Pastor Wants Casey Anthony to Repent
"Innocent blood does have a voice, it's crying out to God,” said Pastor Flip Benham, director of Operation Save America, of Caylee Marie Anthony.
Benham and his organization hosted a press conference in Orlando, Fla., Friday just outside the Orange County Booking and Release Center, where Casey Anthony is set to be released from prison on Sunday. The organization says that God is using Caylee, “this precious little child, who was unwanted by her mother and is now safe at home with Him, to be a voice for others.”
Benham told The Christian Post that while Americans are outraged at the fact that Casey – who is widely believed by the public to have murdered her daughter despite her acquittal in court – will walk free on Sunday, this type of bloodshed happens daily at “abortion mills.”
"For anybody to be pointing the finger at Casey Anthony,” he said, “we need to get our finger pointed right back at us; we're all guilty." He insisted on the Florida mother's guilt and says Caylee's death was nothing less than “later-term abortion.”
He blamed the root of much of the violence in the U.S. on a number of things, including abortion and the removal of God from schools.
Benham, along with many others, has tried to gain access to Casey while she's been in prison, but has been unsuccessful. He said that if he had the chance to speak with her, he would try to lead her to repentance.
"Casey,” he would tell her, “you have done this and there's a higher court, and you're going to answer to Him; why don't you ask Jesus to forgive you right now ... you're going to have to confess that to him if you're going to receive his grace and mercy. Otherwise there will be no grace and mercy for you and you will be a fugitive until the day you die."
Casey Anthony was found not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child on July 5 by a Florida jury. She was only convicted on the charges of lying to law enforcement. Many outraged over the verdict have threatened Casey's life, but Benham says that's not the answer.
“I think you don't solve the problem of murder by murdering people,” he said. “Jesus laid his life down that we might live ... you better examine your own heart and get the log out of your own eye before you see to get the speck out of your brother's eye.”
In addition to the press conference, the 2011 Operation Save America National Event is set to begin on Saturday, and Benham calls the timing of the gathering “God orchestrated” because it falls in line with Casey Anthony's release date.
A memorial service for Caylee will be held by the organization at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning at the booking and release center. There, Benham's organization will have posters portraying the horrors of abortion, show an actual aborted baby, and also feature a sign of Caylee with duct tape on her mouth that will read “Later-Term Abortion.”
As a part of the event, the organization will appear at area churches and abortion clinics throughout the day on Sunday, and will hold a solemn assembly at 6:30 on Sunday night at Victorious Living Fellowship on 250 North Ivey Lane in Orlando.
"We're sending a message to the whole world that we are weeping in the streets now of what has been sown in the womb – bloodshed," said Benham.