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.........................."We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God." - John Stott
Showing posts with label James 5:19. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James 5:19. Show all posts

Monday, April 25, 2011

Fox affiliate and Dearborn Imam try to trash Florida Pastor Terry Jones

(Video midpage)

It made me so, so angry to hear this Imam try to tell us who Jesus was and what Jesus stood for.  He said that Jesus was a 'great messenger' who only spoke of peace and love - and even told Pastor Jones that burning the Koran was an insult to Jesus!  This Imam doesn't have a clue!  He doesn't acknowledge that Jesus is both Messiah and God - so how is it he thinks he can define Jesus to a Christian pastor?

He asks Jones if he ever read the Koran.  Has the Imam ever read the Bible?

And then this other so-called pastor - Rev. Rowe - claims that the Bible is all about peace and doesn't have anything in it supports the burning of the Koran.  He said the "Bible" - (not "New Testament") - doesn't attack other religions.  But of COURSE IT DOES!  As Pastor Jones points out, the Bible has many, many instances of God - (Yahweh, Jehovah...also referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) destroying the icons, books and artifacts of the false religions. Even destroying towns and killing citizens who worshiped false Gods. (I am not saying lets go do that - just saying what the Bible recorded of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob)

(Why does the Bible refer to God as being the God of these three?  It points out that while Ishmael started life worshiping the God of his father, Abraham, he and his descendents strayed and went a different direction)

The New Testament - as Jones points out - reports the Jesus overturned the money changing tables in the synagogue, as well as called disingenuous spiritual leaders 'vipers' and 'dogs.' Were these examples of peace?

So to try to say that the Bible doesn't come strongly against other, false religions is a lie.  And then this wolf in sheep's clothing - Rev. Rowe, claims there is a "Christian Taliban."  How can he even compare the two?  He says he doesn't defend violence anywhere, but by claiming conservative Christians are akin to the "Taliban" is very much a defense of the violent, cruel, cold, murdering Taliban.

Rev. Rowe, read the Book of James.  It is very clear that we LOVE others by telling the truth - and saving others from the real death - the permanent death and separation from the one true God, Jehovah.

Jones made a very good point that all he did was burn a book - and 7000 miles away, people killed each other over it.  He is correct that the responsibility for those deaths is with the rioters and their government.

I was actually very impressed that Pastor Jones was able to stand up against this "panel" of people on this interview, a panel clearly stacked against him, and be able to calmly refute their lies. Personally, I would have blown a gasket. He did quite well in bringing the discussion back to the point every time they attempted to blow it up in a different direction. He didn't bother to get into angrily confronting their lies - which I would have been led to do. Awesome. I applaud him.




One person commented about the video and implied that Christians don't love their Holy Book and that is why they don't get upset by the burning of it as Muslims do.  Excuse me?  This is another complete misunderstanding of God and his divinity!  We don't worship paper or books. We worship Jehovah - Yahweh - the God of Israel - and His Word and Truth will live on no matter what anyone does to the Bible.

The rocks cry out God's Truth, even if people don't listen. You can't destroy it. So do whatever you want to the Bible - it makes no difference.

See - what must be recognized is that Jesus spoke more than just 'wise words!" He spoke God's Truth - in fact, Jesus WAS the Word...
- John 1 " 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."

And you couldn't destroy Jesus - no matter what was tried. He lives today.   You can not destroy the Word!   So go ahead - do whatever to the Bible. It makes no difference.  Our God is greater than a book.

Another person commented that because Jones leads an independent church, it isn't a "real" church, like a main stream church.  How foolish!

The True Christian Church is not a building or any specific congregation. The True Christian Church is the People who truly Believe, Honor, Worship, Respect, Love, Trust and Obey the Lord God Jehovah, in the person of the Trinity; Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Ghost.

Those people can be found in many different church buildings and denominations, including independent Christian churches. Most churches are a mixture of true believers and non-believers - the non-believers being there for reasons other than sincere faith (which can be one or more of many varied reasons). Some churches have no real believers. Others have only a few. Some churches are Blessed with many true Believers. It is a wonderful, wonderful experience when one can attend such a church. This can happen in an independent church just as well as a mainline churches. But unfortunately, not all mainline churches are Blessed with a majority of True Believers.

Not all True Believers have the exact same understanding of every point in the Bible. They might differ slightly on doctrinal issues. However, what they share is a True Love for the Lord, and they are open to correction and continuous learning as the strive to grow more and more in the Lord.

Then to have this so-called Rev. Rowe say that he doesn't believe in the same God as Pastor Jones - that is probably very true...

Only God can judge a heart, but personally, I do believe Terry Jones might be a True Believer. His quest for truth has a sincerity to it.  Further, he didn't respond in anger to the clear attack by this "panel."

However, I question the heart of the other pastor, who said that no where in the Bible does God come against other religions. That is simply not true. God came against other religions very strongly.

The other pastor surprised me by saying that his God is not the same as Jones' God.  Wow.  We are to be discerning and watch the fruit of our leaders to tell if they are wolves or not.  But if we are questioning a brother's motives, especially one in leadership, Matthew 18:15-17 and James 5:19 are clear as to how proceed wit Love.  Is this Rowe truly concerned with Love and Peace between brothers, or only between Christianity and Islam?

I would have hoped Rev. Rowe would see Pastor Jones as a Brother in the Lord, and if Pastor Jones is missing some Truth, I would have hoped he would have been led by love - and an understanding of the full family of God - to help Jones and give right teaching with respect.

But that didn't appear to be the stand he was taking. That leads me to mistrust and question his sincerity in Jesus Christ.



Video from FoxDetroit.com - 
Updated: Friday, 22 Apr 2011, 6:17 AM EDT Published : Thursday, 21 Apr 2011, 10:06 PM EDT

Monday, January 5, 2009

Abortion Advocate Jordan-Simpson Messed Up On Psalm 139

In the spring of 2003, in a Planned Parenthood publication, Clergy Voices: Volume 8, Issue 1, printed an article by Reverend Emma Jordan-Simpson. Ms. Jordan-Simpson, of Concord Baptist Church of Christ, Brooklyn, NY, delivered these remarks in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade

First, Jordan-Simpson says that those who oppose a woman's right to choose often cite Psalm 139, as proof of the personhood of the fetus because of a reference to God having "wove me in my mother's womb." "I have taken it back," Jordan-Simpson says. "It is mine!"

She quotes Psalm 139 as saying, "Whither shall I go from your spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."

Jordan-Simpson says that if a young, pregnant woman comes to her for help, she will ask her what she wants to do and then will listen to her. And whatever the young woman decides to do, Jordan-Simpson will walk with her in that choice. "This is what women and girls need us to do. To listen to their voices and assure them that regardless of what they decide — we will not let them walk alone."

"Yes, I stand as a person of faith — and my faith is founded on the belief that people should not walk alone, especially people in need and crisis. That is also why I believe this issue matters to God, because I have experienced a God who has never let me walk alone. Through every trial, tribulation — when I found my bed in Hell, I found God there, too.

Doesn't that sound all good and loving and Biblical and righteous? Interesting, though, that she mentions herself making a bed in hell, because that is exactly what she is doing when she encourages young women to believe that all that matters is what they think.

Unlike Mary, who even as a young woman recognized God's lordship in her life, Jordan-Simpson isn't willing to accept anything other than her own interpretation of Scripture and is teaching others to do the same. Scripture has special words and a special place for those that lead others astray.

First, hearing her claim Scripture as her own sends chills down ones spine. Scripture is God's Word, not ours. But in choosing Psalm 139 as her own, she appears to have also edited it, (which is always the danger and often the consequence of claiming it as your own) leaving out the last verse, verse 24, which says, "See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Jordan-Simpson says that listening to people and then "walking" beside them in their decision is all that is required by God, while the very same chapter she is quoting is a plea for God to search out the wrong within us and lead us away from it toward what is right - the only way that will bring life everlasting. The author of this Psalm understands that we don't always know the wrong within us. This same author says as much in other of his writings as well, assuring us after much thought and inner conflict that all the riches and wisdom of the world are absolutely nothing outside of God's wisdom. Only God matters and is real.

As Christians, we are mandated to let people know if the direction they are walking in will bring them death. (See James, chapter 5:19.) How frightening that Jordan-Simpson chooses parts of certain Scriptures as her "own" and leaves out everything else that the Bible has to say and then uses her chosen, edited Scripture to justify taking the lives of millions of human beings.

Twenty-some years ago, long before I met Jesus Christ, I did what Jordan-Simpson advocates. A 15-year-old had decided to do have an abortion. I drove her there - and I didn't tell her father. Twenty-some years later, I've watched the continuing pain in that woman's life knowing that I helped her make the wrong choice. She never went on to have another child, and she's never been able to maintain a long term relationship having married once in her twenties and then divorcing. She has dropped many men, always coldly and many times cruelly. Yet, she pines for her nephews and nieces almost compulsively, to the point that she interferes with their raising. Had I to do it over again, I would listen to God. I would also involve the girls' parent.

I pray the Lord forgives me for my interference in His parenting of this young girl and well as the parenting of her birth father. I am so sorry - and it is only at this very moment that I finally see the connection between my interference with my father's parenting twenty-some years ago, and the interference to my own parenting that my younger sister has now been causing these last four years. Her interference has caused some unchangeable damage to relationships and lives. I am truly sorry, my Lord. I do repent and although we can't bring back that baby's life, I ask You to please show me what I can do to make some kind of amends to my sister and my father for the wrong I did both of them, as well as to You by helping her take the life of her child. I ask for your help and forgiveness in Jesus' name. Amen.
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