Saint Michael defeating Satan

Today, I and a group of others were praying a rosary in front of the Planned Parenthood business on Cherry Street in Knoxville. There’s usually a group there every day, but I go once a month to lead the rosary. As we were praying, a man came along and started barking at us from the Bible, insisting that abortion was condoned by God.

At first, I simply asked him to not interrupt while we were praying. He ignored me and continued. Fine. Now, it’s all on him. Then he commited blasphemy by claiming that God condoned abortion. Obviously, I couldn’t let the blasphemy stand, so I prayed that God would forgive him his blasphemy. I also gave him my blessing. One of our number asked that I not confront or respond to him. That’s fine. But I felt I needed to ask that he not interrupt us so that his continued un-Christian action would be on him. And I could not allow the blasphemy to be spoken without speaking to it. I didn’t confront him on that, I merely asked, out loud, that God forgive his blasphemy. I also gave him my blessing.

Afterwards, while he was still yelling as we were leaving, I asked if he wanted to have a conversation. Well, I shouted, “Do you want to have a conversation?” because I had to speak over his yelling. He finally agreed to talk with me, though he continued to be loud while we spoke and, I admit, I am a naturally loud person, so we were both loud. Then he asked me in a soft voice not to be loud. This man who had been BARKING at us for the last 30 minutes or more asked me in a very self-rightous tone not to be so loud. Please. But okay, let’s not be loud. He tried, and I tried, but I suspect you could still hear much of our conversation in the PP offices across the street.

He wanted to talk about praying in public and quoted where Jesus says in Matthew not to pray on street corners. Of course, he prays in public all the time – at church at the very least. I am quite sure he’s prayed in public on many occasions. But that doesn’t count, he says. It never counts when they pray in public. Only when those they oppose pray in public.

Then I said let’s talk about abortion, because that’s really why we were both there. He wanted verses on abortion. We spoke about Psalm 139:13 (I thought it was in Isaiah, and he graciously corrected me), where it says the Lord “knit me together in my mother’s womb.” He said that referred to before conception. I pointed out that it says “in the womb!” He didn’t have anything to say to that, except that it was in the OT, while half the verses he gave me to support abortion were in the OT. What? Then I offered John the Baptist leaping for joy in his mother’s womb. He said that didn’t count because it was after “quickening.” Golly, people still talk about “quickening”? I mentioned, of course, that the child is fully developed well before then and that the only thing special about quickening is that the child is now large enough for the mother to feel her movements. He was not impressed. I asked him, though, if he opposed third trimester abortion and he said he did. Well, thanks be to God for that!

He provided his interpretation of Scripture for me, but I mentioned that we’re not bound to his interpretation, we’re bound to the interpretation of the Catholic Church. Why? Because the Church is the instrument of God’s revelation in Christ. He look a bit flustered on that. So, I gave him Ephesian 3:10 and 1 Tim 3:15. Then he said something surprising. He said he doesn’t regard Ephesians and 1 Timothy as Scripture. He doesn’t regard them as God’s revelation. He doesn’t regard them as the Word of God. He’s a Marcionite. Which means, of course, he’s a heretic. He picks and chooses which books of the Scriptures he regards as God’s revelation. I asked him (I admit, a bit sarcastically) if he had ripped Ephesians and 1 Timothy out of his Bible. He doesn’t regard them as Scripture because contemporary scholars have determined that these letters were not actually written by Paul, but by another who wrote as Paul, and he doesn’t think God would lie about who wrote them. Well, it is true that many contemporary Scripture scholars do not regard Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus as having been written by Paul. But this is their opinion. Even the scholars don’t claim their position is carved in stone. And there are many scholars who disagree and regard some or all of these letters as authentically Pauline. But what does it matter? The Church has regarded these letters as the written Word of God since the beginning and definitively declared the canon of the Scriptures in numerous local councils and in two Ecumenical Councils (Florence and Trent). Golly, if we could all just pick and choose which books we liked, or which teachings we like, that would be choas in the Body of Christ.

Oh, he also doesn’t really believe in the Body of Christ. He insists that we should all be spending time in ministries he approves of. When I told him that different members of the Body have different gifts and duties, he said that was a cop-out, which means he really doesn’t believe in the Body of Christ – some are teachers, some are administrators, some are healers, etc. Nope. In his mind we’re all supposed to be doing the works that he approves of, or we’re not living the life of Christ. Of course, I don’t know how he can live the life of Christ if he rejects so many books of the Bible.

He’s done some good things. He worked in Haiti for five years, or he says he did. He feeds the homeless, or says he does. He asked me to come with him to feed the homeless right then and there. He said there was a homeless camp up the road. I asked him if he had food to feed them. He said he did. I said, “Let’s go! I’ll follow you.” (that was sincere; I’ve spent plenty of days feeding the homeless so I had experience with that and I had nothing to do for the next few hours). Oh, then he balked. Then he came up with all sorts of lame excuses why he didn’t want to take me to feed the homeless with him. I would rant at them my false beliefs. I would be a bad influence on his ministry. Whatever. I asked him if he was actually going to feed the homeless when we were done. I guess he didn’t want to lie, because he hummed and hawed and never got around to answering my question.

The most distressing part of our conversation was when I pointed out the Scriptures he was using are from the Old Covenant, and we don’t live under the Old Covenant and Mosaic Law anymore because Christ has established a New Covenant. Then he said that that was a matter of interpretation. WHAT? Whether or not Christ established a New Covenant is a matter of interpretation? Now, that is heresy. And blasphemy. At that point, I ended the conversation and told him that I would pray that God forgive his blasphemy.

So, to summarize: he’s barking at us from the Bible, which he doesn’t really believe in. He thinks the different gifts and duties people have as members of the Body of Christ is a cop out for not being involved in the works that he approves of. He accuses me of not caring for the homeless, then balks when I accept his invitation to feed the homeless. And, worst of all, he doesn’t affirm without question that Christ established a New Covenant and we are no longer subject to the Mosaic Law.

He also said he either works at or volunteers at that particular Planned Parenthood.

One more thing I should point out. He told me about a bubble on my front driver’s side tire. I got out and took a look and, sure enought, it was there. He said we might disagree, but he felt he needed to show that to me. I was grateful. After our convo, I went to Firestone and got a new tire.

The good news is, we had several of the faithful join us at the PP clinic on Cherry Street to pray for an end to abortion, for an end to hormone therapy and the falsely named “gender-affirming care,” and that these Planned Parenthood locations would be shut down. Now that the federal government is going to stop funding them, maybe that prayer will be answered soon.

Lord, bless him and bring him to the fulness of your truth. Forgive him his blasphemy. Turn his heart, and the hearts of all those who work at these Planned Parenthood businesses, to respect for life from womb to tomb, to quit their jobs, and please, please work your grace to shut these businesses down. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl around the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.