Faith leaders across the country have slammed California Gov. Gavin Newsom for using scripture and the words of Jesus to promote his state’s pro-abortion stance, with one leader even going as far as to label it “satanic.”
Newsom, a Catholic himself, is now using the Bible to promote the demonic killing of babies in California, quoting Mark 12:31 on billboards. Mark 12:31 reads “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these.”
In addition to the Bible passage, the billboard actually reads: “Need an abortion? California is ready to help.”
Newsom is running for re-election in November and his campaign is using the billboards to entice pro-abortion voters in his state.
Father Ryan Hilderbrand, a Roman Catholic priest from Indiana, tweeted this week, “This is satanic.”
This is satanic. https://t.co/HwMVZuVzjw
— Fr. Ryan Hilderbrand (@FrHilderbrand) September 21, 2022
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, said he isn’t at all surprised by Newsom’s political tactics.
“The idea that Newsom is using the words of Jesus Christ, the Holy Scriptures, to promote the killing of unborn children as somehow loving and commanded by God is, quite frankly, disgusting,” Sekulow said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “This is a blatant political fundraising ploy to boost his own political profile and presidential aspirations. The people are smarter than that. It just won’t work.”
Matthew P. Schneider, a Roman Catholic priest who serves as adjunct professor of theology at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, says Newsom’s billboards mock scripture and Jesus himself.
“[It’s] one of the [worst] distortions of a Bible passage I’ve ever seen,” Schneider tweeted. “Shame on [Newsom] and his government. The most basic level of loving your neighbor as yourself is not killing your neighbor, yet that’s exactly what abortion does.”
Catholic Answers, a Catholic media ministry, used a long tweet thread to chastise the Democratic governor, saying he “twisted” the words of the Bible for his own benefit.
I think this has to be one of the worse distortions of a Bible passage I’ve ever seen. Shame on @GavinNewsom & his government.
The most basic level of loving your neighbor as yourself is not killing your neighbor, yet that’s exactly what abortion does. https://t.co/5JHR6I2ZJ5
— Fr Matthew P. Schneider, LC (@FrMatthewLC) September 21, 2022
Revelation 22:18-19 reads: “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and out of the things which are written in this book.”
“Imagining the devil in his advertising office at the top of the highest skyscraper in hell giggling to himself as [Newsom] uses Jesus’ own words to support killing babies,” Catholic Answers tweeted. “No surprise here. Satan, having no imagination, can only ‘create’ by perverting the good not of his making. Likewise, it seems, for Gavin Newsom.”
Jack Hibbs, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Chino Hills, Calif., tweeted this about Newsome on Thursday, Sept. 15, before Newsome’s billboards came out: “Governor Newsom wants birthday abortions to be legal. Abortion is already protected in California. Don’t let us become the state of UNLIMITED DEATH. We need your support getting out the “Vote NO on Prop 1” vote. Visit stopprop1.com. {eoa}
Shawn A. Akers is the online editor for Charisma Media.
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