5 June 2024
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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] After THIRTY YEARS, Still Unfinished Business in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
[2] How to Throw Away a Million Dollars
[4] Operation Rescue Calls for Major Investigation into Wichita Mega Abortion Clinic
Additional Articles of Interest
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[1] After THIRTY YEARS, Still Unfinished Business in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
The upcoming June 2024 Presbyterian Church in America General Assembly (PCAGA) marks thirty years since the Rev. Dr. Edwin P. Elliott Jr. was censured on the floor of the 1994 PCAGA for reporting in the Christian Observer (CO) that “Concerned Presbyterians” told the CO of financial improprieties in regard to $5.8 million of designated funds for Mission to North America (MTA) and Mission to the World (MTW) that had been diverted to the Presbyterian Investors Fund (PIF), later Cornerstone Ministries Investments (CMI), for purposes other than for where the donations had been designated. To its credit, MTW began an effort to reclaim the missing MTW funds, but queries to the PIF about the mishandled MTW funds were “…Met with a stone wall of resistance” and “{u]nanswered letters, unanswered phone calls, and misinformation from agencies outside the [PCA]” [1]
The 1994 PCAGA censure included a demand that a retraction of the article be printed including a statement from Kennedy Smartt. The CO published said “retraction” in a later issue. The 2008 bankruptcy filing by CMI, and the eventual settlement of the debts of $132 million to 3500 entities, mostly PCA members and churches, for a few pennies on the dollar, more than justified Dr. Elliott’s concern with these financial improprieties in 1994 of $5.8 million that ballooned fourteen years later to $132 million in the CMI bankruptcy.
The facts regarding the PIF/CMI debacle are well documented in my 2011 CO article “Unfinished Business for the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)” available at:
https://christianobserver.org/unfinished-business-for-the-presbyterian-church-in-america-pca-2/
Dr. Elliott died in October of 2009 after being slandered, libeled, vilified, and persecuted for fifteen years by a significant number of PCA Teaching Elders (TE) and Ruling Elders (RE) who participated in, enabled, and went along to get along with this unchristian behavior toward Dr. Elliott and the CO. To date, there has not been a single retraction by any of the guilty parties, and not one of the PCA TEs involved in the PIF/CMI swindle, termed a “Ponzi scheme” by one of the parties to the bankruptcy proceedings, have been held accountable by the PCA or the relevant church courts.
It is far beyond a reasonable time for the PCAGA to retract the 1994 censure and to apologize to Dr. Elliott’s surviving children and grandchildren for the travesty of church court “justice” done by the 1994 PCAGA.
Bob Williams, Managing Editor, Christian Observer and Presbyterians Week
[1] From the August 10, 1994 CO response by letter of Dr, Elliott to a letter from Dr. L. Roy Taylor of Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi
+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 24450, christianobserver@christianobserver.org
[2] How to Throw Away a Million Dollars
By Chuck Wilson
In the memorable words of Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does!”
- The action by the Erskine Board on August 1, 2021, has to be the Home Run of stupid things done at Erskine. In the name of education and sweet Jesus, the members of the board voted to lend ONE MILLION DOLLARS to a flimflam charter school operation which has no assets (HTTPS://ARPTALK.ORG/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2024/05/PROMISSORY-NOTE-TO-ICELAVEN-DEVELOPMENTGROUP-AUG-1-2021.PDF).
- The only asset Icelaven has is a piece of paper (HTTPS://ARPTALK.ORG/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2024/05/ICELAVEN-DEVELOPMENT-GROUP-LLCARTICLES-OF-ORGANIZATION.PDF.)
- Here is a copy of the lawsuit for nonpayment the Erskine administration filed in the Court of Common Pleas at the Courthouse in Anderson, South Carolina, against Icelaven Development Corporation LLC (HTTPS://ARPTALK.ORG/WP-CONTENT/UPLOADS/2024/05/ERSKINE-LAWSUIT-AGAINST-ICELAVENDEVELOPMENT-GROUP.PDF).
[Reference Erskine College Stiffed on $1M Loan to Charter School Operator, Lawsuit Claims]
In 50 years of watching, of all the things I have seen and heard at Erskine, this beggars belief.It is not possible to make up this story!
Let’s ask a few questions.
- Who were the members of the Erskine board at the time of the loan?
From the Minutes of General Synod, 2021, the members were: Mr. John
Bouwkamp; Mr. Alan Broyles; Rev. Alexander Campbell; Mrs. Karen Claxton; Mr. Phillip Cook (Ex-Officio, Alumni President); Mr. Marshall Davis III; Rev. Tom Hellams (Interim President); Rev. Brian Howard; Mrs. Margaret Kiser; Rev. Patrick Malphrus (Synod Moderator); Mr. Rob Nelson; Mr. Lance Ragsdale; Rev. Lee Shelnut; Mrs. Kelly Sims (wife of Rev. Kyle Sims, Clerk of General Synod), Rev. Mackay Smith; Mr. Michael Whitehurst (CHAIRMAN).
- Were ALL the members of the board informed of the loan?
I ask this question because in the past many actions were taken without informing the members of the board. Tom Hellams signed the note. Michael Whitehurst as Chairman had to know. I would think Alexander Campbell as Jim Galyean’s pastor also knew. So, who takes responsibility for the loan?
- How does one spell N·E·P·O·T·I·S·M?
Who is James Galyean? Obviously, he’s an attorney, who’s also a member and an elder in the Christ Reformed ARP Church in Anderson, SC. His pastor is Alex Campbell, and he is a member of the Erskine Board. By the way, Mr. Galyean is running for South Carolina House District Nine.
- Why did the Erskine officials file a lawsuit against Icelaven?
This one puzzles me. They could have kept the matter a secret. The people on the Erskine administration/board must know they have no chance of recovering the million dollar loan they made to Icelaven. They may get a few pennies here-and-there, but the million dollars is gone. Personally, I don’t think I would have filed a lawsuit. I wouldn’t want the world to know how stupid I was. As Forrest Gump says, “Stupid is as stupid does.” And the people responsible for this loan did stupid!
- What was the source for the $1,000,000 loan?
There is only one place: THE ENDOWMENT. And, is this the purpose for which the endowment was created? Let’s be honest: the level of bad stewardship on the board reflects prodigious incompetence.
- Has this transaction been reported to the IRS?
In looking over the IRS 990 form that Erskine supplied to the IRS for 2023, I could not find anything about a million dollar loan or loss. I’m sure the IRS will be interested in this. A million dollars is still a large sum of money.
- What will be the response of General Synod?
Nothing! Probably! $385,000 has been designated for Erskine from the Budget of General Synod for 2024. If this matter is even allowed to make it to the floor for discussion, delegates will moan-and-groan a little, but nothing will be done. The ministers and elders who constitute General Synod don’t have the time or inclination to be mindful of this matter. In other words, the Erskine Finance Company must be supported. However, it seems the Erskine Finance Company is as much a failure as a financial organization as Erskine College is a failure as an educational institution.
- What positive thing has come out this debacle?
Well, this has succeeded in uniting Democrats and Republicans in the South Carolina House and Senate in bringing a joint resolution calling for an investigation of Erskine, Icelaven, and other matters pertaining to this.
Remember, in the words of Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does!”
Indeed, most folks don’t know how to throw away a million dollars!
+ ARPTalk Blog, 864-882-6337, wilson6114@bellsouth.net
+ Erskine College and Theological Seminary, 2 Washington Street, Due West, South Carolina 29639, 864-379-2131, Fax: 864-379-2167, jguyette@erskine.edu
+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 918 South Pleasantburg Drive Suite 127, Greenville, South Carolina 29607, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729
The following is excerpted from Fox News, May 19, 2024: “Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and other universities analyzed ‘potential clinical outcomes’ for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) who were removed from life support, according to a press release. The study included 1,392 patients who were treated in 18 trauma centers across the U.S. over a 7½-year period. Using a mathematical model, the researchers compared patients for whom life support was withdrawn to similar patients who were kept on life support. Among the group for whom life support was not withdrawn, more than 40% recovered at least some independence, according to a press release. ?e researchers also discovered that the notion of remaining in a vegetative state was an ‘unlikely outcome’ six months after injury. Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, was not involved in the research but said it was a ‘very important’ study. ‘Previous research shows a high-level recovery from mild TBI and a significant recovery percentage even with moderate to severe injury,’ Siegel told Fox News Digital. Based on the study findings, Yelena Bodien, PhD, of the Department of Neurology’s Center for neurotechnology and neurorecovery at Massachusetts General Hospital, recommended that clinicians should be ‘very cautious’ with ‘irreversible decisions’ like withdrawing life support in the days following traumatic brain injury. ‘Families should also be aware of our results so that they can advocate for delaying a decision to discontinue life support if this is aligned with what they believe their loved one would want,’ she added.” (For more on this subject, see “Do We Have the Right to Die,” www.wayoflife.org.)
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
[4] Operation Rescue Calls for Major Investigation into Wichita Mega Abortion Clinic
Doors of Late-Term Abortion Business Shuttered for Foreseeable Future Amid ‘Compliance Issues’
NEWS PROVIDED BY
Operation Rescue
May 24, 2024
WICHITA, Kan., May 24, 2024 /Christian Newswire/ — The infamous late-term abortion mill, Trust Women, in Wichita, Kansas, has halted abortions this week after a series of scandalous events. The high-volume abortion business is no stranger to sordid, illegal activity and the gruesome murder of late-term babies.
Inside sources have reported that the co-executive directors and the medical director were all fired in April. The medical director was reportedly replaced with an unqualified candidate – an emergency medicine doctor of osteopathy who founded a wellness clinic specializing in erectile dysfunction treatment, weight loss, and services such as Botox injections, CoolSculpting, and facial fillers.
As a result, 10 of the clinic’s total 16 abortionists have resigned. Before the clinic’s abrupt, temporary closure this week, it saw a whopping 650-750 patients per month. According to Operation Rescue’s most recent annual survey, the facility charges $750 for surgical and pill abortions.
“If you do the math, that’s nearly $9 million annually,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “This is a big deal. Closing the doors for just one month would result in a loss of well over half a million dollars.”
In the aftermath of the implosion, inside sources reported that the staff was required to sign new nondisclosure agreements, and those leaking information about the happenings at the facility are doing so anonymously.
In a statement released Thursday by the Board of Directors of Trust Women Foundation, Inc., the organization announced new protocols that require two physicians and a medical director with abortion experience to be present while abortions are performed. Though the press release indicated the new protocols became effective immediately, no reopening date was specified.
The building was originally owned and operated by the infamous late-term abortionist George Tiller. It was later purchased by Julie Burkhart who now owns Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyoming, and Hope[less] Clinic in Granite City, Illinois, named the “Worst of the Worst” by Operation Rescue.
“Operation Rescue has investigated this abortion business located in the city of our headquarters for many years, finding evidence of noncompliance with the most basic medical standards. Trust Women’s past noncompliance has led to regular botched abortions and hospitalizations. This scandal has revealed the situation is not improving but getting even worse. This place needs to be shut down once and for all!”
Operation Rescue’s independent investigation into Trust Women is ongoing, calling for enforcement of laws already on the books. The firings of its leadership last month were reportedly due to presumably even more severe noncompliance issues than proven in the past.
Newman added, “With this new information, we have reason to believe laws may have been violated. We are launching a full-scale investigation into the matter, including formal complaints to the appropriate agencies.”
Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the U.S. Our goal is to expose abortion abuses, demand enforcement, save innocent lives, and build an Abortion-Free America.
+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com
+ Operation Rescue, Post Office Box 782888, Wichita, Kansas 67278, 800-705-1175, Fax: 916-244-2636, info@operationrescue.org
Additional Articles of Interest
– Wake Up! The Russians Are NOT Bluffing
– The Fourth Reich: The UK Government Used ‘COVID’ to EUTHANIZE the Disabled
– Judge Sends Seventy-Five-Year-Old Pro-Lifer to Prison for Two Years; Mocks Her Faith
– Abortion Pills are Releasing Dangerous Chemicals, Remains of Aborted Babies in Our Water
– Why is British Colombia Still Persecuting Christian Churches for Worshipping during COVID Lockdowns?
– From COVID-19 to Campus Protests: How the Police State Muzzles Free Speech
– Continual Rise in the Cost of Living… And Why the Fed Has No Shame
– ‘Essentially Murder’: Top Cancer Expert Condemns COVID Shots
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