Pastor Imprisoned for Pro-Life Sidewalk Counseling Writes Letter from Prison

LifeSiteNews ^ | 4/3/09 | Thaddeus M. Baklinski

[wagglebee]

OAKLAND, California, April 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "It is Thursday, March 26th, 2009 and I am sitting on the top of the second of fifteen bunks in housing unit thirty-four east of the Santa Rita jail in Dublin, California," begins a recent letter from Oakland pastor Walter Hoye, who was sent to jail on March 23 for peacefully counseling and picketing at a local abortion facility.

Hoye was ordered to serve 30 days in county jail by Judge Stuart Hing of the Alameda Superior Court, who found him guilty of unlawfully approaching two persons entering an abortion facility in Oakland and offering information about abortion alternatives.

Judge Hing said that at first he intended to impose no fine or jail time if Rev. Hoye agreed to stay one hundred yards away from the abortion facility for three years. Rev. Hoye refused this term of probation and would not agree to the stay-away order, whereupon the judge denied the defense motion to stay the sentence pending appeal. Mr Hoye was taken into custody from the courtroom.

Rev. Hoye is an African-American pastor who says he feels a special calling to work for the end of what he calls the genocide by abortion taking place in the African-American community. As part of his efforts, he stands in front of an abortion facility in Oakland with leaflets offering abortion alternatives and a sign reading, "Jesus loves you and your baby. Let us help."

Rev. Hoye continues his letter from prison by directing his thoughts to the responsibility of his fellow pastors to act on behalf of the unborn: "Here my thoughts turn towards my brothers, men of the cloth, men who are called and sanctified by God the Father. Men who are preserved as the bondservants of Jesus Christ. Men who serve as the holy burden bearers of God's word. Men who are the watchmen on the wall. It is now in the spirit of the prophet Ezekiel, I write to my fellow watchmen on the wall."

Noting the statistics on abortion of African Americans, Rev. Hoye writes: "Brothers, in Black America alone every seventy-two seconds a black baby is murdered in the womb of his or her mother. This holocaust is genocidal to the point that today a black child has less than a fifty-percent chance of being born. According to the 2006 U.S. Census, Black Americans are below the replacement level.

"In other words, death in Black America outpaces life. Abortion alone accounts for three times more deaths in our community than HIV/AIDS, Violent Crimes, Accidents, Cancer, and Heart Disease combined. There is no question pre-natal murder, abortion, is the number one issue in not only Black America, but in all of America today."

Encouraging his brother pastors to keep the scourge of abortion prevalent in the minds of their congregations, Rev. Hoye urges them to "speak regularly and boldly from our Sunday morning pulpits, from our mid-week Bible studies and from our small group meetings on the weekend against abortion."

"We must inform, educate and activate God's people to take public stands against the sin of legalized murder in America today."

Commenting on his own work as a sidewalk counselor that led to his arrest and imprisonment, Rev. Hoye warned that the "ministry is not for the faint of heart."

"A sidewalk counselor must remain prayerful, peaceful and above all non-violent. If you cannot commit to these three requirements DO NOT become involved in sidewalk counseling.  Inherent in the ministry of sidewalk counseling is the danger of arrest and incarceration."

Link to the full text of Rev. Hoye's letter: http://www.stspeterpaul.san-francisco.ca.us/church/rev_hoye_...

See previous LSN coverage:
Pro-Life Pastor Faces 2 Years Jail and Fine for Peaceful Sidewalk Counseling
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021707.html

African American Pastor Sentenced to Jail for Counselling Women on Public Sidewalk
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09022002.html

African American Pastor Sent to Jail for Offering Abortion Alternatives on Public Sidewalk
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09032305.html

[wagglebee]

"We must inform, educate and activate God's people to take public stands against the sin of legalized murder in America today."

Amen!

[wagglebee]

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[little jeremiah]

Thank God for good men like this Pastor.

[LottieDah]

He truly is a Pastor of his flock.

[CaptainAmiigaf]

I had a thought that sickens me, and will get me in trouble with a lot of people.
The person in jail is an African-American greatly disturbed by the “GENOCIDE” being carried on against his community. I had an awful thought as I read that...
The KKK doesn’t have to parade around in dirty laundry, carrying burning crosses any more. Their work is being done for them, with the fervent approval of the LIBERAL wing of the world. There is NO need for lynching, no need for intimidation, no need for for many of their past activities.
The work of the KKK is being done for them by “well intentioned”, “good hearted people” with the approval and protection of the very courts.
The slaughter of young blacks ON OUR BIG CITY STREETS is being carried out FAR BEYOND any ability or desire of the KKK.
I don’t like thought like this. I really envision the KLEEGLES OF THE KLAN sitting around the TV at the nightly news, raising their glasses at the score of today’s shootings. Something is really wrong.

[CASchack]

Satan has the judges in his back pocket.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

He follows in hallowed footsteps of those who have been imprisoned before. He looks as though he may have found a place to convert more hearts. Prayers up for Paster Hoye, may he know the angels have charge over him and the Spirit is upon him to preach the good news, to bind up the wounds, and lift the spirits of those around him.

Until April 23, 2009, may God protect him, as my little son used to say, “...from the tippy, tippy top to the tippy, tippy bottom.”

[hellbender]

The Bible encourages believers to visit people in prison. I think that commandment really applies to innocent people imprisoned for being Christians. I hope someone is giving comfort to pastor Hoye.

[Wil H]

You can march in support of a cop killer on the streets of Oakland but you can’t spread a pro-life message...........

Disgusting!

[PilotDave]

Dang, I was hoping to be poltical prisoner #1 in the gulag/re-education camp. He beat me to it.

[wagglebee]

More African-Americans are murdered in abortuaries EVERY TWO DAYS than have died in all of the recorded racial crimes since the end of the Civil War COMBINDED and this includes lynchings.

I know a lot of Blacks believe that AIDS was somehow "engineered" to target them; however, the FACT is that more Blacks die in abortuaries EACH YEAR than have died from AIDS in the past 25 plus years.

The FACT that abortionists target minorities is undeniable.

[wagglebee]

The day is fast approaching when a whole bunch of us will be imprisoned for our beliefs.

[knarf]

"Satan has the judges in his back pocket."

No one wants to say it ...

We gave our nation to Satan by rejecting Jesus. We've been cowardly, lazy and ambiguous to the attack that never ended on the one piece of real estate specifically (p)reserved to spread the Gospel.

We layed down, dropped the ball, turned our backs .. mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

[Natural Law]

This guy is guilty only because of prosecutorial abuse. He was convicted in spite of having exculpatory video showing the charges were completely false and that the witnesses against him had perjured themselves. And you wonder why some of the citizens of Oakland have open hostility toward the police and prosecutors........

[littlehouse36]

Rev. Hoye refused this term of probation and would not agree to the stay-away order...

Attaboy, Rev. Hoye!

[wagglebee]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

[annalex]

There are times when the place to be, for an honest man, is jail.