Christianity's Triumph ... Alan Caruba

Christianity's Triumph

By Alan Caruba

“By far the most important event in the entire rise of Christianity was the meeting in Jerusalem in around the year 50, when Paul was granted the authority to convert Gentiles without them also becoming observant Jews.”

So wrote Rodney Stark, the Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences and co-director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. His most recent book is “The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion” ($27.99, HarperCollins).

For Christians in particular, I recommend it if only because so many have a tenuous grasp of Christianity’s real history, as opposed the versions that too often are casually accepted as truth.

The truth is that the rise of Christianity is one of the most extraordinary stories of the past two millennia. Stark not only has the knowledge of his vast subject, but he writes with such felicity that it is hard to put the 500-page book aside for both its revelations and its devotion to the facts.

Despite the fact we live in a society that has at most only 4% who self-describe themselves as atheists, the more active among them have the audacity to demand that Christmas be banished to the privacy of homes or the pews and pulpits of churches. They rebuke religion in general as the source of conflict and wars, but ignore the spiritual support and ethical lessons that Christianity provides along with its promise of salvation.

While Judaism was the bedrock of morality and faith that gave it birth, Christianity made it more accessible and significantly includes the Torah as part of its liturgy.

To ignore the rise of Christianity is to be ignorant of an essential element of Western history. Likewise, to ignore the threat of Islam whose beginning is usually dated around 622 CE and which exploded following Mohammad’s death in 632 CE is to ignore the greatest threat to civilization, past and present. Less a religion than a battle plan for world conquest, Islam preaches death to all “unbelievers.” Take heed!

Stark provides a summation to his book and, even so, I shall select only parts of it in the interest of brevity.

“The first generation of the Jesus Movement consisted of a tiny and fearful minority” of a religion, Judaism, that had already been around for a thousand years or more before the assertion was made that the messiah had come and was a crucified Galilean rabbi who mainly and briefly preached in that area of Israel.

“The mission to the Jews was quite successful: large numbers of Jews in the Diasporan communities outside of Palestine did convert to Christianity.” The Diaspora were the Jewish communities in the Middle East and throughout the Mediterranean nations, including Rome, living in places where pagan faiths were dominant.

“Christianity was not a religion based on the slaves and lowest classes of Romans, but was particularly attractive to the privileged.” Moreover, in its earliest years, women often played important roles. Contrary to popular belief, however, “Paganism was not quickly stamped out, but disappeared very slowly.” Paganism involved the worship of multiple gods as well as a belief in magic.

Despite impressive cathedrals, in medieval times church worship among Christians was largely ignored and, as often as not, the clergy were ill-informed about the faith and sometimes not even baptized.

Despite what is said of the Crusades, they were a campaign to reclaim the holy land from Muslims who had conquered it and they were led by men who knowingly bankrupted themselves and often died in this cause. Though Christianity had been widely observed in the East, the armies of Islam destroyed all but remnants, thus shifting its survival to Europe in the West.

“Science arose only in the West because efforts to formulate and discover laws of nature only made sense if one believed in a rational creator.” Even the misnamed “Dark Ages” were actually times of technological development. Likewise historians have determined that the Spanish Inquisition was “a quite temperate body that was responsible for very few deaths and saved a great many lives by opposing the witch hunts that swept through the rest of Europe.”

Perhaps the greatest surprise was the damage done by Constantine who, having made it the religion of his empire, gave rise to an indolent and hypocritical Church hierarchy initially composed of Roman aristocracy. It fostered a clergy who were ignorant of the faith and indifferent to its mission. Not until the Reformation was competition introduced, forcing the Church to return to piety, as various Protestant sects emerged, and energized Christianity in the process.

Stark concludes that “The claim that religion must soon disappear as the world becomes more modern is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of academic atheists. Religion is thriving, perhaps as never before. More than forty percent of the people on Earth today are Christians and their number is growing more rapidly than that of any other major faith.”

And that, as they say, is the good news.

© Alan Caruba, 2011

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Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit. 

Islam: A Battle Plan to Conquer the World ... Alan Caruba

Islam: A Battle Plan to Conquer the World

By Alan Caruba

As Christians around the world celebrate Good Friday and then Easter, it behooves them to understand what the Koran, the book held sacred as the word of God (Allah), says about Christianity, Judaism and all other faiths.

This is particularly pertinent in an era in which Islam, the religion of more than a billion people throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and in increasing numbers, Europe, has entered upon a period of terrorism and warfare to advance its domination of the peoples of the Earth. Suffice to say Islam is not about tolerance.

In 2001, Diane Drew wrote a comparison of Christian scriptures with the teachings of Muhammad as found in the Koran, as well as a collection of his sayings, the Hadith. Ms. Drew makes no claims to being anything other than a Christian. She knows her Old and New Testament, and the Koran. Her website provides a clarity that is a gift to Christians who should make the effort to understand a religion that divides humanity between Dar es Islam and Dar es Harb, the world of Islam and the world of War.

I have taken the liberty of quoting from her exegesis—interpretation—that reveals not just the deep differences between Christianity and Islam, but the threat it poses to Christians, Jews, and all other “infidels”.

“Islam rejects the concept of the Trinity. The Koran misrepresents the teaching of Christianity regarding the Godhead, claiming Christians believe in ‘three gods’—Father, Mother, and Son.” (Sura 5:116, 5:73-75;cp. – Koran 5:114)

“Islam regards Jesus a prophet just like Moses, Abraham, and Noah” whereas, at the heart of Christianity is the belief that “Jesus was more than a prophet. He is God.” (Matthew 17.5; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:35; Philippians 2.6; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 4:15). “Islam rejects the divinity of Jesus Christ.” Other religions share this view, but they do not call for the death for those who refuse conversation or death for Muslims that convert to other faiths.

“Islam rejects the doctrine of original sin” citing Muhammad’s assertion that “Every human being is born in a state of a pure nature; but through the influence of his parents, he may become non-Muslim.”

Islam denies the crucifixion of Jesus. “They denied the truth and uttered a monstrous falsehood against Mary. They declared ‘We have put to death the Messiah Jesus the son of Mary the apostle of Allah. They did not crucify him, but they thought they did…They have no knowledge thereof but the pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain, but God took him up to Himself.” (Koran 4:154-158).

Of particular concern for Christians and Jews is the way that “Islam both allows and forbids murder and violence, depending on who is the recipient of the act,” says Dew, noting that the Koran calls on Muslims to “Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion (Islam) reigns supreme, (Koran 8:37)

“The Koran instructs not to make friendship with Jews and Christians (Koran 5:51), but to war against them: ‘When the Sacred Months are over, kill those who ascribe partners to God wheresoever ye find them; seize them, encompass them, and ambush them; then if they repent and observe prayer and pay the alms, let them go their way’.” (Koran 4:5)

More to the point, the Koran instructs Muslims to “…kill the disbelievers wherever we find them” (Koran 2:191) and “murder them and treat them harshly” (Koran 9:123), and “Strike off the heads of the disbelievers” (Koran 8:12, cp. 8:60).

What Ms. Dew’s scholarly comparison of the texts of the Old and New Testament with the Koran reveals is less a religion than a battle plan for the conquest of the world. It is not the religion of love that Christianity professes, but of hatred for the unbeliever (the infidel) who must either convert or be killed.

Islam’s holy scriptures are regarded by Muslims as the word of God (Allah) and Islam regards Muhammad’s life as a guide to the practice of Islam.

I can make no claim to any great knowledge of Judaism, Christianity or Islam, but like anyone else, I can read and compare their holy scriptures. You can, too.

Islam is a religion divided by two sects, Sunni and Shiite, the members of which do not hesitate to kill each other, attacking each other’s mosques, murdering those attending funerals.

No one, not Jew, nor Christian, nor Buddhist, nor Hindu, nor atheist, is safe from Islam.

Americans and others around the world learned that afresh on 9/11. As Christians gather for Good Friday and for Easter, they must absorb, understand, and gird themselves against this harsh and dangerous reality.

© Alan Caruba, 2011
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 Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at "Warning Signs" his popular blog and thereafter on dozens of other websites and blogs. If you love to read, visit his monthly report on new books at Bookviews. To visit his Facebook page, click here For information on his professional skills, Caruba.com is the place to visit.

Earth Day or Good Friday. Which Will It Be?

Earth Day or Good Friday.  Which Will It Be?

Paganism and Christianity Forever At Odds

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Today is Good Friday.  Traditionally the Day Christ was crucified.  Today is also Earth Day.  It is a date set aside to worship the earth (paganism).  Today is also the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, (April 22^nd 1870).  Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary, author, lawyer, economic theorist, and political philosopher among other things.   Lenin created the Soviet Communist Party.

We agree with the folks at “TheBlogProf” who say:  “It is no coincidence that Earth Day, April 22, was chosen to coincide with the birthday of Vladimir Lenin. A day that celebrates communism as the gold standard of human civilization. Never mind that it has never worked as advertised, creating disorder rather than order. Environmentalism, the religion du jour of the 21st century, has very similar ends of government control under the guise of being good stewards of the planet.”  (We recommend you read the entire article HERE.)

Please note how the writer at TheBlogProf refers to environmentalism:

“Environmentalism, the religion du jour of the 21st century … ”

In our opinion, the writer is dead on.  Environmentalism has become a full-fledged religion.

As I have said before: we have a hodge-podge of religions is America.  Having said that, we have to admit that some are uplifting while others are, well, just plain goofy.

I learned early on in my education that one of the most interesting discoveries, made by anthropologists, is that the human animal will, somehow, create a religion – or religions.  Scientists tell us the human animal must have belief in something that gives meaning to his, or her, existence.  We human animals long for a power greater than our own.  It seems to come in our wiring. I happen to believe that is true.

If I may be allowed to explain:  If one believes in the divine creator, as I do, then one believes the human animal was created by that divine creator referred to simply as God.  Just as a child will long for his parents I believe humans long for their parent – God.  Seems to me, that is an explanation for the longing man has for a divine being and leads him to create an “idol” of practically anything that will provide him a focus point for that parent he instinctively knows is there -- yet remains unseen. 

I am not a theologian.  But, I must tell you I think my explanation for man’s endeavor to close the gap between man an God, existent since the Garden of Eden, is as good as any.  Christians will tell you that Christ, God’s Son, came to this earth and closed that gap 2,000 years ago.  He was perceived by the corrupt government of his day as a threat and, as a result, he was executed.  Christians believe that three days later he rose from the dead and returned home but not before promising to return and clean up the mess we have made.

That was around 2,000 years ago.  Things have changed for the worst. In this century, and the last, so many have turned from the worship of a supreme being, we call God, to what we used to call “paganism”… the worship of nature, or the environment, or… more specifically… Environmentalism.

Yes, Environmentalism HAS become a religion.  Well, actually, it always was, it has just come back into favor in the past 100 years, or so.

One thing I want to set straight before continuing, nature is not God. It is my belief that GOD created nature.  Now, we can continue.

Michael Crichton, in his “Environmentalism as Religion” remarks made before the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in 2003, summed it all up rather nicely, I think:

“The believers in environmentalism believe and preach that we should live in unity with nature, or the environment.  They believe that in the beginning we did. They believe that we are now living in sin because we have polluted the earth.  We will be visited with a judgment day and the judgment will be death, for the whole planet, unless we repent, (which means to turn around and go the other way) and make our way back to sustainability. You see, in the environmentalism religion, sustainability IS salvation.””   …    Michael Crichton.  See Crichton’s remarks here: HERE.

The environmental religionists are calling for us to repent.  We are doomed, they say, as a result of pollution, global warming, running out of oil, the whole list of tribulations the environmentalist faithful are so sure are coming.

They believe that man and nature should co-exist in one accord. Humans have never done that.  Why …  because it is impossible.  Man has always been at nature’s mercy. Nature is unforgiving.  Nature will kill you in a split second!  The evidence is all around me as I sit here writing in North Carolina where we were ravaged just last weekend by an assault force of tornadoes killing scores and damaging property that will take decades to repair, if ever. 

Today, we have all the preachers of the Church of Environmentalism, preaching at us non-stop.  They preach fear.  They preach gloom and doom. They preach forsaking progress and returning to the days when man lived in harmony with nature, even though no such period ever existed in the history of mankind.

Many feel that inside that outer shell of green, the environmentalists so proudly wear, is the red of communism.  Like a watermelon, on the outside it is green.  Conversely, on the inside it is red.  And therein lies the connection with Earth Day’s observance on the birthday of Vladimir Lenin one of the founders of communism.

The environmental movement is in direct conflict with the Christian religion and, in our opinion; Christians should stir clear of any involvement with the greenies, the “useful idiots” of the Marxists and communists, intent on the destruction of all those rights granted to man by God.

Earth Day is a pagan celebration, and I want no part in it.

J. D. Longstreet 

I’m NOT an Environmentalist! I’m a Christian!

I’m NOT an Environmentalist! I’m a Christian!
The OTHER Holy War
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

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We now know that environmentalism is a religion. It is, of course, a pagan religion, but a religion, nevertheless.

So, I must ask the question: How can those who profess to be Christians, subscribe to the tenants of environmentalism, and be true to the teachings of Christianity? The answer is -- they can’t.

Yes, I am aware that I am stepping off into deep water here, troubled water, to be sure.
“God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (From The Bible -- Genesis 1:28)

This command from God to man was the first recorded “commission” given man by his Creator. Today that “First Commission” is in direct conflict with the teachings of those who see the earth, itself, as god (Gaia). They teach that man should submit to Gaia, Mother Earth, rather than obey the one, true, God and subdue the earth and make it work for us.

By and large, until the environmental movement/religion, man had subdued the earth. In fact, man was reaching out into the galaxy, the universe, seeking other “earths” to subdue. And that was good. However, these days the nation that leads all others on this planet, has decided it no longer wants to seek out new worlds to conquer. It now wants only to save the earth, our home, from man himself.

Do you detect the arrogance in such a goal? Man actually believes HE can destroy the earth. Recent events with a single volcano in Iceland should have given those who believe such tripe pause. And please don’t point to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from the collapsed oil rig. Last I heard, some 4 to 5 million gallons of oil had spilled into the waters of the Gulf. Are you aware that each year some 62 million gallons of oil are naturally leaked into to the ocean from undersea deposits of oil? (SOURCE). Yes, it just seeps up through the sea floor.

Facts are stubborn things. Apparently, the environmentalists have bought so deeply into the fantasy that man is the ultimate being that they are blinded by the glare of their own self-righteousness and unapologetic arrogance.

The planet earth could wipe out all living beings: man, animal, plant, it makes no difference, in a matter of minutes, IF it had a consciousness and a mind with which to plan and then execute those plans. Earth has neither. Yet, at a moment’s notice, it could STILL wipe the surface of the earth clean of all living things.

If you have ever witnessed a dog shake its coat dry after a dip in a pond, or lake, or river, consider the dog’s coat as the surface of the earth. Observe how the dog’s coat moves right and left as the dog shakes and notice the droplets of water flying off the individual hairs of the dog’s coat. In much the same way, the earth could rid itself of the parasites on its surface.

And yet man feels he must protect mother earth? Protect her from WHAT, exactly? Long after every trace of mankind has been erased from this planet, earth will continue to spin and follow its orbit around the sun, quietly whiling away the millennia in the vastness of space and the infinity of time.

It is troubling, indeed, it is sad to recognize that most, if not all, of the mainline Christian religious denominations in America have bought into the hoax of Global Warming, or “Climate Change,” as they prefer to call it these days. But, it is not surprising. You see, in my opinion, most of the mainline religious denominations in America have been hi-jacked by the political left. That accounts for all the sermons on social justice, saving the environment, diversity, inclusiveness, etc.

Dear reader, I have to wonder, if the American Christians who have bought into this “clap-trap” actually believe that heaven is inclusive? If they cracked the covers of their bibles and read them a bit, they’d soon learn that heaven is certainly NOT inclusive -- nor diverse -- and there is no problem with the environment. If the pastors of the mainline denominations would teach more scripture and less Marxism from their pulpits, the average church-going American would already know this.

The evangelical Christians in America, much despised by the political left, seem to be the only Christian group not buying into the pagan belief in Gaia, or Mother Earth, and the necessity of man’s fealty to her. They believe than man should be a good steward of the earth, which they understand is but a “way-station” for man on his way to his ultimate home somewhere beyond space, beyond time, in the presence of God, wherever that may be.

Meanwhile, the struggle continues for the consciousness of man and for the soul of man. Environmentalism is but one of the many tools used by the forces of evil arrayed against those who remain true to their Christian faith.

I believe the environmentalism religion was spawned by the dark forces of evil as a weapon to be used for the destruction of man. It reeks of Marxism, and communism, and socialism, and collectivism. Not only will it NOT save the earth -- on the contrary -- by depriving man of the earth’s resources it will drive man back into a new Dark Age and pit us against one another in an epic struggle for our very existence.

It is time for the people of this earth to “Man-Up” and stop their whimpish ways and accept that for man to survive and thrive on this planet we must make use of its bounty to the fullest. Believe me, it will be here, renewing itself, long after you and I are gone.

J. D. Longstreet

He Is Risen!

HE IS RISEN!

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(From the book of John in the New Testament Of THE BIBLE)

John the 20th Chapter:

1: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.

2: So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."

3: Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb.

4: They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first;

5: and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

6: Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying,

7: and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself.

8: Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;

9: for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

10: Then the disciples went back to their homes.

11: But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb;

12: and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

13: They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him."

14: Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

15: Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."

16: Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-bo'ni!" (which means Teacher).

17: Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

18: Mary Mag'dalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

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HAPPY EASTER ALL!

JDL

Is the Christian Church in America Being Forced Underground?

Is the Christian Church in America Being Forced Underground?
By: J. D. Longstreet

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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” - First Amendment to the US Constitution

My old Pappy used to say that the persecution of the early Christian Church was the greatest thing to happen to the church since the Resurrection. It forced the church to spread through out the modern world of that era. In doing so, it spread the Gospel, the “Good News” of the newly formed Christian church and sank its roots deep into what had, until that time, been pagan soil.

Judging from the news coming out of San Diego, California, it’s a mighty good thing they don’t have coliseums and lions there. For if they did - well, you get the picture.

Wait a minute! You DON’T get the picture! Haven’t you heard of the strident measures the government is taking there to squelch religion taught in the home? Apparently, many of you have not.

Well, now. It would behoove us to fill you in so you can have a solid foundation upon which to build your opinion of what is going on in this particular part of California.

To get a good grasp of the situation you need to go HERE. The piece is titled: “Home: No place for Bible study.” Drew Zahn wrote it.

It seems a San Diego Pastor and his wife were questioned by officials from the county and told they would be fined if they continued to hold bible study courses in their home. Yep, that’s what I said: “Their H O M E!”

The incident dates back to (the) Good Friday before Easter when a county government employee paid them a visit. According to the couple they were asked a number of questions about the bible study they were conducting. Among them were questions about whether or not there was hymn singing and the verbal expressions: “Amen” and even “Praise the Lord ” spoken aloud.

It seems the county has this permit they refer to as the Major Use Permit, or the MUP. The Pastor’s wife says she was informed that she and her husband MUST have an MUP before they continue to hold those services in their home. Now, a MUP oft-times involves lots of money. Depending upon the activity, they may require a traffic study, and/or an environmental study. Plus, the applicant for a MUP must comply with parking and sidewalk regulations, as well. We’re told that the costs for all this often exceeds ten thousand dollars could exceed that several times.

We have warned a number of times about the complete disregard for the US Constitution and the shredding of it by others. It seems to us, this is a good example of simply ignoring the law of the land and making up law on the fly.

Of most concern, though, is the obvious ignoring of the US Constitution - the First Amendment that makes up the Bill of Rights, no less.

While some may argue that the First Amendment only applies to laws made by the Congress of the United States, the Supreme Court has interpreted it as applying to the executive and judicial branches of the US government, as well. And – during the last century - the Supreme Court held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies the limitations of the First Amendment to each state, including any local government within a state.

Now, as if that is not enough, along comes something called the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. This one is SO bad it prompted A Texas pastor to write an open letter to the US Senate asking ANY Senator to filibuster the bill! The Pastor, Rick Scarborough, pastor of Harvest Point Church in Nacogdoches, Texas, and founder of “Vision America” refers to the recent Congressional actions as a "maddening march to the destruction of our First Amendment right to freely practice our religion."

In the outside event that you don’t know - this bill would provide special protections to homosexual people while leaving Christian ministers open to prosecution – if - their teachings were to be linked to any subsequent offense, by anyone, against a homosexual person.

Now, to understand the import of this bill to a Christian church, one must understand that the Christian faith teaches that homosexuality is a sin, one of the gravest of sins. As the vast majority of Christian churches teaches that the Bible is the “infallible” Word of God or, at the least, the “inspired” Word of God, then a Christian pastor is bound by his/her faith to teach the same and, from time to time, he/she will be “lead” to preach against homosexuality as the sin that he truly believes that it is.

Under this law, as I understand it, a pastor preaching such, from a pulpit, will be liable (would be in violation of the law) and subject to imprisonment, a fine, or whatever the court and the law decree, should one of his parishioners, or simply a listener, go out and commit a “hate crime” against a homosexual, especially if that perpetrator should mention that he did the crime after hearing one of the good pastor’s sermons.

The act has already been approved in the US House of Representatives as HR 1913 and is sitting in the queue and waiting in the Senate as S. 909.

In his letter, Pastor Scarborough says: “The legislation pending before you will make me an 'inducer' to hate crimes if I preach Romans 1:18-32 and someone who hears me then commits a criminal act against a protected class. It is clear that this bill will criminalize biblical preaching and will prevent me and thousands of other clergymen from practicing our faith without threat of penalty from our own federal government." (You REALLY NEED to read Romans 1:18 - 32 in order to understand the Christian church’s take on homosexuality.)

Here is the text of the letter Pastor Scarborough sent to the Senate:

Dear Members of the Senate of the United States:

As a pastor of a local congregation, I humbly request that at least one of you stand up on behalf of all God-fearing Americans and stop this maddening march to the destruction of our First Amendment right to freely practice our religion in America via "hate crimes" legislation including the protection of pedophiles and other aberrant and destructive behaviors. As you are fully aware, the hate crimes bill that recently passed the House and is now before your body will seriously erode that freedom.

Congressman Louie Gohmert repeatedly sounded the alarm that if the version of the bill which passed the House is finally signed into law, the radical left will be fully armed with the power of federal criminal law to silence any dissenting voice that declares homosexuality or other such behaviors sinful and wrong.

I have been preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ since 1969. I have deeply held religious convictions that the Bible is God’s revealed truth about man and humanity, and I hold no animosity toward homosexuals or anyone who disagrees with me. Let’s debate the merits and the facts and allow all sides to air their opinion. But do not silence pastors nor penalize people of faith.

In the Scripture there are clear guidelines regarding marriage, human sexuality, and social order.

In the first chapter of Romans there is a clear prohibition against same-sex relations. The legislation pending before you will make me an “inducer” to hate crimes if I preach Romans 1:18-32 and someone who hears me then commits a criminal act against a protected class, including those who choose to live in defiance of God’s revealed truth. It is clear that this bill will criminalize biblical preaching and will prevent me and thousands of other clergymen from practicing our faith without threat of penalty from our own federal government.

A congressman who strongly opposed this legislation in the House recently said to me, “They just don’t get it, Pastor Rick!” I believe that some of you do “get it,” and it is incumbent upon you to stand up for what is right and just and stop thistrain from arriving at the station.

I have walked the halls of the Senate Office Building, as have others, begging for someone to lead a filibuster of the bill, only to be told repeatedly that it is a lost cause. Frankly, sirs, there are no lost causes except when good men fail to fight a desperate battle for their God and their liberty.

That’s why we are making this appeal to you. On behalf of God and our freedoms we beseech you to take up the torch. In the words of acclaimed actor and World War II hero, Jimmy Stewart, in one of the most memorable movies of the 20th century, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington": “Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.”

Who will step forward and filibuster this wicked legislation? Who will champion Christians, Jews, and even Muslims who will find themselves in jeopardy when this legislation is signed into law? Will you?

When young David approached the field of battle bringing news to his three warrior brothers from his father, and saw Goliath taunting the armies of God, he left his carriage and said, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” When his own brothers rebuked him, he then replied, “Is there not a cause?” That day one courageous follower of the living God showed the world that God could whip a giant and rout an army.

Senators, I plead with you to be our champion, NOW! Surely there is one Senator who believes in the cause of righteousness enough to stand up and do the right thing, whether it’s popular and winnable or not! Is my freedom to practice my religion freely a worthy cause? Is not the First Amendment a righteous cause? Is there not a cause?

You have been honored by your constituents who have elected you to uphold the Constitution.

To get more on this story, go HERE.

To answer the question posed in the title to this commentary - yes, I believe, eventually, the Christian Church will be driven underground in America as it has been in other nations around the globe. Otherwise, it will cease to exist in this land many firmly believe was founded by Christians.

As I scribble these few words it could not be any clearer that this bill is a violation of the First Amendment. Will it pass the Congress and be signed into law by the President? Yes, I believe it will. Why? The answer is quite simple: because America is no longer a Christian nation. At least, America’s government no longer governs based on the Judeo-Christian code of laws and beliefs. And very soon now, the Supreme Court of the land will be in the hands of socialists, as well, and that will be the end of the failed experiment called “America” a nation which was to have been governed only by the voice of it’s people and their God.

J.D. Longstreet

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Conservative

Christians Must Be The Driving Force In Saving America!

Christians Must Be The Driving Force In Saving America.
By: J. D. Longstreet
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If one chooses not to subscribe to a religion (in America) that is perfectly OK. Nowhere is it written that you must belong to one faith, or the other, to be a good citizen, or even just to be a citizen. Nowhere.

At the same time, nowhere is it written that I can’t practice mine.

A not so careful reading of the 1st Amendment will demonstrate, to anyone with an open mind, the framers had nothing to say about the mingling of religion and state. What they did not want to see was the state impose a certain religion, or denomination, on it’s people.

At the time the Constitution was written, some of the northeastern states/colonies had already established state churches. The churches in those states/colonies were a part of that state’s government. If you were a citizen of that state you were a member of that church. One, or two, European countries have the same state/church situation, even today, as the early colonies had in the 1700’s. When you are born, in those countries, you are born into the church. You remain a member until death, or, you go to court and ask a judge to allow you to leave that “state church.”

There is no such thing as separation of church and state in this country. I don’t believe the Constitution even suggests it. Only a myopic, left leaning, court could find that in the Constitution. They think they have. As soon as the conservative court becomes a fact, and not a figment of our imagination, that will be over-turned.

Having said all this, I still favor an amended 1st Amendment to make the practice of those religions that would forsake our constitutional law and replace it with some sort of religious code of laws unacceptable and even illegal in the US. There are obvious reasons for outlawing those religions in this country.

And YES, this country was founded on the tenants of the Judeo-Christian faith. One cannot read any of our state documents, or any of our founding documents, or look at our national buildings, (even the Supreme Court Building) and not be aware of that fact. The individuals and organizations attempting to strip America of her Judeo-Christian Heritage will lose. It will be messy, and tempers are going to flare, but in the end they WILL lose.

On our money the slogan says: “In God We Trust.” Sometimes we have to be reminded of that. On the top of the Washington Monument are engraved, in Latin, the words “Praise Be To God!” My sentiments exactly!

In the past few months we Americans have been reminded just how fragile our form of government really is. By rights it should never have managed to exist as long as it has. But it did. Now, however, with the onslaught of socialism on our government, those of us who subscribe to the Christian faith, and a few others, have come to the realization that there is a war going on just out of sight of the masses of Americans and it is a war for the survival of the United States.

As Christians we can sit back and say to ourselves that due to the separation of church and state, we Christians have no part in this war. That would be, and is, wrong. And this is where the connection between church and stated proves itself. See, if the current representative republic falls, so will our right to practice our faith as we choose. As Americans we must render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s. As Christians we must render unto God the things that are God’s. Confusing the two only creates chaos, division, and could easily lead to the loss of the right to practice our faith openly and if could even lead to the loss of our constitutional freedoms and our liberty.

Forgive me if I cannot see how it is possible for Christians to support a socialist government in America. Yet millions of Christians, at least those that claim the mantle of Christianity, voted for it and even now rabidly support the socialist government of Obama and the Democratic Party in America. The Holy Scriptures of the Christians says as plainly as possible that Christians, anyone for that matter, cannot serve two masters.

It is my opinion, that if America is to survive these dark days of tribulation Christians must join together to save her. It is the ONLY way America will survive.

J. D. Longstreet

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For an excellent overview on why America should consider amending the Constitution regarding religion, read the following articles: Why America Must Define Religion An “Honest” Terrorist Writes: “No Muslim Can Pledge Loyalty to the Constitution” Keith Ellison, Islam, American Sovereignty : Should we Amend the Constitution?

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