By now, many of you have probably already heard about the murder of Doctor
George Tiller, an infamous abortionist who was one of the few doctors in the
USA to perform late-term abortions. His practice, and abortion clinic in
Wichita, Kansas, has been the center of protests by anti-abortionists since
the mid 1980's. In 1986, the clinic was bombed, and in 1993, Tiller was shot
in both arms. This time, he met his death in the foyer of his church where
he served as an usher.

As I explain in my eight-part series "Abortion: The Slaughter Of The
Innocent", as a Bible-believing Christian, I am strongly opposed to
abortion, except when it is clearly the ONLY option that remains for saving
the life of a woman. Sadly, 93% of all abortions result from matters related
to personal inconvenience, and not because a woman's life is truly in
danger.

While I strongly condemn what Doctor Tiller did, I also condemn any
Christians who may resort to violent actions in order to reduce the number
of abortions which are performed every day throughout the world. While we
Christians are to serve as messengers of God's Word, we are not to serve as
God's executioners. God will mete out His own judgments and punishments to
abortionists in His own time, and not in ours.

I don't know if the alleged killer, Scott Roeder, embraces the Christian
faith, but if he does, then his actions do us more harm than good.

One thing that really perplexes me is the fact that any church in the
so-called American "Bible Belt" would even accept someone like
Doctor Tiller
as a member of their church; yet apparently, the Reformation Lutheran Church
did. But then again, considering how many modern American Christian churches
have compromised our Christian beliefs, I suppose that I shouldn't really be
surprised to discover that one even accepts a man who has no problems with
performing late-term abortions.

Following is an article from the New York Times.


Abortion Doctor Shot to Death in Kansas Church

By JOE STUMPE and MONICA DAVEY - NYT

May 31, 2009


WICHITA, Kan. -- George Tiller, one of only a few doctors in the nation who
performed abortions late in pregnancy, was shot to death here Sunday in the
foyer of his longtime church as he handed out the church bulletin.

The authorities said they took a man into custody later in the day after
pulling him over about 170 miles away on Interstate 35 near Kansas City.
They said they expected to charge him with murder on Monday.

The Wichita police said there were several witnesses to the killing, but law
enforcement officials would not say what had been said, if anything, inside
the foyer. Officials offered little insight into the motive, saying that
they believed it was "the act of an isolated individual" but that they were
also looking into "his history, his family, his associates."

A provider of abortions for more than three decades, Dr. Tiller, 67, had
become a focal point for those around the country who opposed it. In
addition to protests outside his clinic, his house and his church, Dr.
Tiller had once seen his clinic bombed; in 1993, an abortion opponent shot
him in both arms. He was also the defendant in a series of legal challenges
intended to shut down his operations, including two grand juries that were
convened after citizen-led petition drives.

On Sunday morning, moments after services had begun at Reformation Lutheran
Church, Dr. Tiller, who was acting as an usher, was shot once with a
handgun, the authorities said. The gunman pointed the weapon at two people
who tried to stop him, the police said, then drove off in a powder-blue
Taurus. Dr. Tiller's wife, Jeanne, a member of the church choir, was inside
the sanctuary at the time of the shooting.

The police in Wichita described the man who was detained as a 51-year-old
from Merriam, a Kansas City suburb, but declined to give his name until he
was charged. The Associated Press reported that a sheriff's official from
Johnson County, Kan., where the man was taken into custody, identified him
as Scott Roeder.

The killing of Dr. Tiller is likely to return the issue of abortion to
center stage in the nation's political debate. Until recently, President
Obama, who supports abortion rights, had largely sought to avoid the debate.
Last month, he confronted the issue in a commencement speech at the
University of Notre Dame, an appearance that drew protests because of his
views. During the speech, he appealed to each side to respect one another's
basic decency and to work together to reduce the number of unwanted
pregnancies.

Mr. Obama issued a statement after Dr. Tiller's killing, saying, "However
profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as
abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."

Advocates of abortion rights denounced the killing, saying it would send a
renewed, frightening signal to others who provide abortions or work in
clinics and to women who may consider abortions. Some described Dr. Tiller
as one of about only three doctors in the country who had, under certain
circumstances, provided abortions to women in their third trimester of
pregnancy, and said his death would mean that women, particularly in the
central United States, would have few if any options in such cases.

"This is a tremendous loss on so many levels," said Peter B. Brownlie,
president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, who had known
Dr. Tiller for years.

Opponents of abortion, including those here who have been most vociferous in
their protests of Dr. Tiller and his work, also expressed outrage at the
shooting and said they feared that their groups might be wrongly judged by
the act.

Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group based
in Wichita, said he had always sought out "nonviolent" measures
to challenge
Dr. Tiller, including efforts in recent years to have him prosecuted for
crimes or investigated by state health authorities.

"Operation Rescue has worked tirelessly on peaceful, nonviolent measures to
bring him to justice through the legal system, the legislative system," Mr.
Newman said, adding, "We are pro-life, and this act was antithetical to what
we believe."

By late Sunday, Mr. Newman said, some were already suggesting that there
were links between the suspect and Operation Rescue. Someone named Scott
Roeder had made posts to the group's blog in the past, Mr. Newman said, but
"he is not a friend, not a contributor, not a volunteer."

Dr. Tiller's death is the first such killing of an abortion provider in this
country since 1998, when Dr. Barnett Slepian was shot by a sniper in his
home in the Buffalo area. Dr. Tiller was the fourth doctor in the United
States who performed abortions to be killed in such circumstances since
1993, statistics from abortion rights' groups show.

Although most of the deadly violence occurred in the 1990s, advocates said,
abortion clinics and doctors have continued to be the targets of intense,
sometimes threatening protests. Some said they feared that Dr. Tiller's
death might signal a return to the earlier level of violence. At some
clinics on Sunday, administrators were reviewing their security precautions.

Adam Watkins, 20, one of the church members, told The A.P. he was seated in
the middle of the congregation when he heard a small pop at the start of the
service. An usher came in and told the congregation to remain seated, and
then escorted Mrs. Tiller out. "When she got to the back doors, we heard her
scream," Mr. Watkins said.

Dr. Tiller had long been at the center of the abortion debate here, one that
rarely seemed to quiet much in this southern Kansas city of about 358,000.

In 1993, Rachelle Shannon, from rural Oregon, shot Dr. Tiller in both arms.
Two years earlier, during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" protests,
thousands of anti-abortion protesters tried to block off the clinic, the
site of a bombing in 1986.

Friends of Dr. Tiller also described regular incidents of vandalism at the
clinic, and a barrage of threats to him and his family -- threats they say
had concerned him deeply for years.

Family members, including 4 children and 10 grandchildren, issued a
statement through Dr. Tiller's lawyer, which read in part: "George dedicated
his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent
threats and violence. We ask that he be remembered as a good husband, father
and grandfather and a dedicated servant on behalf of the rights of women
everywhere."

In recent years, Dr. Tiller had also been the focus of efforts by
anti-abortion groups and others -- including a former state attorney
general, Phill Kline -- who wished to see him prosecuted for what they
considered violations of state law in cases of late-term abortions.

Two grand juries, summoned by citizen-led petition drives, looked into Dr.
Tiller's practices, including questions of whether he met a state law
requirement that abortions at or after 22 weeks of pregnancy be limited to
circumstances where a fetus would not be viable or a woman would otherwise
face "substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily
function" --
words whose interpretation were at the root of much debate.

This year, Dr. Tiller was acquitted in a case that raised questions about
whether he was too closely tied to a doctor from whom he sought second
opinions in abortion cases. As recently as this spring, the State Board of
Healing Arts was investigating a similar complaint against him.


Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Download Center 4 Mac BBS Software & Christian Files.  We Use Hermes II


--- Hermes Web Tosser 1.1