Angel Rutledge blogs at rutledge6; the link is just below. She is an adoptive mamma, and an adoption services provider with a wonderful heart after God's own and her post echoes my own, in slightly different words.My heart cries out with hers "COME LORD JESUS!"
With her permission I am sharing her link and post.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tragic Death of Lydia Schatz http://http//rutledge6.blogspot.com/
On Saturday, February 13th, 7-year-old Lydia Schatz died after being beaten severely over the course of multiple days by her adoptive parents.
There are so many levels to this tragedy that a week after learning about it, I still can't wrap my mind around it.
The tragedy of a little girl being physically beaten, no tortured, until she died by the very people who swore to protect her, worsened by...
The tragedy that the parents claimed and believed that what they were doing was a form of "godly discipline",
worsened by...
The tragedy that there must be other parents out there who espouse to a similar philosophy since it is encouraged in a book by Michael Pearl called To Train up a Child,
worsened by...
The tragedy that Lydia had been adopted three years ago because the beginning of her life in Liberia was so difficult, worsened by...The tragedy that there are seven other children in the Schatz family, two of them Liberian, who also endured similar beatings,
worsened by...
The tragedy that the oldest Liberian child nearly died along with Lydia, worsened by...The tragedy that Liberia has had a moratorium on adoptions for over a year, partly due to fears that children were being harmed by their adoptive families. A fear that adoption service providers have spent the past year trying to calm with the facts that the vast majority of children who are adopted internationally are incredibly blessed in their new lives,
worsened by...
The tragedy that progress was being made in Liberia towards a resolution to the moratorium,
worsened by...
The tragedy that I can't figure out a way to guarantee anyone that something like this will never happen again.
Though I have witnessed a great deal of spiritual warfare in Liberia, this past week and a half has been the worst.
The chorus from an Andrew Peterson song has been running through my head for several days: So, Amen Come, Lord Jesus Amen Oh, Amen Come, Lord Jesus Amen
Times like this make me long for the day when we will sit together in heaven with Jesus and see the faces of each child that did not have a voice but had infinite value.
I am so weary of this battle that seems to get more intense as time goes on. I long for God to make His glory known in some magnificent way. And some days I simply want to walk away. But, really, that's not an option. I am convinced that Jesus is in this battle and wherever He is, that's where I will stay.
God's word is so good. Romans 8 has come alive to me in a new way today. And a couple of days ago, Dan sent me Proverbs 21:30, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.
"No matter how hard Satan fights, the truth is that no plan can succeed against the Lord.It's just so hard that on this side of heaven, there is death.
Posted by Angel at 5:29 PM Links to this post
Just like a little bit of everything goes into a great pot of soup, so God has brought a lot of things and people into our family. He adds and He takes away, but in the process we are being seasoned and poured out, shared and blessed. The ingredients are unique but its a wonderful blend!
8 comments:
Did this family say that they learned their "discipline techniques" in the book To Train Up A Child?
I read the small book years ago, but do not remember any type of teaching that could/would lead to the death of a child.
I'm shocked by the connection to the book.
What a tragedy! I hadn't heard. Thank you for sharing.
Laurel
Sweet Friend, my heart breaks with you! I'm so sorry and I had never heard of the Pearl method until this tragedy. I pray others are awoken to the truth and how unbiblical this is!
I love you and our prayers are with you now!
Jill
Makes my stomach churn, my heart ache, and my head hurt. How do these things happen. As an adoptive parent- foster parent. It doesn't make any sense at all!
One day - God will return, and we will all be shown HIS TRUE GLORY. I pray for these tragedies to cease, but until Christ's return people's imperfections will not go away. Very very very sad....
She said this better than almost anything I've read...wow.
Yes Laurel,the book is "To Train Up a Child" by Mike and Debi Pearl. Here is part of a review I found)
The Pearls recommend whipping infants only a few months old on their bare skin. They describe whipping their own 4 month old daughter (p.9). They recommend whipping the bare skin of "every child" (p.2) for "Christians and non-Christians" (p.5) and for "every transgression" (p.1). Parents who don't whip their babies into complete submission are portrayed as indifferent, lazy, careless and neglectful (p.19) and are "creating a Nazi" (p.45).
2) On p.60 they recommend whipping babies who cannot sleep and are crying, and to never allow them "to get up." On p.61 they recommend whipping a 12 month old girl for crying. On p.79 they recommend whipping a 7 month old for screaming.
3) On p.65 co-author Debi Pearl whips the bare leg of a 15 month old she is babysitting, 10 separate times, for not playing with something she tells him to play with. On p.56 Debi Pearl hits a 2 year old so hard "a karate chop like wheeze came from somewhere deep inside."
4) On p.44 they say not to let the child's crying while being hit to "cause you to lighten up on the intensity or duration of the spanking." On p.59 they recommend whipping a 3 year old until he is "totally broken."
5) On p.55 the Pearls say a mother should hit her child if he cries for her.
Thank you for posting. I appreciate your willingness to put your self on the front-lines!
We are trying to adopt from Liberia. Two children.
justthreemore.blogspot.com
I did a lot of reading of news reports and other blogs today. I didn't find any news reports that stated that it was the Pearl's discipline techniques that this family allegedly used ... but I did read enough book excerpts to believe that this book may have played a part.
Seriously ... I read this book YEARS ago, and I have to wonder if the book has been significantly revised. I can't believe what I've been reading today. Unbelievably horrifying that anyone would advocate such "discipline" as from the Lord. Truly appalling!
What truly breaks my heart, is that so many of us will now be lumped together with this family as "similar" because ...
... we have extra large families
... we homeschool our children
... we are Christians
... we have adopted from Africa
While I know that I am not like this family ... and I know that you are not like this family ... the sad thing is that there are MANY parents who live by the Pearl's teachings ... MANY.
How do we get the word out? How do we teach parents of the Love & Grace that our Lord has for us and for our children? How do we STOP this madness before more precious children are murdered?
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