own research, the parent discovered that the teaching content and the approach of the school appeared to breach government guidance, the Education Act 2002 and the Human Rights Act 1998, and raised potential safeguarding issues.
The hearing
From the outset, the parent said he wanted to collaborate and work with the school. However, he said that his olive branches were repeatedly rejected, and his questions and concerns brushed aside.
Raising a complaint with the school, the head teacher responded that: “I have had confirmation our teaching resources are in line with government policy”, yet he could not provide any evidence to substantiate this.
The head teacher also said in response to politicians, such as Suella Braverman, who had raised concern about how UK schools are teaching gender identity that: “politicians are entitled to their views (as we all are) but it does not supersede statutory policy”.
Flabbergasted by the response and the blunt rejection of his concerns, the parent followed the complaints procedure and asked for an independent investigation to benchmark the materials against other providers.
Instead, the head teacher spoke to the author of the materials at Educator Solutions, a trading arm of Norfolk County Council who produce RHSE for the region, who said there was no problem with the materials and that they were compliant. No evidence to substantiate this was provided.
The complaint was then escalated to the school’s governing body who agreed to hold a hearing, but said they were not going to consider the moral or philosophical nature of the teaching materials as part of the complaint.
The parent said that it was clear at the hearing that the panel had made a pre-determined decision and were unable to clarify when challenged how the teaching materials were compliant with statutory guidance. They refused to answer 95% of his questions during the hearing and the Headteacher was not present.
The parent also asked governors and the Deputy Headteacher if they were planning on having a Drag Queen story time session at the school, and they refused to give an answer.
Members leading the panel contradicted themselves by stating before and at the start of the hearing that they were not going to make any judgment on the teaching materials. However, during the hearing and in a subsequent decision letter, they made a judgment that the materials were compliant.
Evidence presented included September 2020 guidance from the Department for Education for schools which warned about the sensitivities and complexities about teaching about gender reassignment. It states that:
“Resources used in teaching about this topic must always be age-appropriate and evidence based. Materials which suggest that non-conformity to gender stereotypes should be seen as synonymous with having a different gender identity should not be used and you should not work with external agencies or organisations that produce such material. While teachers should not suggest to a child that their non-compliance with gender stereotypes means that either their personality or their body is wrong and in need of changing.”
As the parent read out quotes from Miriam Cates’ NSCU report, a member of the panel exclaimed, which was not recorded in the minutes: “Do we really have to listen to this? I don’t believe a word you are saying”, and said “this is causing me distress”.
The parent felt coerced into ending his evidence at this point.
At the end of the parent’s evidence, without any deliberation, the chair of the panel said: ‘We are not going to pause the roll out of these materials’. They said that Norfolk County Council had produced the materials in partnership with Educator Solutions which must mean they are compliant.
Left with no alternative, the parent is considering his options and has written to Ofsted and the Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, calling for an intervention and investigation into the RHSE provision at the school.
The Christian Legal Centre has also written to the school, but so far the Headteacher has not responded.
‘The teaching is dangerous’
The parent said: “I was deeply shocked when I reviewed the material that would be taught to my children. It is age inappropriate, partisan, unscientific and dangerous.
“I love my children, and I will not allow them to be exposed to radical ideologies at an inappropriate age and in an imbalanced way. However, the government guidance and teaching is allowing parents to be kept in the dark and powerless to challenge and question the deeply inappropriate teaching.
“Parents should be able to send their children to school with reassurance that their pre-pubescent children are not going to be exposed to extreme sex and relationships education under the radar.
“The governing body of the school, despite all the evidence, simply dismissed the evidence and my concerns. It was like it was not possible to question what they were doing – it was frankly bizarre and Orwellian. You feel like you have to self-censor and can’t have any influence. This means that parents are fearful about speaking up and being labelled.
“Telling 7-year-old girls that they can be born like a girl, but feel like a boy inside, and that there are more than two genders, is simply wrong. These aspects of the teaching materials are based on highly contentious and contested views, that put great emphasis on emotion and belief rather than biological reality.
“Irrespective of the side of that debate that you can relate to, presenting gender ideology as fact, and without opposing views, to 7-year-old children, whilst marginalising the traditional nuclear family dynamic, is wrong. It is also not compliant with the impartiality stipulations detailed with the statutory DfE policy guidance.
“The way the Headteacher chose to ignore our valid and serious concerns is further evidence of the school’s unwillingness to engage with and work with parents with regards to RHSE. Our beliefs and viewpoint were marginalised and excluded presumably in the name of inclusivity.
“I took it as read that in a Church of England school my children would not be exposed to extreme materials, but I was wrong.
“I wanted to work with the school and thought I was being reasonable. They have, however, thrown all my olive branches back at me.
“Urgent intervention and guidance is needed from the government, Ofsted and the Church of England. Parents must no longer be kept in the dark and their views and rights so casually disrespected – too much is at stake for a generation of children.”
Ignored and disbelieved
Andrea Williams chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said:
“The Policy Exchange report exposes how schools are failing in their safeguarding duty to children and this story reveals why they are failing.
“For years, parents and teachers who have raised safeguarding concerns over the promotion of gender identity to primary school children have been ignored, disbelieved and marginalised. No questioning is allowed.
“Thousands of children are being indoctrinated with extreme gender ideology without the knowledge of their parents. The government needs to allow parents to withdraw children from relationships and sex education until the gender and political ideology has been rooted out of these lessons.
“By encouraging our children to make up their own personal truth we lose all sense of reality and leave them confused and hurting. Dignity comes from our God-given humanity, not gender identities.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
+ Church of England, Church House, Great Smith Street, Westminster, SW1P 3AZ, England, 44-0-20-7898-1000
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Christian Defense Coalition
May 18, 2023
WASHINGTON, May 18, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ — Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, says it is critical to know if The Covenant School shooter was targeting Christians or the church community.
The shooter, Audrey Hale, left detailed writings and journals about the mass shooting which would clearly offer insight into the motivation and thoughts on why these Christian school children and staff were targeted.
It is deeply concerning the FBI and law enforcement officials are refusing to release these documents to the public. This refusal is creating more questions and mistrust among the Christian community regarding the government’s commitment to determine if this shooting was a “hate crime” directed against people of faith.
The Christian Defense Coalition is asking for the same response from President Biden regarding the mass shooting at The Covenant School as he publicly shared when four Muslim men were tragically killed in New Mexico last year.
Here is what President Biden said about those killings; “I am angered and saddened by the horrific killings of four Muslim men in Albuquerque. While we await a full investigation, my prayers are with the victims’ families, and my Administration stands strongly with the Muslim community. These hateful attacks have no place in America.”
Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Director of the Washington, D.C. based Christian Defense Coalition, states;
“The Christian Defense Coalition calls for the immediate release of The Covenant School Shooter Manifesto. It is critical to know if the shooter was targeting Christians or the church. No American, regardless of their faith tradition, should face violence or attacks because of their beliefs. The Christian community needs to know the government is standing with them to prevent malicious attacks.
“It is deeply concerning the FBI and law enforcement officials are refusing to release these documents to the public. This refusal is creating more questions and mistrust among the Christian community regarding the government’s commitment to determine if this shooting was a ‘hate crime’ directed against people of faith.
“It is even more critical the FBI release the manifesto to the public after their integrity and analysis come under fire in Special Counsel John Durham’s recently released report. In that report, Mr. Durham stated, ‘Senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information they received…’
“In light of this scathing report, it would be impossible for the Christian community to accept the FBI’s conclusion this was not a ‘hate crime’ directed against Christians without seeing the manifesto.”
For more information or interviews contact Rev. Patrick Mahoney at 540.538.4741
SOURCE Christian Defense Coalition
CONTACT: Rev. Patrick Mahoney, 540-538-4741
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+ Christian Defense Coalition, Post Office Box 77168, Washington DC 20013, 202-547-1735, ChristianDefense@gmail.com
+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
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