1 December 2021
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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] I Have a Few Things Against You
[2] One in Seventeen Women End Up in Hospital Following Abortion Complications FOI Data Reveals
Additional Articles of Interest
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[1] I Have a Few Things Against You
By Dewey Roberts, Pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Destin, Florida and Moderator of Vanguard Presbytery through the end of 2021
In Revelation 2:1-3:22, Jesus addresses letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Some of those letters are commendatory. Some of them are rebukes. The letters to the churches at Pergamum and Thyatira have some important similarities. Both churches were commended for their Christian graces. Pergamum dwelt where Satan’s throne was and held fast the name of Christ through terrible persecutions. Persecutions did not cause her to deny the faith, but the friendship of the world certainly did. Jesus said to them, “I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam… to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality” (Revelation 2:14). Thyatira was a church that abounded in love, faith, service, and perseverance—and her perseverance continued to grow. To them, Jesus said, “I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel…so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20). Pergamum could not resist the friendship of the world (James 5:4). Thyatira was tolerant of heresy. Jesus gives the same condemnation to both, though the order is reversed. The friendship of the world leads to idolatry and immorality. Tolerating heresy leads to immorality and idolatry. Some denominations, like the old Southern and Northern Presbyterian churches, fall through tolerating heresy. Other denominations do not directly deny the faith or succumb to persecution, but it is the smiles of the world that cause their downfall. Whether it is false doctrine or false practice, the results are the same. Such denominations will tolerate immorality and idolatry in their midst.
Jesus does not condemn the entire churches of Pergamum and Thyatira. He says to Pergamum, “you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam.” To Thyatira, He says, “I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching.” Thus, the condemnation of the church in both places was the result of the actions of only a part of the membership. The problem is that the other part of the membership of both churches (which was probably the majority of those churches) was permitting that friendship of the world and those heresies to continue. So, what does Jesus recommend to those churches? He calls on them to repent. Such repentance demands that the church discipline such immoralities and/or such heresies. The failure to exercise such discipline is the guarantee of the death of such a church. That is a rule that cannot be broken. Christ Himself threatens to “make war against them with the sword of My mouth” (Revelation 2:16) and to “throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent” (Revelation 2:22). Christ’s threat is not idle. He will follow through with His threats unless there is repentance.
I fear that many pastors and churches today fail to pay heed to Christ’s warnings. A pastor of another denomination told me several months ago that he would be happy to defend his reasons for remaining in a denomination that is tolerating heresy and immorality. I am not sure it has yet dawned on that minister that the One he must defend that position to is none other than Jesus Christ. Jesus does not look at our churches or denominations and say, “Oh, well, they are not tolerating very much heresy or very much idolatry. I am fairly pleased with them.” No, by no means does Christ view things that way. When only “some” in our midst are guilty of such heresies and immoralities, Christ says to us, “I have a few things against you… repent; or else I am coming quickly” (Revelation 2:14, 17). Jesus requires those who are not guilty of the heresy and immorality to exercise the discipline of such matters or else He will. His discipline will not spare any who are guilty. His discipline will remove “the lampstand out of its place” (Revelation 2:5). The history of the Christian church evidences this truth in numerous instances. There are church buildings all across America where the gospel was once preached in great power, but now the lampstand has been removed. Have you ever been to Northampton, Massachusetts where Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermons, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”? The last time I was there, it belonged to a Unitarian Church. How sad. But that church where the Great Awakening in America began is no longer even a gospel preaching church. A year ago, I visited the church where George Whitefield was laid to rest, Old South Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The church was closed, but a sign outside revealed how far the congregation is from the gospel. It said, “The Great Awakening meets the Great Awokening.” That church, like so many others, is fully Woke now.
The only way to avert such judgment from Christ is to do what he says in several of these letters to the churches: “Therefore repent; or else” (Revelation 2:16). Jesus never recommends that pastors and churches somehow find a way to seize control of the denomination through political machinations. The faithful members of the church must repent of tolerating heresy or immorality where they are guilty of such, but the church or denomination is never turned around simply by gaining a majority to vote on their side of issues. There must be repentance. If there is no repentance, there must be discipline of those who do not want to repent of their immorality. If discipline is not or cannot be exercised, then the faithful members must employ negative discipline by removing themselves from the unrepentant body. The failure to exercise such negative discipline has always resulted in denominations going from bad to worse. That downward fall is the evidence that Christ has visited those churches or denominations and taken away their lampstand; made war against them with the sword of His mouth; caused great tribulation to come on them; and, killed her children with pestilence (Revelation 2:5, 16, 21, 22).
The great problem in trying to fight for a church or denomination that refuses to repent is that those efforts replace the Great Commission in importance. People who do that will have nothing to answer when Jesus asks them, “Did you carry out My Commission?” They will be like the man in Christ’s parable who responded that he had buried the talents in the ground. The Great Commission does not tell us to fight for denominations where heresy and immorality is tolerated. It tells us to take the gospel to the world. The fight for the soul of a church or denomination that refuses to repent sidetracks us from our real calling. The Great Commission is what I love the most about being in Vanguard Presbytery. I can focus my whole attention on Matthew 28:18-20 without being distracted by plans to try to outmaneuver those who refuse to repent of heresies or immoralities. Every week, I receive emails from people in various parts of North America. I received an email just yesterday from a man who wrote as follows: “I have never been so discouraged in my Christian walk as I have been in the last two years. I really need some advice.” This man is discouraged because the Reformed churches he has attended for the past 25-30 years are not standing up for the gospel. He has turned to Vanguard Presbytery for help because he sees that we are distinctly different. Now, this is the point I want to make. While pastors and congregations are supposedly fighting for the heart of a denomination (at least in their minds), the little people in the pew, like this man, are suffering from spiritual depression. While you are standing up for the church or denomination in your vainglorious fight, who is standing up for this man—and for the multitudes of others like him? The fight is never supposed to be for the denomination. The fight is always supposed to be for the sheep who have no shepherds. If this distinction does not resonate with you, then I would recommend that you prayerfully read chapters two and three of Revelation very carefully and very slowly, paying attention to every word.
+ Vanguard Presbytery, PO Box 1862, Destin, Florida 32540, (850) 376-3166, drob9944@aol.com
[2] One in Seventeen Women End Up in Hospital Following Abortion Complications FOI Data Reveals
Freedom of Information data from eighty-five NHS Trusts has revealed that one in seventeen women are forced to go to hospital with serious complications following a medically induced abortion.
The data uncovers over 10,000 cases of post-abortive women needing treatment for retained products of conception (RPOC) since the government’s Pills-by-Post service began in March 2020.
The report published this week, by Percuity LTD, provides data, representing 45 million of the UK population, which the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has admitted it does not hold.
It reveals serious flaws in how complications are reported and how taking abortion care out of clinics and allowing women to take both abortion pills at home significantly increases safety risks.
Approaching 127 NHS Trusts across the country, the FOI requests asked how many women presented to hospitals with RPOC after medically induced abortion, and how many of them required surgery between 1 June 2019 to 31 May 2021.
The findings expose that abortion providers and the DHSC are not reporting medical abortion treatment failure as a complication, even though at least 5.9 percent of women using the abortion pills need hospital treatment because of this failure.
Around half of these, or three percent of the total, require surgical treatment to complete the abortion.
Data also revealed that 2.3 percent of women having an induced medical abortion are subsequently treated at an NHS hospital for haemorrhage.
This data is consistent with warnings from abortion pill manufacturers themselves and equates to one in seventeen women requiring hospital care following abortion.
Abortion centres, however, do not warn women of this significant risk of requiring hospitalisation. Instead, vulnerable pregnant women are left, without proper medical supervision, access to crucial ultrasound scans or after care support, to traumatically cope on their own until they are forced to turn to the NHS for help.
This has led to a surge in women who have had home abortions having to call 999 for urgent assistance.
Abortion providers , however, have insisted that the service is safe, that complications are rare, and that DIY home abortion is ‘one of the few success stories of the pandemic.’
The ‘temporary’ service was introduced by Matt Hancock in March 2020, following a controversial double U-turn.
Since then, more than 200,000 pregnant women across England and Wales have self-managed their medical abortion at home.
Government Data Blind Spot
Concerningly, following a series of questions raised in parliament on the safety of home abortions, the government has admitted that it does not hold data on these complications centrally.
Instead, it relies upon data, not from the NHS, but from abortion providers who benefit financially from the telemedicine service.
In June 2021, then health minister, Helen Whately, in response to questions on whether Pills-by-Post is safe, said: “Abortion complications data is collected via the HSA4 abortion notification form. However, it is recognised that the data is limited as not all complications will be known to the practitioner at the time the form is submitted.”
Currently, abortion providers sign the HSA4 form when sending pregnant women abortion pills in the post. This essentially discharges women from their care and means that no complications post-abortion can be reported as provider guidance tells women that they should go to A&E if they experience complications.
These cases are therefore passed to the NHS and cannot be reported to the Care Quality Commission or the government by abortion providers.
As a result, it is believed that less than one-in-five complications are being reported.
This has left the government essentially blind to the extent of the complications experienced by women and consistently unable to provide accurate guidance on safety.
The Care for Women coalition, formed in response to the service, has urged the DHSC to carry out a full examination of how complication data is gathered and to end the dangerous service urgently.
Helen Whately added in her response to parliament in June 2021 a promise that the government would complete by the end of this year work to: ‘improve the flow of data on abortion complications between different organisations, such as independent and National Health Service abortion providers and wider NHS health and care services.’
In February 2021, the government finished consulting on whether to make the DIY home abortion service permanent but is yet to publish its findings.
Twenty Women a Day
Kevin Duffy, an independent consultant, who led the FOI investigation, said: “This data reveals the disturbing truth of abortion care during the pandemic that has not been reported to the government by providers.
“Before the approval for use of misoprostol at home and then the approval for both pills at home, these women may not have needed this hospital treatment. They would have had their abortion in a clinic and may not have been discharged by the abortion provider before being assessed as complete.
“This investigation exposes the reality of what thousands of women experiencing crisis pregnancies have been through during the pandemic. It demonstrates clearly what needs to change and why the government must not make DIY home abortion telemedicine permanent. The time to end it is now well overdue.”
Unacceptable
Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, said: “A failure rate of one in seventeen women needing to go to hospital due to DIY home abortion is unacceptable.
“Imagine the scrutiny other medical treatments and services would face if they were sent through the post and had such a high failure rate of women ending up in A&E.
“There is a serious issue with how the DHSC gathers complication data and therefore how it draws conclusions to shape policy on this issue.
“Such powerful drugs are not usually approved for use in the home with anything like such a high risk of requiring hospital treatment. Abortion pills should be no exception.
“For the sake of women’s safety and long term physical and mental health, the Government should stop the approval of pills-by-post abortion which was intended as an emergency measure in any case.
“It is not fair on women to be left to self-manage abortions at home with a significant risk of failures requiring hospital treatment, and often surgery. Parliament must act to protect thousands of women from harm.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
Additional Articles of Interest
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– How Many People Have Been Murdered With the Covid-19 Vaccines?
– In Case With Global Implications, Finland Puts Christians On Trial For Their Faith
– COVID outbreak hits Canadian army base, even though all soldiers are fully vaccinated
– The New COVID Variant Scam was Simulated in Israel Weeks before it was “Discovered”
– A List Of People Who Had Their Leg Amputated Shortly After Receiving a COVID-19 Shot
– Pfizer, Moderna Vaccines ‘Dramatically Increase’ Heart Attack Risk, Renowned Cardiologist Warns
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