'How can you not defend life?': Pastor denounces apostate clergy who blessed abortion clinic in Cleveland

United Methodist, Episcopal and Jewish clergy join hands after blessing the Preterm abortion clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, on Oct. 9, 2015.(Facebook/Preterm Cleveland)

A pastor from New Jersey has come out to denounce a group of about 15 apostate clergy from the United Methodist and Episcopal churches together with a Jewish group who recently gathered outside an abortion facility in Cleveland, Ohio to "bless" its services and to "thank God for abortion providers."

Clenard Childress, pastor of New Calvary Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey and director of the Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN), lambasted the supposed men and women of God, saying they should always bear in mind that they represent God Himself and His teachings, according to the Christian News Network.

"I say to the clergy, they must remember Who called them. The Democratic Party didn't call them, nor the Republican Party," said Childress, a staunch pro-life advocate. "Their call came from a God that asked them to represent Him—to represent His teachings and His Word."

"How can you not defend life when you read in Jeremiah the fifth chapter, 'Before you were formed in your mother's womb, I knew you?'" Childress asked. "I was already somebody in God before I was in the womb. ... The pulpit must reconcile themselves to that verse," Childress said.

Notwithstanding Childress' admonition, the clergy who gathered outside the Cleveland abortion facility Preterm had their own view of "God's love."

"We gathered here today because far too many religious people forget that God's love is steadfast," Harry Knox, president of the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), told about 40 people who attended the event.

In a shocking declaration, Knox even said, "Thank God for abortion providers."

Those gathered outside the abortion clinic, which has been in operation since 1974, held signs such as "Good Women Have Abortions" and "Pro-Faith, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice."

The apostate clergy expressed hope that their blessing would protect the facility from "preachy protesters."

There are currently nine abortion facilities in Ohio. Eight others have closed down in the past five years reportedly for their failure to comply with state laws or because of malpractices.