‘I hate’ the gospel being preached at funerals – King’s Church leader Glen Mitchell

Romans 10:14: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Several so-called ‘Christian’ ministers have cravenly fallen over themselves to indulge an abortion fanatic who blasted a minister for preaching the gospel at a funeral she had attended.

Kellie Turtle, a brazen campaigner for abortion, the euphemistic term for baby murder, vented her God-defying ire on Twitter after apparently attending a funeral where a minister preached the gospel message of the necessity of salvation from sins in order to go to heaven when we die.

Her disgraceful message is as follows: “Northern Irish Christian clergy: please, from the bottom of my heart, stop using funerals to tell ppl (sic) they should think about where they want to spend eternity. It’s crass and unlikely to ever bring anyone to faith. Just walk with ppl (sic) in grief and be grateful they invited you in.

“Note: other more subtle versions are just as unwelcome. Even the most lovely & comforting homily can leave ppl (sic) cold if you can’t help but throw in a bit about getting right with the Lord. Just speak love over ppl (sic) in pain and if God is who you say they are, they will do the rest”.

And so jumped in a number of compromising clerics, eager to show their disdain for true gospel preaching.

Quick to point out his opposition to the sharing of the need for salvation to those confronted by the brevity and fragility of this life was none other than Biblical creation denier Glen Mitchell, the pastor of King’s Church in Bangor, County Down.

Glen Mitchell has also, quite outrageously, previously expressed his great disappointment that the town hall in Newtownards, near to Bangor, would not be lit up to celebrate sodomite ‘Pride’.

He jumped in to say: “Oh I hate that. So sorry.” This comment was ‘liked’ by Kellie Turtle.

So Glen Mitchell, an allegedly Christian pastor, has publicly declared that he “hates” preaching the need for salvation at funerals.

Another minister always keen to demonstrate his variance with true Christianity, Rev Steve Stockman (pictured, below) of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, was another to jump on this wretched bandwagon.

Replying to Kellie Turtle’s comment, he said: “Preach it sister”.

So Rev Steve Stockman, the man who preaches the gospel according to an exemplar of sin like Lady Gaga and the founder, alongside a Jesuit priest, of the ecumenical Four Corners Festival is endorsing the ‘preaching’ of hatred towards the sharing of the gospel while expressing his opposition to the preaching laid out in God’s Word which seeks to bring souls to Christ.

That is very instructive indeed.

Another Presbyterian cleric making clear their opposition to warning souls of their eternal destiny should they die in their sin is ‘Rev’ Cheryl Meban.

‘Rev’ Cheryl Meban is a notable ecumenist and compromiser.

Indeed, last year she was one of four allegedly Protestant clerics who preached during the blasphemous novena at the Romanist Clonard Monastery, while she has been outspoken on the matter of homosexuality within the church.

At last year’s General Assembly, she was one of the voices, alongside the like of ‘LGBT Christian’ endorsing Rev John Dickinson of Carnmoney Presbyterian Church, to stress her opposition to moves made in 2018 to restrict open homosexuals from full communicant membership and bar the baptism of children in the care of same-sex couples.

And, more outrageously still, perhaps, she was listed to be one of the speakers at a despicable event planned by Church of Ireland minister and Mid Ulster ‘Pride’ sodomite grouping vice-Chairman Rev Andrew Rawding back in April, but which had to be called off due to the coronavirus pandemic, entitled ‘Blessed are the Queer’. One can be sure someone invited to such an event will not be favouring the Biblical view on such matters.

What she said in response to this disgraceful tweet from Kellie Turtle was: “Dear Kellie, I’m so sorry… I’m sure the guy thought he was doing the right thing… but seriously, it’s so harmful.”

There you go – preaching the gospel “is so harmful”, according to a supposed ‘minister’ of the gospel.

And another alleged ‘minister’, or ‘pastor’, the peculiar Karen Sethuraman, was another to jump in on the side of the world against the Lord.

Peculiar in the sense that she claims to be the “first woman Baptist minister on the island of Ireland”, despite her ‘qualification’ coming from Baptists Together, the association for Baptists in England and Wales, rather than Ireland, be it on either side of the border.

She is also a very vocal feminist aiming to smash the patriarchy and other such nonsense.

She must also be keen on stamping God’s Word underfoot by firstly taking on a role forbidden her by God (see 1 Timothy 2:12) and now stressing her deep opposition to preaching the gospel at funerals.

Karen Sethuraman jumped in to the discussion with several unbiblical offerings, starting with this: “I’m so sorry if this was your experience. What on Earth is with some clergy. I’m disgusted… I’m so so sorry.”

Kellie Turtle replied to this with Karen Sethuraman then chipping in again: “I’m so sorry. Unfortunately, I have had many other people who have shared this happening to them. It’s just completely wrong on all sorts of levels. Sending love to you guys xo.”

“Sending love” over social media and sticking an “xo” on the end of a message will do any sinner in need of being told of the cure for their sin a fat lot of good, won’t it?

Our verse at the top of this passage asks the very reasonable, rhetorical question “how shall they hear without a preacher?” If the so-called preacher refuses to tell them their need of salvation then they have no hope of avoiding a lost eternity in hell.

Yet Karen Sethuraman is “disgusted” by this.

It is any true Bible-believing Christian who ought to be disgusted by her attitude.

Funerals are, obviously, fraught, distressing and stressful times for all concerned.

No minister will want to upset those in attendance by his manner of preaching, but can still go about sharing the full gospel message in a sensitive, yet clear, manner.

The true minister isn’t there just to protect people’s feelings, he won’t deliberately hurt their feelings but he won’t be a lily-livered compromiser simply to avoid causing any offence.

Very often a funeral is the only time some people will ever be through the doors of a church and what is actually disgusting, hateful and so harmful is when ministers like those above refuse to warn those in attendance that they need to be ready to die.

Hebrews 9:27 warns us that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.

Judgment is coming, James 5:8 warns us that “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh”.

God will “render to every man according to his deeds”, Romans 2:6 tells us.

If we don’t confess our sin to God and ask for his forgiveness, we face an eternity in hell.

If we refuse to confess our sin, we are in effect telling God we don’t need His forgiveness. Such a state is very dangerous indeed.

1 John 1:8-10 points this out while also showing the promise of salvation to those who truly repent.

It says: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

The verse prior to that passage finished off by telling us that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”.

Jesus came into this world, taking on the form of a man, so that He might take our sin upon Himself and be a perfect once for all sacrifice at Calvary for sin.

All we have to do is believe on Him and seek forgiveness for our sins and we will be forgiven and spend all eternity in heaven.

This is such wonderful news, if you are a minister of this good news, would you not want to share it with everyone? Would you not want to share it as regularly as possible? Would you not be desperate for those you see and meet to take Jesus Christ as their Saviour?

We go back to the very start – “how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Paul, speaking to the church of Ephesus, said in Acts 20:27 that “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God”.

Paul didn’t hold back on the parts of the gospel which were displeasing to unconverted ears, he didn’t soft soap the gospel message to keep in with those around them.

Neither should any minister who wants to please their Heavenly Father.

Dear reader, if you, or anyone you know, is in any way coming under the spiritual guidance of Glen Mitchell, Rev Steve Stockman, ‘Rev’ Cheryl Meban or Karen Sethuraman, won’t you separate yourself immediately and implore those you know to do likewise.

‘Rev’ Cheryl Meban (pictured, above) is, for example, the Presbyterian Church chaplain to Ulster University – is your child, grandchild, nephew, niece, brother, sister, friend, currently attending that university and coming under her guidance?

Let us shout aloud the need for gospel truth and, whether Glen Mitchell, Rev Steve Stockman, ‘Rev’ Cheryl Meban or Karen Sethuraman want to protect souls from an eternity in hell or not, please don’t allow those in your life, be it family, friends or work colleagues or associates, to go unwarned over the danger their never-dying soul is in each day they go on without Christ as their Saviour.

Be the good watchman, not the unfaithful watchman.

Ezekiel 3:17-19: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

Harbour Faith Community hosts pro-abortion activist

Psalm 139:13-16: “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.”

How beautiful are the words above, penned by King David around 3,000 years ago.

How beautifully does David, under God’s inspiration, articulate the special care and note God takes of each and every one of us from the moment we are conceived in the womb.

While “yet being unperfect”, ie the body as yet not fully developed in the womb, God had already shown His care for the unborn child.

So important is the unborn child in the womb that all David’s “members were written” down by God, “which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them”.

This refers to the gradual growth and progression of the baby in the womb and clearly states how precious human life, even its earliest stages, is in the sight of God.

Having this knowledge and revelation from God, it makes it all the more sickening to see the campaign to murder the unborn indiscriminately come so close to having its way in Northern Ireland.

Come 21 October, unless God steps in to the affairs of men to prevent this happening, the process will begin to legalise infanticide, commonly euphemistically described as abortion, in our land.

There has been significant uproar caused by this in our land, with many of various denominations and faiths publicly and volubly expressing their anger and distress at such a vile proposal.

Many churches and church leaders have stated their opposition to such wickedness, and that is absolutely to their credit.

Indeed, it is inconceivable how anyone who claims to be a Christian could possibly seek to excuse the murder of the unborn or seek to equivocate or quibble over whether abortion is, in fact, permissible.

However, that is exactly what happened on Thursday night past, 19 September, and indeed will be done once more next Thursday night, 26 September.

The Harbour Faith Community, based in Carrickfergus and led by Steve Ames (pictured, top), held an event entitled ‘Faith and Choice – Conversations with Kellie Turtle’.

The promotional post on Harbour Faith Community’s facebook page states that they will “welcome Kellie Turtle, who is an activist with Alliance for Choice. She will share some of her journey as a person of faith who also has experience of accessing an abortion in England”.

It further said that she would “explore some of the myths and realities of what it means to end a pregnancy”.

Apparently the purpose of such an event is because “thoughtful conversations around issues such as abortion, reproductive rights and choice are virtually non-existent In churches and faith groups”.

“Thoughtful conversations”, of course, is a self-serving, self-indulgent euphemism for disgracefully trying to apologise and excuse the murder of the unborn, the forcible extraction of a helpless baby from the safety and comfort of its mother’s womb, the literal binning of a tiny little human being.

A quick scan of Kellie Turtle’s facebook page shows she is highly unlikely to engage in anything resembling a “thoughtful conversation”, as she is vehemently campaigning for the “right” for mothers to dispense with their own children.

Take this “thoughtful” post on her facebook page where she strongly encourages, shall we say, all her facebook friends to attend a pro-abortion march in Belfast, which took place on 7 September.

Introducing her comments, she says that only one individual has no excuse not to follow her command to attend the pro-infanticide procession.

As for the rest, she says “everyone else better be there or you’ll be cursed by the gods to never be free to choose anything ever again”.

The irony presumably is lost on this holder of “thoughtful conversations”.

Whilst advocating what she terms “choice”, she is seeking to remove the choice from everyone else she knows to attend a march in support of baby murder.

Indeed the poster on her facebook page promoting the march says “we won’t stop until abortion access is free, safe, legal and local”.

That sounds very nuanced and thoughtful, doesn’t it?

Of course, by safe, she means there ought to be no adverse health ramifications for the woman choosing to destroy her own flesh and blood. There is no concern for the safety of the child, else the woman seeking the murder of her child wouldn’t be looking such a despicable act to be carried out.

Even more grimly ironic from her facebook page is a post where she rages against “anti-vaxxers” (parents who oppose giving their children vaccinations). We have no interest in entering that debate, but Kellie Turtle tells those reading her post: “Don’t be part of putting their lives in danger”.

This is symptomatic of the bizarre mental jump that abortion supporters seem to be able to make – killing a baby in the womb is totally fine but once the baby is born it seems to magically become a human in that instant.

And for Harbour Faith Community to be giving such a wicked notion a vehicle just serves to show even more fully how utterly anti-Christian this supposedly Christian gathering is.

The outrageously ungodly nature of Harbour Faith Community has been clearly highlighted on this page before.

This includes its proud declaration of support for sodomy as well as the despicable comments made by its leader, Steve Ames, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is “not that different from a standard protection racket”.

And now they are seeking to introduce the notion that abortion is not so bad as other churches say it is.

It is not up to us to decide if a baby gets to live, either inside or outside the womb.

Deuteronomy 32:39: “See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.”

1 Samuel 2:6: “The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.”

God is sovereign and we ought not to interfere with the lives of the helpless and harmless to end them simply because the mother has decided, for whatever reason, they don’t want the child.

The sixth commandment makes it pretty clear for us.

Exodus 20:13 says: “Thou shalt not kill.”

It doesn’t say “thou shalt not kill unless you unexpectedly fall pregnant”.

It doesn’t say “thou shalt not kill unless your baby is a boy and you would prefer a girl”.

It simply states, “thou shalt not kill”.

Yet what Harbour Faith Community is doing is grotesquely striving to muddy the water around an issue which so obviously is clear cut.

Of course, Harbour Faith Community will say we are demonstrating another example of what they term the “virtually non-existent thoughtful conversations” on the matter among many professing Christians.

We couldn’t care less that they think this.

It is crystal clear that it is wrong to destroy children.

Jesus said to “suffer the little children to come unto me”, He had a special care for children.

Let us have that same care and let us not allow ourselves to be swayed from the Biblical view that to slay the innocent is to do a grave wrong, something God will look upon most unfavourably.

2 Kings 24:3-4: “Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.”

God would not pardon the shedding of innocent blood and brought the enemies of Israel in upon them to conquer and destroy them.

What fate awaits a land which makes legal the slaughter of the innocent, worse still for a supposed church which supports it?