It's common among large newspapers and the Associated Press; otherwise they couldn't rush a lengthy obituary into print at a moment's notice.
How it managed to make its way into The Christian Post escapes me.
It has been our policy for decades that we cannot publish an obituary without verification by a funeral home, cremation service, medical donation service, etc. I remember that several years ago a young lady called in and wanted an obituary for a member of her family. As is our practice, we asked for a source to confirm the death. When we called, the woman who answered was at a loss to understand why we would think there would be a death in the family — until she remembered her daughter's cat had died.
On the other hand, we once received an obituary from a funeral home, fully vetted. It turns out the lady was expected to die any moment and the husband released the obituary so it could be published the next morning. Turns out the the woman was stronger than expected and her death came as quite a surprise to her children who read the obituary the next morning. She did die the next day, but it taught all of us to be especially careful.