Struggling Families Look at Adoption : Zoe Foundation Makes Adoption Affordable

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

MARENGO, Ill. — Renee Siegfort broke the news to her three teenagers on Mother’s Day last year: She was pregnant.

She really wanted the baby. Her kids did, too. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend of three years did not.

“I talked to God a lot, asking what does this mean. What am I supposed to do?” she recalls. She was working long hours as an office manager at a chiropractic firm and just making ends meet. She would need to take on a new expense: child care.

“We live simply,” says Renee, 36, looking around the living room of her three-bedroom town home. “There wasn’t much more we could simplify in our lives.” As much as she wanted the baby, she says, “I didn’t want to hurt my children.”

So after giving birth Dec. 30, she nursed Josephine Olivia Renee for six days. She then did something she would not have imagined nine months earlier: She gave her child to another family. Read it all Here

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Wilberforce’s Grandson on the Inhumanity of Abortion

by Gerard Wilberforce

I am writing as the great great grandson of William Wilberforce, who campaigned vigorously for the ending of the transatlantic slave trade in 1807, which ultimately paved the way for the abolition of slavery itself throughout the entire British Empire in 1833.

I am often asked what would be the campaigns Wilberforce would be fighting if he were alive in 21st century Britain. I believe that there would be a number of different issues – among them human trafficking and the scourge of drugs. But almost certainly at the top of the list, would be the issue of abortion.

As the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill comes before Parliament over the next few weeks, the opportunity presents itself to amend the abortion Act. With the number of abortions having reached 200,000 per year in the UK alone, the time is right to tighten up the law that was designed to protect women by ending illegal abortion, but never to allow such a high degree of deprived life.

There are great similarities between the status of the foetus and the status of African slaves two centuries ago. Slaves were considered a commodity to do with whatever the vested interests of the day decided. Today, in our desire to play God in our embryology experimentation, with all its’ unfulfilled promises of miracle cures, and our decision to abort unwanted children, we are no better that those slave traders who put their interests and world view higher than they placed the sanctity and value of human life.

Most people at the time didn’t believe the evil of slavery could ever be defeated, as so much of the economy at the time was dependent on the trade. It’s easy for us to think that is the case today with abortion, but I believe William Wilberforce would not take such a view.

Whilst our hearts go out to those who have chosen abortion, there should now be much greater emphasis on the alternatives that exist. Many of us would like to see far more support those who have made such a significant and difficult decision – but whilst we recognise the trauma many women have gone through, we also have a duty to ‘Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves’ (Proverbs 31).

The Psalmist says ‘My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.’

With abortions in the UK reaching 600 a day, it seems to me that the ‘secret place’, is one of the most dangerous places to be in modern day Britain.

As with my great ancestor, the battle took many years, even decades. But now, with the passage of time we look back in horror at how we devalued human life. I truly believe we will look back in years to come, repent and ask forgiveness for what we let happen to the unborn child.

There is something deeply depressing about a society in which abortion is so easy, yet alternatives such as adoption are made to appear so difficult.

Evangelist Believes a Praying Church Will Spark Stadium Healing Revival!

May 14, 2009 — David Turner (pictured, right) has seen the deaf receive their hearing and the blind gain their sight at crusades across India, Mexico and Malaysia. But the Phoenix-based businessman-turned evangelist believes a revival of miracles will soon hit the U.S. “I believe God is about to do an explosion in America,” said Turner, who has seen thousands healed during large-scale crusades he led in India with evangelist Harry Gomes (pictured, left). “We will start seeing [healings and miracles] even with stadiums of people.” Turner is expecting the miracles to begin this week, when he hosts the Harvest America Healing Explosion at the 14,000-seat Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. More than 120 churches across the city will participate in the three-day event, which begins Friday and includes a food giveaway for needy families. Turner expects at least 20,000 people to participate during the three days. He believes hundreds will be saved, plugged into a church and healed. “The Holy Spirit showed me that revival won’t come with just miracles, signs and wonders,” Turner said. “The church has to come together and pray, and then that with the miracles, signs and wonders will spark a revival. And that, I believe, will be the ultimate thing that comes out of this. We’re going to start to see the beginning of a revival.” Turner-who owns Southwest Commodities, a suburban Phoenix importer of nuts and dried fruits, and Suntree, a California-based plant that packages peanuts, trail mix and other products-began ministering internationally in 2003 after experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit. Although he had been a Christian for 15 years, Turner said he felt as if he had been hooked up to an electric current when a charismatic pastor prayed for him. The pastor told him he would not only see miracles but also minister in healing himself. Soon after, Turner was healed of a compressed disc that had cost him the use of his left arm and was later healed of torn knee ligaments. That touched off a desire to pray for others, and Turner said dozens have been healed of cancer, stomach problems, blindness and other illnesses. He met Gomes in the early 2000s, and the Indian pastor began mentoring Turner in the healing ministry. Since then Turner has partnered with Gomes to lead healing crusades across India and to establish an orphanage there. In the U.S., Turner said the troubled economy has made many Americans desperate for answers and more open to evangelism. “People need hope, and the problem is they’ve been looking in all the wrong places for it,” Turner said. “We have their answer, which is Jesus. The problem is, we have to, as a church, walk in the power of God and let the people see it. Then there’s no question; they want it.” Turner is financing the healing crusade himself, paying roughly $250,000 so far. Food banks are providing most of the food being distributed each night of the crusade. “What I like about him, he’s just not promoting [himself],” said David Friend, pastor of Scottsdale First Assembly, the church Turner attends and a participant in the crusade this week. “He just knows the Spirit of God is going to move. “I believe the same thing. Why can’t revival start in America? Why can’t we see the same thing we’ve seen around the world? This meeting is being approached with the expectation that God is going to move.” Turner said his primary goal is to encourage people to believe God. “Jesus does not have geographic and financial boundaries,” he said. “He’ll go anywhere there’s faith. The faith is waning here in America, but … Rom. 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So when you speak the Word, the Word, the Word, people’s faith rises and the Word comes and heals the people.”

Sweden Rules Gender-Selective Abortion Legal

I find the following news so disturbing, I cannot even begin to comment on it.

By Kathleen Gilbert, lifesitenews.com

STOCKHOLM, May 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Swedish health authorities have ruled that it is not illegal to kill a healthy unborn child based simply on its gender, according to Swedish news service The Local.

Doctors had asked health authorities about the matter after a woman from southern Sweden had two of her children killed in utero for being an undesired sex.  The woman had already given birth to two daughters.

The gender was determined during an amniocentesis requested to determine whether the child had a disability. 

Concerned doctors at Mälaren Hospital then asked Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare to determine a protocol for future instances in which they “feel pressured to examine the foetus’s gender” without a medical necessity.

The medical board responded that such requests must be accommodated. 

According to Swedish law, abortion is legal on any basis whatsoever up to the 18th week of gestation, and therefore the board said doctors cannot deny a mother seeking to have an unborn child killed because it is the wrong gender.

A medical ethics consultant told The Local in March that mothers regularly travel to Sweden from Norway, where sex-selective abortions are illegal, to abort unwanted girls.

Ten Years Later, Boy’s ‘Hand of Hope’ Continues to Spark Debate

Nearly 10 years after a stunning photograph of his tiny hand traveled the world, Samuel Armas has a firm grip on what “The Hand of Hope” means to him.

“When I see that picture, the first thing I think of is how special and lucky I am to have God use me that way,” Samuel told FOXNews.com. “I feel very thankful that I was in that picture.”

On Aug. 19, 1999, photographer Michael Clancy shot the “Fetal Hand Grasp” — his picture of a 21-week-old fetus grasping a doctor’s finger during innovative surgery to correct spina bifida. Nearly four months later, on Dec. 2, Samuel Armas was “born famous.”

The photo, which first appeared in USA Today on Sept. 7, 1999, quickly spread across the globe as proof of development in the womb and was later cited during congressional debates on the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which passed in 2000.

“It’s just a miracle picture, a miracle moment,” Clancy told FOXNews.com. “It shows the earliest human interaction ever recorded.”

Samuel, now 9 and living in Villa Rica, Ga., said the photo likely gave countless “babies their right to live” and forced many others to debate their beliefs on abortion, something he’s proud of.

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“It’s very important to me,” Samuel said of the photograph. “A lot of babies would’ve lost their lives if that didn’t happen.”

Julie Armas, Samuel’s mother, said her eldest son has a “very strong sense of right and wrong” and understands the impact of his unconventional first baby photo.

“He identifies it more in terms of a pro-life message more than anything,” she told FOXNews.com. “This photo happened and God used it to show people that this baby in mom’s tummy is alive. He’s pleased that his photo conveyed that message.”

Armas said Samuel will wear lower leg braces for the rest of his life as a result of spina bifida, which occurs when the spine fails to close properly during early pregnancy. He’ll also use a wheelchair during long trips, as he did at Great Adventure earlier this week. But the mother of three said Samuel “walks great” and has been lucky enough to avoid some surgeries associated with his condition.

“He’s doing extremely well,” she told FOXNews.com. “We pray that he continues to be as healthy and able as he has been.”

Samuel’s condition hasn’t slowed his activities as a decorated Cub Scout or in the swimming pool, where he took first place last weekend in a 25-yard backstroke event.

“I love to swim,” Samuel said of his typical Saturday activity. “You use your arms a lot and it gives your arms great muscles.”

The third-grader also loves science and animals, especially orcas, bald eagles and tigers. And he still collects bugs, something his father, Alex, revealed during a Senate hearing in 2003 to highlight advances in fetal surgery.

“Anything we see, he wants to catch and put it in a jar to watch it,” Julie Armas said. “He’s a great kid, he really is. He’s very gentle; he’s very laid-back.”

Clancy, who hasn’t photographed a surgery since Samuel’s, recalled meeting him for just the third time in 2007 during an event for Come Alive Ministries in Atlanta.

“His eyes just lit up because he was born famous because of that picture,” Clancy told FOXNews.com. “It was amazing.”

Clancy, who was a freelancer for USA Today when he photographed Samuel’s fully-formed hand, now works as a motivational speaker at pro-life events. Prior to the picture, Clancy said, he was pro-choice.

“And that’s what I’m going to do, keep telling this story,” he said. “It can change people’s hearts. What started off as an assignment turned into a responsibility to keep telling the story behind it.”

A crucial part of the story, Clancy argues, is whether Samuel reached through the 8-inch opening in his mother’s uterus and grabbed Dr. Joseph Bruner’s hand, or if the doctor manipulated the hand during surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee.

“I could see the uterus shake violently and then this little fist came out of the surgical opening,” Clancy recalls. “It came out under its own power. When Dr. Bruner lifted the little hand, I fired my camera and the tighter Samuel squeezed, the harder Dr. Bruner shook his hand.”

Bruner, who could not be reached for comment, has told reporters that Samuel and his mother were under anesthesia and could not move. In a Jan. 9, 2000, article in The Tennessean, he said he pulled Samuel’s hand out of the uterus, further complicating the debate surrounding the photograph.

But none of that matters to Julie Armas. Samuel continues to thrive, and he is leading the way for his 3-year-old brother, Zachary, who also has spina bifida.

“I don’t care, honestly,” Julie Armas said. “What I felt the picture showed is that this is a child engaging in some form of interaction. I’m a labor and delivery nurse, so I understand that Samuel was anesthetized to some degree.

“So if he reached out, I don’t know. If Dr. Bruner reached out, I don’t know. The fact of the matter is it’s a child with a hand, with a life, and that’s meaningful enough.”

Illinois Pastor Slain in Church

March 9, 2009 – An Illinois pastor was killed Sunday when a gunman entered the church and opened fire during the first of three morning worship services.

The Rev. Fred Winters, pastor of First Baptist Church of Maryville, deflected the first of four bullets with his Bible, causing pages to fly “like confetti,” witnesses told the Associated Press. After four shots, the man’s .45-caliber handgun jammed, and he stabbed himself with a knife and injured two other church members when they tackled the man. One remains hospitalized, while the other has been treated and released.

 

The gunman, identified by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as 27-year-old Terry Joe Sedlacek from Troy, Ill., is hospitalized and in police custody. In a previous Post-Dispatch report, Sedlacek claimed to have lyme disease, which he said was a cause of his mental illness.

Church members said they did not recognize the gunman.

Winters, 45, became senior pastor of First Baptist Church in 1987. Since then the church has grown from 32 members to more than 1,200. Winters was also an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a past president of the Illinois Baptist State Association. Winters is survived by his wife, Cindy, and their two daughters.

The Baptist association’s current executive director, Nate Adams, said Winters was “a wonderful, gifted, leading pastor in Illinois, and a dear friend.

Continue reading here

Todd Bentley Remarries

March 10, 2009 — Todd Bentley, who became well-known for leading the Lakeland Outpouring until he stepped down after announcing he was divorcing his wife, Shonnah, has remarried.

He has also entered into a restoration process led by MorningStar Ministries founder Rick Joyner, it was announced Monday.

Joyner said Bentley and his new wife, Jessa, married “several weeks ago” and have moved to Fort Mill, S.C., where MorningStar is based. Jack Deere of Wellspring Church in Texas and Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in California will assist Joyner in overseeing Bentley’s restoration process.

 

“There were failures; there were mistakes-I want to be absolutely sure he sees them, understands them,” Joyner told Charisma. “I want to see that that gate is shut, that this is not going to happen again.

“I’m not in the business of trying to perfect anyone,” he added. “I’m not going to ask him to be perfect, but there are a lot of issues, and they’re valid. … He is not pushing for ministry or anything; he is trying to get his life right.”

Bentley had led revival meetings in Lakeland, Fla., for nearly four months when he suddenly stepped down from public ministry in August after informing staff members that he and his wife, Shonnah, were separating.

His Fresh Fire Ministries (FFM) board, based in British Columbia, later announced that Bentley had confessed to an inappropriate relationship with a female staff member and a senior board member said Bentley’s alcohol consumption had “crossed the line.”

Joyner said Bentley and his new wife admit that their relationship was “premature,” but say it did not begin until Bentley was convinced his first marriage could not be saved.

“They have both expressed that it was wrong and premature,” Joyner said in his statement. “They do not want to try and cover this up even though they know many will never accept them for it. Even so, they are married now and are resolved to make the most of their marriage, their lives, and to continue to serve the Lord in the best way that they can.” (Read Joyner’s statement.)

Joyner was one of several charismatic ministers who appeared on the platform at the Lakeland Outpouring last June when Bentley publicly submitted himself to the oversight of apostolic leaders Bill Johnson, John Arnott and Ché Ahn, who represent a group called the Revival Alliance.

Arnott said the alliance would serve in an advisory role during Bentley’s restoration process. “I trust all of those guys,” Arnott said. “They’re just men of integrity, men of grace.”

Arnott said Bentley, because of his actions, had stepped out of the fellowship of the alliance. “Relationally we all do care for him,” Arnott said. “But he wouldn’t be seen as a member in good standing.”

In a statement released with Joyner’s, Bentley said he has been in a season of brokenness. He said his previous marriage endured “years of unresolved conflicts” and apologized that it ended in divorce.

 Continue reading here

You Must Suffer : Enduring to the End : John Piper Gives a Wake UP Call!

Urgent Word From Lou Engle

The Elijah Revolution

Today the State of California is in great crisis. Brazen stands have been taken by its leaders, its judges, and millions of its citizens against the Biblical and moral absolutes under-girding the stability of the family and the laws of our nation. The economic crisis rests heavily on the state. Thousands groan and suffer under the collapse. Human answers and political round tables are being weighed in the balances and found impotent.But the darkest circumstances are the backdrop scripturally speaking of the ordination of the greatest prophets and revival movements. It was in a context much like the one we face today that God called forth Elijah and a prophetic people who would resist the ideologies of darkness and contend with the Spirit of Jezebel. In two generations the renegade government was overthrown, Baal worship was eradicated, and the worship of Yahweh was majorly restored.So too in California, God is wanting an Elijah Revolution. Something must come that is more powerful than the rebellion of the sixties. Revival and reformation can be injected into the state through a stubbing Elijah people. Therefore as the church we must not let the dark circumstances throw us off from believing our prophetic promises. The fulfillment of the promises of God are not dictated from circumstance but are called forth in desperation when the darkness would drive us to our only hope, God. TheCall was birthed out of an extraordinary prophetic history in California and the prophetic promises are as bright today and can still be fulfilled if the church moves with mighty faith to contend for them. Therefore from February 22nd to 25th in Mott Auditorium, Pasadena, CA, where so many prophetic visions were birthed and where the prayer movement of TheCall began, we are summoning the consecrated ones, the ones that still believe, the ones who burn for God, to gather and refocus on the compelling California destiny that must be apprehended in this moment. From our prophetic history recall we will unleash a statewide prayer strategy culminating in TheCall Sacramento on November 7th, that if responded to could turn the tide in the state and nation. “As California goes, so goes the nation.” Come to the prophetic reCall – “TheCall to the ELIJAH REVOLUTION” When: Sunday, 2/22, thru Wednesday, 2/25 7 to 10 p.m. Where: Mott Auditorium, 1539 East Howard Street, Pasadena, CA This gathering will be free of charge. Everyone is welcome. LIMITED SEATING Consumed by TheCall, Lou Engle