Current Events: Interviews with Kelsey Pritchard and Dr. Mitch Glasser

Today Cinthia conducted two interviews with individuals who work in areas significant to events happening in the world.  First, she talked with Kelsey Pritchard, who is the director of state public affairs for SBA Pro-Life America; she was previously the communications director for former South Dakota governor Dennis Daugaard and has also worked in the private sector.  Pritchard talked about the significance of the Dobbs decision and the way society has shifted in its thoughts about abortion since Roe v. Wade.  She discussed the way the narrative has altered with deceptive language and misinformation so that a woman with an unplanned pregnancy may easily find herself thinking that abortion is her only real option.  She also discussed studies by the Charlotte Lozier Institute that have looked at the impact of abortions on the women who have them, as well as the reasons they report having had those abortions in the first place; Pritchard stated that about two-thirds indicate they did not really want the abortions they got but that they felt some kind of pressure, either from people in their lives (e.g., partners, family members, etc.) or from financial constraints. 

Cinthia and Pritchard noted that, while it makes sense to be outraged at the searing of our societal conscience so that we are now discussing abortion as something women need for their health and freedom, this should not translate into shaming individuals who have had abortions.  Cinthia discussed working with clients who have been deeply wounded by their decisions to have abortions and the realization some of them experienced later that resources existed but that they had been too embarrassed to ask.  She also noted that, when a person already feels shame, that person becomes more vulnerable to coercion.  Cinthia also discussed her own adoption and the gratefulness she feels to her birthmother, despite having never been able to meet her.  She has learned that her birthmother, who is now deceased, hid the pregnancy with Cinthia from her family; Cinthia admires her birthmother for having done whatever was necessary to have allowed Cinthia’s life to happen, placing her for adoption instead of aborting her in one way or another.  Cinthia also noted that God is not thwarted by abortion and does not abandon His creation, even when that creation is killed, that He “still has a plan for the aborted baby.”   He has been dealing with the choices of sinful human beings for a long time and still makes everything beautiful in His time.

Pritchard encouraged listeners to vote well and to engage in truthful conversation about ballot measures, etc.  She reported that this election year involves both national attempts to secure abortion on demand and deceptively-worded ballot measures in six states that seek to sound like they ensure necessary and reasonable health care for women.  One ad even stated that women would die without a particular ballot measure, although, in fact, every state with pro-life laws already has exceptions for emergency care for the mother.  There is no state in which women’s lives are endangered by lack of access to abortion.  In some states, abortion advocates are targeting babies with disabilities, insisting that mothers should be able to abort their children if they receive prenatal diagnoses they consider too limiting for the child; aside from the fact that disabilities do not remove the possibility of life and happiness for children (or their families), the frequency with which these diagnoses are wrong is a huge concern.

Pritchard discussed the many pregnancy support centers around the country as the “backbone,” as well as the “hands and feet” of the pro-life movement, providing women in crisis situations with housing, resources, money, emotional support, and more.  She encouraged listeners to support and become involved with these centers, and Cinthia encouraged praying for them as they fight on the front lines for women and their families.  She called the battle for the unborn “the human rights struggle of our time” and stated that it will continue to be a battle for a long time.  Cinthia also encouraged praying about getting involved, asking what God wants you to do, and not being afraid of people.

Next, Cinthia spoke with Dr. Mitch Glasser, the current leader of Chosen People Ministries.  Glasser is a Jewish believer in Jesus.  Though He grew up in Orthodox Judaism, attended Hebrew school, and received his Bar Mitzvah, Glasser went on to become involved in drug use.  When some of his friends became involved in the Jesus Movement, he felt angry and protective and went to attempt to help them get away from what he thought to be a very negative influence.  He eventually encountered and recognized the Presence of God during a prayer before a meal with this group, which confused him, and he asked God to show him the truth.  He then found a New Testament in a phone booth in the redwood forest where a phone book should have been and began reading it.  He was surprised to find that Jesus was truly and faithfully Jewish, and He came to believe that Jesus was and is the Messiah promised to the Jewish people and, through them, to the world.  He recognized Jesus’s Deity as he read the Sermon on the Mount and the lineages because of his own identity as a Jewish man.  He knew about God and could recognize God, and he realized, “If anybody is God and speaks for God, it’s [Jesus.]”  He read the Old Testament again, now with a new understanding and recognition.  He recognized Jesus as the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53 who had died in his place and risen from the dead.  When he realized that he was not fighting against the Gentiles but against another Jewish person, One He recognized as the promised Messiah, Glasser became a follower of Jesus and found that he had “never felt more Jewish.”  He states, “In fact, I have never seen a Jewish person accept Jesus and not become more Jewish.”  He read II Corinthians 5:17 and realized that this was what was happening to him.

Glasser then had to deal with the realities of being a Jewish believer.  He feared his family’s response.  He encourages listeners to understand that there is a long and troubling history of how Jewish people have been treated by the Church and that it can promote hostility.  Still, he had seen that God could break through to his heart, and he longed to help other Jewish people recognize and follow the Messiah God had sent. 

Glasser explained that his work with Chosen People Ministries has become even more complex recently.  He explained, “Circumstances in the last year have shifted to such a degree that” Jewish people have become “the football that everybody’s passing around and nobody seems to want to handle.”  Glasser stated that the misunderstanding about Israel’s response goes beyond human hatred.  He states that we will fail to understand what is happening if we miss Satan’s cosmic hatred of the Jewish people, through whom God promised to bless the entire world and through whom He continues His plan.  Glasser stated that Satan wants to destroy the Jewish people before they finish blessing the nations, especially since they will be involved in events that usher in the eventual demise of Satan that Jesus will accomplish.

Listeners who are interested in Glasser’s work can learn more at www.chosenpeople.com, as well as www.Ifoundshalom.com, which includes one hundred testimonies of Jewish believers.  Glasser also encouraged listeners to view the Oppose Antisemitism site and learn more about how to become involved.