“All human life–from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages–is sacred, because human life is created in the image and likeness of God. Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person…If a person’s right to life is violated at the moment in which he is first conceived in his mother’s womb, an indirect blow is struck also at the whole moral order.”
–Pope John Paul II
In Washington, D.C., Oct, 7, 1979
In the ongoing saga of the utterly corrupt leadership of Sovereign Grace Ministries we have more shocking news!
In what was a stunning revelation to me, Brent Detwiler, in his latest blog post, revealed that Mark Prater, Executive Director for Sovereign Grace and an elder at Covenant Fellowship Church, held a lucrative job with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals prior to being recruited by Dave Harvey in order to start Providence Church in Pittsburgh in 1996. At that time Dave Harvey was one of the “king makers” in Sovereign Grace Ministries. Harvey later would serve a short time as the leader for Sovereign Grace Ministries as C.J. Mahaney had to resign under the cloud of covering up sexual abuse of children while he led the ministry. Dave Harvey himself soon followed the path of Mahaney, stepping down from his position under questionable circumstances, and has since fled Sovereign Grace Ministries for greener pastures.
Here is the relevant portion of Brent Detwiler’s post:
“Mark Prater was trained in crisis management, public relations, and communications techniques while a regional manager with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in the 1990’s. Wyeth marketed the infamous Norplant implant. “By 1996, more than 50,000 women had filed lawsuits, including 70 class actions, against Wyeth and/or its subsidiaries, or doctors who prescribed Norplant.”
In that context, Mark led the initiative to train obstetricians throughout the nation in the proper insertion and removal techniques for the progestin only implantable contraceptive device that acted primarily as an abortifacient (i.e., it caused abortions) by making the endometrium hostile to the implantation of a fertilized ovum. God knows how many preborn children lost their lives because of this product. As a result of these efforts, Prater zoomed up the corporate ladder and was well paid for his work.
I don’t know for certain if Mark Prater knew the progestin only drug in the Norplant device caused abortions. It is hard to imagine he did not. I plan to write and ask him. I also plan to contact the Executive Committee and Leadership Team of Sovereign Grace Ministries. This issue needs to be addressed. I do know, Prater left Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in order to start Providence Church in Pittsburgh in 1996 at the behest of Dave Harvey.”
Because of ongoing legal complications Wyeth Pharmaceuticals removed NORPLANT from the market in the USA, but it has been re-introduced under a new name. Read this troubling article here. Below are some excerpts from the article:
“Faced with tens of thousands of lawsuits from injured women, the original manufacturer, Wyeth-Aherst, in 2002 reached an out-of-court settlement with the victims. That same year it took Norplant I off the market in the U.S., in an obvious effort to stem the financial hemorrhaging caused by the lawsuits.
There is one more difference we should mention. Since “Norplant” has become a byword for a dangerous contraceptive drug/device, Norplant II has been given a new name. It will be marketed under the name “Jadelle”. Of course, a dangerous contraceptive by any other name is still a dangerous contraceptive.
The U.S. Agency for International Development picked World Contraception Day to proudly announce its new Jadelle program. We think the choice of this day oddly appropriate, since our aid agency apparently does have ambitions to contracept the world: It is ordering no fewer than 27 million implants at roughly $10 apiece from the manufacturer over the next six years.
Norplant I died a very public death some years ago, pilloried in the courts and pummeled in the media. One may well ask why it has now been resurrected, under a new name and with a new manufacturer.
The answer is that implanting long-term contraceptives in poor women is one of the cherished goals of the population control movement. USAID itself reiterated its commitment to this goal at the recent London Family Planning Summit sponsored by the Gates Foundation.
A woman on birth control can stop taking her pills. A woman on depo-provera can stop taking her injections. But Jadelle, like its predecessor, is impossible to remove short of surgery. A woman who has been chemically sterilized by Jadelle will stay sterilized—for five long years.”
I find this deeply troubling. The Apostle Paul, prior to his conversion, persecuted the church and personally arrested and put to death many Christians. After his stunning encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus he was saved. Another great saint, John Newton, was a slave trader prior to his conversion. It is clear God can and does use men who have been saved out of terribly sinful pasts. That said, I think Mark Prater owes an explanation to the church. When did Prater become a Christian? Was he saved while employed at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals? If so, how can he justify his line of work? Was he converted while employed at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and subsequently convicted that to preserve his testimony as a Believer he needed to quit his job? If this was the case I would have no problem with Prater moving on to become a preacher. IF not, and he has never seen anything wrong with working for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, never repented, and just simply transitioned from a PR man for an abortifacient drug company to the Christian ministry I would take issue with the man being involved in any type of leadership role in the church. I am unsure of the situation, but Prater needs to come clean on this.
Below is a brief description of NORPLANT. I would encourage you to read the whole story at the link provided.
For decades, the popcon fanatics have dreamed about a mass means of neutering minority women that would be quick, efficient, and private. And the concept of a “safe and handy” abortifacient is certainly nothing new. A quarter-century ago, Garrett Hardin and other population theorists fantasized that the dominant “contraceptive” of the future would be an efficient abortifacient pill.[2]
It appears that the science genie has finally granted the population controller’s wish. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the abortifacient “contraceptive” NORPLANT for public use on December 10, 1990.
The Power Behind the Plan.
The ominously-named Population Council (founded by population control fanatic John Rockefeller III) owns the patent for NORPLANT, which was developed by embryologist Sheldon Segal of the Rockefeller Foundation. The Population Council will reap four percent of the colossal profits that will accrue from the use of the drug. The abortifacient is produced by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories of Philadelphia, a subsidiary of American Home Products, and will cost women about $500 to produce about five years of barrenness.[3]
THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF NORPLANT.
Implantation and Extraction Procedure.
The NORPLANT carrier consists of six small tubes about the size of matchsticks. These tubes are made of silastic (silicone rubber), the same material used in heart valves and medical tubing.
The insertion procedure is performed by a clinician, who makes a 1/8-inch incision about six inches above the woman’s elbow. The capsules are then loaded one by one into her arm in a fan-shaped pattern using an insertion tube.[3] Local anesthetic is used for both the implantation and extraction procedures.
The removal of the six tubes will be tricker than implantation in many cases, because they become coated with fibrous tissue and gradually anchor into the surrounding tissue. This is a result of trauma caused by the implants being pushed into the tissue and a low-scale inflammatory reaction to the tube’s foreign substance.
Mechanism of Action.
Once implanted, the six NORPLANT carrier capsules slowly release the drug levonorgestrel (low-dosage progestin), an abortifacient that prevents implantation of the developing human being (blastocyst) in the uterus.
The initial rate of progestin release is 100 micrograms per day. This rate gradually declines to 30 micrograms per day after 27 months, and then levels out.[4]
One major study showed that NORPLANT may reduce but not inhibit sperm migration by thickening cervical mucus, thus allowing fertilization to take place.[5] Another test of 41 women using NORPLANT for a period of one year showed that 24 women experienced a suppressed uterine lining, 12 had an irregular uterine lining, and only five had normal (unchanged) uterine linings.[4] Thus, NORPLANT had a clearly abortifacient effect in 70 percent of the women tested.
This means that a woman being used by NORPLANT will continue to ovulate, and will therefore be blissfully unaware that she is aborting at least once or twice each year.
Indeed. Pray for the whole denomination!
wpDiscuz