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Earlier this month, radical pro-abortion activists infiltrated Lakewood Church, disrupting televangelist Joel Osteen’s Pentecost Sunday service. The celebrity pastor responded to the protesters with his trademark positivity.

Over the past month or so, pro-abortion groups have targeted church services with disruptive demonstrations in historical response to the leaked US Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade.

In a recent stunt, radical protesters from the anti-life organisation Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights — led by the twenty-one-year-old Julianne D’Eredita — infiltrated the Pentecost Sunday service of famous megachurch pastor Joel Osteen. According to Catholic News Agency, the activists tore off their clothes and shouted expletives and pro-abortion slogans in a deliberately provocative and inflammatory display.

The protest was presumably in response to pro-life comments made by Osteen more than ten years ago. According to The Christian Post, when asked in 2011 what his position on abortion was, Osteen responded:

“Every baby should live.”

That apparently uncontroversial statement elicited an extreme and deliberately inappropriate and offensive response from anti-life advocates.

Lakewood Church seats almost 17,000 congregants and live-streams to millions of people around the world. Consequently, it was a natural location for the attention-seekers to perform.

Faithful Focus

As soon as the shouting began, Osteen spoke to his congregation calmly:

“And we’ll wait just one moment here, but God is good and He’s on the throne and He’s in control.”

He continued,

“So, we’ll just take one moment here and we’ll get started, but I know this, I’m glad to be in the house of the Lord with people of faith.”

The thousands of faithful in his congregation cheered in support — overwhelmingly drowning out the voices of the performers.

Osteen finished (as the women were swiftly removed from the auditorium):

“So thank You Lord for a good service. Alright y’all, we love everybody so we just thank the Lord that He’s in control and He has all things in His hand, and I think as long as I keep talking, you can’t hear what everybody else is saying.”

Calm vs Tantrum

In a passionate video responding to the situation, popular Catholic theologian, commentator and apologist Matt Fradd applauded the televangelist for his calm response. He called the performance a case of “insane sloganeering” and said Osteen’s response was “excellent”.

“I’m telling you, this is the way to win an argument.”

He said that it was “tragic… that this is the level of discourse we’ve come to expect from the left.”

“They aren’t interested in truth; they’re interested in power,” he continued.

“So they won’t sit down and have an argument with you; they’ll tear their clothes off and shout like children, and shout expletives like spoilt children.”

He proceeded to debunk the juvenile pro-abortion arguments expressed in the protesters’ slogans.

“It isn’t your body we’re concerned with, darling; it’s the child you’re paying somebody to slaughter. So, see if you can get that through your head.”

You can watch the full video below.

If the issues surrounding abortion weren’t so heartwrenching, the episode in Osteen’s church would be comical. However, it is truly tragic that people are so infatuated with their own ‘autonomy’ that they aggressively resist any effort to stand up for the innocents they are harming.

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Photo: Joel Osteen/YouTube