rusmeister said:

Help! My teenage daughter’s friend has posted declared intent of suicide. Please pray for Sofia!!!

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Gospodi pomuli! Kyrie eleison! Lord have mercy!

O Lord, Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things, and Giver of life, who desirest not the death of a sinner but their salvation, vouchsafe we beseech Thee to descend upon Thy handmaid Sofia, bringing her every comfort and assurance, and rescuing her from the pit of despair, that the Evil One would have ensnare the youth, and restore her to peace and wellbeing to faith in our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, and aid any physicians, counselors and elders of Thy Church called to assist her; this we pray through the intercession of the Theotokos and all Thy saints, in the name of the same Lord Jesus Christ, who reigneth with Thee, our Comforter and Paraclete, in the unity of the unoriginate Father, ever one God, one Holy, Undivided and Life Giving Trinity, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages, Amen.

Save thy handmaid Sofia, O Lord, for Thy name’s sake!

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy on us!

I lifted this from the link in the post.

The second difficult cultural reference for non-Australians is “the Split”. This expression refers to the division within the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 1955. The short story is that Communist-controlled trade unions exercised a huge influence over some sections of the Australian Labor Party. This was more of a problem in the state of Victoria than in the state of New South Wales. In 1955, some members split from the ALP and formed the Democratic Labor Party (DLP). One effect of this was that the ALP did not win another federal election until 1972. Another effect was that the two great archdioceses of Sydney and Melbourne were also, in a sense, “split” along political lines. The Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney and Sydney Catholics in general continued to support the ALP. In Victoria, however, Archbishop Daniel Mannix, until his death in 1963, staunchly supported the DLP, as did many Victorian Catholics and Catholics in the mineral-rich state of Queensland. Just about every Victorian Catholic knows which side their grandparents or great-grandparents took in “the Split”. Cardinal Pell came from a DLP-supporting family.

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I've started reading Mike Willesee's "A Sceptic's Search for Meaning". He was an Australian journalist who became atheist but during the last few years of his life returned to the Catholic Church, and the book tells his story.

But he was also affected by the "Split", as follows, and it played a part in his becoming atheist as he was persecuted by Catholic priests and others.

"After a couple of years on this new road of slow withdrawal, events outside my control would force me onto a faster track away from God. It was the mid-1950's: the McCarthy era, and a divisive time in the liberty and mindset of Australians. 'Reds' were 'under the bed' and to call somebody a communist could all but destroy their career.

My father was a working-class man who'd realised his dream and been elected as a Labor senator for Western Australia. He was also loyal to the Catholic Church. Unsurprisingly, the Church was anti-communist, but it perceived the Labor Party to be tolerant of communism. My father was caught in the middle.

When the Labor Party - the party of unions and workers - split over the fear of of communist infiltration, many Catholics left Labor to start the staunchly anti-communist Democratic Labor Party (DLP). It was the best thing that ever happened to the governing Liberal Party. Suddenly, the opposition party had almost no Catholics left in federal parliament because they'd all defected to the DLP. It gifted power to the conservatives for the better part of two decades.

My dad tried to stay true to the Labor Party and to the church, but something had to give. The Church turned on him. One day at mass, his character and his politics were attacked from the pulpit by different priests who branded him a communist. Mum and Dad walked out of the Church literally and figuratively. They vowed never to return and would remain in exile until their final days. And with their withdrawal from weekly mass came mine.

But that wasn't the end of this bitter plague on my family. It then spread to the school. My headmaster and his sidekick tired to humilate me contantly. ... One such day, while I was out in the corridor, the headmaster, Brother Murphy, cam by.

"You're out of the class again, Willesee. You're a troublemaker."

Bang! He floored me with a right hook. I was tempted to get up and fight back. I was 15 and just getting big enough to contemplate such a course, but I could see some little kids peering out the window at us. I don't think I even told my parents."

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My father was a staunch unionist and usually voted Labor. I remember him saying to me that McCarthy was an absolute disgrace in American history.

Anyway that was the "Split" and Cardinal Peel would have been caught up in it somehow as he was active during those years.

But I can understand why Mike Willesee became cynical about the Catholic Church and by extension God. He also spent time in a Catholic School where some pedophile Brothers were in charge and that didn't escape his notice.

He had his reasons.

willbill said:

God states in the N.T., "I will confound their wisdom with foolishness.." Are we witnessing that verse being fulfilled?

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No.

Gracious Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus,
I pray for Manuel's request. Help to prosper in his work or find better work that earns a better financial return, that he may use the money to build Your Kingdom and stay here to reach more people with Your Gospel until Your return.
In Christ's Name,
Amen

God the Father and our Lord Jesus,
I lift Riley's situation with his sinful habits up to You again. Please be with him and help him to push through against them. You have written that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Romans 8:37) Help Riley to conquer these habits and for him to realize the victory You have already won for him on the cross.
In Christ's Name,
Amen

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

I’d like to share something quietly meaningful to me — a humble website I’ve been tending in Christ called God and the Meek.

It isn’t a platform of striving or self-display, but a space of repentance, rest, and reverent love for what is sacred.

If your heart is drawn to stillness, meekness, or the mystery of abiding in Christ’s peace, you are warmly invited to explore.

The link is below. May it stir something holy in you.

Blessings on your journey
https://godandthemeek.wordpress.com

“Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
— Matthew 11:29

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Hoping2 said:

You got it.
I hope you are living THE life.

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Thank you for sharing.

PatrickTate said:

I do believe that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is happening right now. I have felt a higher level of guidance by the Holy Spirit over these past five or six years.

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What makes you believe that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is happening right now, besides based on your own personal experience? Describe what you see as "an outpouring of the Holy Spirit," too. And where do you believe this is taking place? This will help me get an idea of what you are saying here. Thanks

Now, I pretty much always refer back to Hebrews 11 with regard to “the great cloud of witnesses surrounding us,” since “therefore” generally is a reference back to what was said previously. But this morning I am looking at this through a different lens. For, as we live the Christian life, we do have a whole lot of people watching us, all around us, wherever we go, who are witnesses to our words, our actions, and our behaviors, good or bad.

And then there are cameras just about everywhere now, and we have AI listening in on our conversations which we have privately in our own homes, so there really is not much of a thing as privacy anymore, unless for those who may be totally disconnected from the digital world and who are able to escape all the cameras everywhere. But if we have smartphones and computers, and if we are on the internet, we are being watched, most likely.

But, as a side note here: Because AI does exist, and because certain people in positions of power and influence have the capability to fake videos and to alter recordings, they are able to make recordings and videos to appear legitimate, and so they also have the capability of framing the innocent, too, by making false recordings and videos in order to charge the innocent with what they did not do, sometimes to cover up what the guilty are doing.

So, just because you hear it or you see it in a recording or in a video, it doesn’t necessarily mean that what you are hearing and seeing is the absolute truth. For these alterations can end up being false witnesses, giving false testimony to what some people are charged with doing, but did not do, in truth. And sometimes they quote people out of context and make it appear they are saying one thing while the context proves differently.

But the point here is that we are being watched, and we do have people who are watching us and who are listening to us, who may be those who will give witness to what they see and hear, even though some of those witnesses may be breathing out lies, like Jesus’ enemies did to him. But we should be aware that how we live and what we say have the potential to influence other people for good or for evil. And this should encourage us to live right.

But this should not be the main reason that we lay aside all hindrances to our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord, and that we renounce ungodliness and worldly passions so that we can live upright, godly, morally pure and self-controlled lives for the glory of God. Our primary motivation in dying to sin and in obeying God with our lives is because we love Jesus/God and we want to obey him, and we want to live pure lives for His glory.

And our eyes should be fixed on Jesus, not on other humans, concerned about what others think about us, and thus patterning our lives after what is socially acceptable, even if it is contrary to God’s will and purpose for our lives. We should stay focused on Jesus and on obeying him in doing what he has called us to do, as his servants. And we should do that regardless of what other people think of us or say about us, or how they treat us.

But there is another motivation for obeying our Lord, as well, and that is the end result of our lives. For if we die with Christ to sin, by faith, and we walk in obedience to his commands, then we have the hope of eternal life with God, provided we stay the course to the very end. But if we profess him as Lord, but then we do not obey his commands, and so we continue in deliberate and habitual sin, we will not inherit eternal life with God. We will face his wrath, instead. But still we should obey God because we love him.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

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Run With Endurance
An Original Work / July 27, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Akita Suggagaki said:

That must be true in all situations then, No?
Not just immigration but also riots at the capital? We have a convicted felon in the oval office.
Now this cry of "law breaking" sounds hollow.

But I agree. I am a man of rules and laws.

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In this era of contradictions everywhere, the left/progressives/socialists/communists find such a "truism" - "true in all situations" - a convenient costume to wear, a useful tool for the advancement of death. Now we find credible reports of atheists among the Curia of the Holy Church, uncertainty about defining a woman, mortal sins paraded about as virtues, and laws weaponized by credentialed lawyers to commit unlawful crimes. The past certainty of a landscape of goods and evils is now asserted to be a new world of shades of grey, all walls replaced by open borders and lockless doors. Satan, who began small, asking Eve rhetorically (I paraphrase) "Did God really say that to you?", has now brought confusion and ambiguity like smoke into the Holy Place itself, civil and religious. Corridors of law - civil and religious - have been infiltrated by servants of the evil one, the lawless one, in whom there is no truth.

There is a safe and sure harbor still, there from the beginning, firm as a rock: the One True God IS. Without Him one can do nothing.

If a cop tells you to get out of the car and you refuse, they can place you under arrest. Based on a lot of police bodycam footage I've watched of traffic stops, that doesn't happen until after the officer has had to ask multiple times.

chevyontheriver said:

This is a travesty. This Martin is the faithful Martin, Ralph Martin. In the meantime, that other Martin, the LGBTQSJ, continues to enjoy favor. This is very upside down.

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And now we are told that Ed Peters, noted canon lawyer, also at the Detroit Sacred Heart Seminary, also got the axe. Wondering if anyone else will be getting the axe in Detroit. How much blood does this new archbishop think he needs to let to achieve his goals? Was he hired on in Detroit to do the bidding of pope Francis come hell or high water? Does pope Leo approve or disapprove or even know?

1Tonne said:

This can be true. Some do go over the top when pointing out people's sins. Westboro Baptist are a great example of this.
When doing this, they are not acting in a Christian manner. But Jesus did say to love your neighbour as you love yourself. This can mean that at times, we have to tell people things that may offend them. For instance, most people who are gay take great offence at being told that it is a sinful lifestyle.
So, we need to be very careful when doing this. We need to speak the truth in love but also do it with wisdom, gentleness and respect.

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We also need to speak with humility, especially when speaking about issues on which Christians disagree. For issues on which Christians disagree with one another, perhaps a presentation like this is better: "My church believes X, while many other churches believe Y. But we agree about Jesus, who came to earth for the forgiveness of sins. Let me tell you about Jesus..."

How can I say, “I love you”?
It’s said in so many ways.
Sometimes it’s whispered softly,
And sometimes it’s loudly raised!

Sometimes it comes through a letter,
A card, or a call, or a chat.
Sometimes expressed in emotions,
Or flowers, or gifts, this or that.

But love isn’t just our emotions,
Which fluctuate from day to day.
Love isn’t just words that are spoken,
When words can sometimes love betray.

We love, not by words, but by action,
Which sometimes includes words we tell.
But love in words only not gets it,
If actions speak words do not sell.

If we do not live what we’re saying,
The opposite we live, in fact,
If we lie and cheat, steal from others,
Our words will mean nothing. Get that?

Our Lord Jesus Christ loved us so much,
He died on a cross for our sins,
So now by faith we are forgiven
So we can live with Him in heaven.

But faith in our Lord not words spoken.
For actions must follow our words.
By faith we now die to sin’s habits,
And obey our Lord, His words heard.

If we not repent, keep on sinning,
Obey our Lord not what we do,
Then our sins, they are not forgiven.
Eternal life not what is due.

An Original Work / July 26, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

27 July 2025 – Egypt​

Give thanks to God that two Christian converts who were locked in an Egyptian prison and held for three years without trial have been released. Pray for continued protection for Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo and Nour Girgis.

26 July 2025 – Egypt​

Pray for the many Christians in Egypt who find themselves displaced to other parts of the country as a result of the oppression they face. Pray for Release International partners who seek to help them to re-establish their lives while continuing to serve God in their new locations.

25 July 2025 – Egypt​

Pray that converts to Christianity will find safe ways to share their new faith with family and community.

24 July 2025 – Egypt​

Pray for new believers from a Muslim background in Egypt, who can face severe repercussions as a result of their conversion. Pray that they will quickly be able to find fellowship with others who can help them to grow in their new faith.

23 July 2025 – Egypt​

Please pray for the many Christians who are daily wage earners in the impoverished areas of Egypt in which Operation Hope works. As well as facing societal discrimination they, like other Egyptians, struggle with the challenging economic conditions.

22 July 2025 – Egypt​

Please pray for God’s blessing and protection over our partner, Operation Hope, as it deals with hugely difficult situations faced by the Christian families it serves.

21 July 2025 – Nigeria​

Pray for Rev Mark Mukan, a Release International partner, and his ministry among thousands of persecuted Christians in central and northern Nigeria. Join us in both thanking God for his energy and perseverance in the face of persecution, and praying for God’s protection over and blessing on Mark’s ministry.

RileyG said:

I believe every Friday is a day of abstinence in honor of Christ’s passion. IIRC

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Yes, usually but once in a blue, on a Friday, there is a certain situation where the Diocese says we can eat meat, but this doesn't happen often. It happened on the Good Friday before I confirmed. I forgot why.

I think traditional economic conservatives like me are pretty homeless. When I started working with Republicans 20, 25 years ago, there was a big focus: We’re going to cut spending, we are going to streamline taxes. I remember tax reform; ‘broaden the base, lower the rates,’ and we’re going to cut the budget deficit. But today’s Republicans have seemingly given up on conservative economics. They’re adding five trillion dollars to the deficit with the tax cuts. And it’s not even smart tax reform, but it’s just tax giveaways to different constituencies. Republicans have given up on spending. They’ve given up deficits. They’ve given up on Social Security and Medicare reform. They’ve given up on energetic solutions to healthcare, energy.

Hostility toward Christians in Nicaragua continues to intensify: those who speak out against President Ortega and his government are viewed as destabilising agents. Changes to the law in recent years mean that church leaders are labelled terrorists and coup-plotters. The situation has deteriorated significantly since 2018, when widespread protests broke out against the country’s dictatorial regime. Years later, retribution continues against those perceived to have opposed the regime – even those who merely provided shelter and medical assistance during the protests.
Christians have been among those to raise their voice, but it’s coming at an alarming cost. Christian leaders have been harassed and arrested, Christian properties seized, Christian schools, TV stations and charities closed, and churches monitored and intimidated. In light of these pressures, many Christians – particularly church leaders – have felt forced to flee the country. Many more have been expelled and expatriated. Others who remain have been subjected to immigration restrictions and find it increasingly difficult to move freely within the country.
Christians continue to have an influence in Nicaragua, and this is one of the reasons the government targets them – aiming not just to silence the Church, but to undermine their credibility and prevent their message from spreading.

Meet María​

“This year, they denied again the legal status of my church but, approved or not, we continue to preach the Word of God.”
María (name changed), believer in Nicaragua.

What does Open Doors do to help?​

Open Doors strengthens the persecuted Church in Nicaragua by providing Christian literature, discipleship training, emergency relief aid, legal advice, and education for pastors who haven’t completed their studies.

Please pray​

• Pray for God’s protection for church leaders who courageously speak out against government injustice.
• Pray that Open Doors persecution preparedness training and discipleship seminars will help believers live as salt and light.
• Pray that believers monitored by the government will not be deterred from sharing the Gospel.

Jeff Saunders said:

The context does not agree with you.

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I understand not everyone understands this the same way.

Dear Family, Friends, and Neighbors (Everyone else),

There is something that is heavy on my heart which I need to share with all of you, which you are also free to share with anyone else. There are a lot of conversations on the internet, on various sites, which talk about the gospel of our salvation. And what I am hearing from so many people is a general consensus that someone can make a verbal confession of faith in Jesus Christ, or a confession of belief in what Jesus did in dying for our sins, and this would guarantee the person entry into heaven, no works required.

If this is what you believe, then I must respectfully disagree with that on biblical grounds, which I know I have mentioned before in my other internet posts. For the Scriptures do not teach a salvation from sin and the hope of eternal life with God based on a profession of faith in Jesus Christ only, no works required. For one day we are all going to stand before God on the day of judgment, and we will be judged by God according to our works, not according to our lip service (Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 2:5-10).

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. They have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

And I am sharing this with you because I am concerned that if the gospel message I believe I am hearing from many of you is what you are teaching others as the gospel, that you could be held responsible by God for giving people a false hope of salvation from sin and of eternal life with God based on a lie. Thus, not based on the truth of what Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught, if read and understood in the correct context in which they said what they did. For many lies are being taught from Scriptures taught out of context and twisted to make them say what they do not say, in truth.

So, please prayerfully consider what I just shared with you, and please read these Scriptures prayerfully, asking the Lord to lead you to all truth. And please know that I must speak the truth of what these Scriptures teach, even if I am hated and rejected and persecuted, in return, because human lives depend upon hearing and believing the truth of what Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught, in their fulness, in the correct biblical context. And please know that I am saying this because I love you all dearly, and my heart’s desire is that all of you come to know Jesus Christ, but in truth!!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

An Original Work / July 26, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

AV1611VET said:

This is what I have trouble with:

If someone doesn't believe Genesis is literal, then they end up not believing they have a sin nature via Adam.

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I'd be open to your demonstration that real people and real events can't be presented in allegory. How do you figure that?

AV1611VET said:

So they repent of their sins when they get saved, but they don't acknowledge the Adamic nature.

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Unless your base assumption is wrong.

# 1 Now / DE. , is a Conjuncation

# 2 The / Ho , is. a Definite Article. , in. the Nominative Case , in the Singular , in. the Neuter

# 3 Spirit / Pneuma. , in. the Noninative Case , in. the Singular , in. the Neuter

# 4. Speaketh /. Lego. , in the Present Tense , in the Active Voice , inbb the Singular

# 5 Expressly / Retos. , is an Adverb

# 6 That /. is a Conjuncation

# 7 In / En. , is a Preposition

# 8 The Latter / Hysteros , is in bathe Dative Case. , in the Plural

#9 Times / Kairos , is ink the Dative Case , in the Plural

# 10. Some /. Tis , is. a Definite Article , in. the Nominative Case , in. the Plural

# 11 Shall Depart From /. Is in b the Future Tense , in bb the Middle Voice , in the Indicative Mood , in. the Plural

# 12 The /. Ho , in the Genitive Case. , in the Geneva Case ,

# 13. Faith /. Pistis , inbthe Genitive Case. , in the Singular

# 14. Giving Heed /. Porsche. , in. the Present Tense

# 15 To Seducing / Planos , in the Dative Case. , in. the Plural , in the Neuter

# 16. And /. Kai. , is a Conjuncation

# 17 And / Kai , is a Conjuncation

# 18 Doctrines / in the Dative Case , in. the Plural

#. 19 Of Devils. /. Daimonion , in the Dative Case , in bathe Plural and n. in the Neuter

dan p

Catholics and bioethicists side with Church about the ‘deplorable practice.’
Surrogacy uses such techniques as in vitro fertilization (IVF) or artificial insemination, which the Church also deems morally unacceptable. (photo: Corona Borealis / Shutterstock)

When Pope Francis called surrogate motherhood a deplorable practice that he hoped the international community would prohibit universally, he was roundly criticized as insensitive and out of touch.

But a recent case in which 21 children, including 17 toddlers, were taken from a California couple who had them through their surrogacy business has revealed some of the practice’s inherent problems and potential for abuse, bolstering the arguments of those who believe it should be banned.

Born to various surrogate mothers using fertilized embryos from Silvia Zhang, 38, and her husband, Guojun Xuan, 65, the children were discovered as part of a police investigation after a 2-month-old from their home was taken to the hospital, the New York Post reported. That child had suffered a brain injury and is believed by police to have been shaken and struck by the family’s nanny, according to The Associated Press. The other children in the home also are believed to have been abused. All since have been placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services. The couple was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment and neglect but were released from custody pending further investigation, NBC reported. The couple has not responded to requests for comment from multiple media outlets.

The surrogate mothers who bore the children apparently did not know they were carrying embryos from the couple who ran the surrogacy business. One of them, Kayla Elliott, now is seeking custody of the child she carried and has started an online fundraiser for legal fees.

Continued below.