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Rendering Unto Caesar...
To the Editor:
On June 9th, the 10 Commandments were pulled off of the lawn of the four high schools in Adams County, Ohio.
I was there and was one of 35 brave souls who were arrested for defending the Decalogue.
Despite surveys that show that 85 percent of the residents of this rural Ohio county wanted the monuments to remain, the terrorists in black robes, under the unction of the Secular Taliban known as the ACLU determined that they knew best what to teach the children of Adams County.
It didn't matter to them that thousands of citizens had privately funded the monuments. It didn't matter that thousands of citizens had paid to defend them.
It only mattered that one man had been offended. More tyranny of the minority.
As hundreds of citizens stood and watched, a crane hoisted the 800 pound tablets from their foundation.
The Word of Almighty God, the only Scripture carved by His Finger, pulled out like an in-grown toenail, from the foot of Caesar.
In the week that followed I heard the refrain again and again.
Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. And render unto God, that which is God's.
I asked the Sheriff of Adams County, a self-proclaiming Christian, before he lead me away,
"Who own's this property?"
"This is public property", he replied.
"Who is the public?" I followed up.
"The citizens of Adams County own this property", he informed me.
"So let me get this straight, Sheriff. You are about to arrest citizens of Adams County for tresspassing on property that they own...property their tax dollars operate?" I queried.
"Sir, the courts say these monuments have to come down." Ordered this Christian sheriff.
There it is. The "courts" say. Render unto Caesar...
What a sad commentary on this once great Christian nation.
Chrisitan America must awaken. Pastors must open their eyes. Where are the Shadrach's Meshach's and Abednago's who will not bow to the King? Where were the men of God as the Commandments of the King they say they serve were being ripped from their riteful place? Most were on their knees, bowing to Caesar.
We have lost our fear of God.
Where would America be today if Rosa Parks had moved?
What if Martin Luther King Jr. had bowed to Caesar?
Does Caesar own the children of Adams County or does God? Does Caesar own the pulpits in America or do they belong to God?
A coup has taken place in America. The word of Caesar now trumps the Word of God.
Our Christian culture is under attack...The Pledge...the Motto...the Decalogue. All mention of God is being stripped away by Caesar, as Christians bow and salute.
"Thou shall have no other God's before me."[p]
It is time to stop rendering unto Caesar that which is God's.
Dave Daubenmire
Coach Dave Daubenmire, a veteran high school football coach sued by the ACLU for praying with his teams, is founder and president of Minutemen United (www.minutemenunited.org) and host of a radio talk show on The Word WRFD in Columbus, Ohio. He may be contacted at coach@ptsalt.com.
Rudolph's No Hero
To the Editor:
Eric Rudolph's recent arrest raises the question of who will attempt to defend his actions and support him. Granted, he is innocent until proven guilty, still, I fervently hope all anti-abortion people will recognize that the acts he is accused of committing are entirely indefensible.
Bombs constructed to fire nails at high velocity in all directions are obviously the work of a person who had no regard for innocent human life. At the Birmingham abortion mill, the bomber knew he had no control over whether these nails killed an abortionist or a child in a stroller on the sidewalk and apparently didn't care.
In Sandy Springs, a second bomb was set to detonate on the parking lot with the obvious intention of wounding and killing first responders -- be they paramedics, firefighters, or law enforcement personnel -- not to mention passers-by. The monster who built these bombs has nothing in common with Jim Kopp and others who have demonstrated respect for innocent human life while defending unborn children with force.
Rather, the bombings that Rudolph is accused of bear all the marks of a Ted Kaczynski, the twisted phony who developed an elaborate ideology, i.e. technology stinks, to cover the fact that he simply enjoyed building bombs and maiming and killing people. Some foolish lefties were suckered into taking Kaczynski's 'ideas' seriously. Let us hope that no one who values the lives of the unborn will be similarly deceived.
Reportedly, Rudolph is the product of the racist, anti-Semitic Christian Identity movement. They created him; let him be their poster-boy. Let them try to justify bombs built for indiscriminant maiming and killing.
Betsy McDonald
Dumb Dogs That Don’t Bark
To the Editor:
I am a minister currently transferring my credentials from a Charismatic Church into the Nazarene Church and several Nazarene Pastors knowing of my Pro-Life work warned me that the Nazarene Church does not like its ministers involved in politics nor controversy. Well, I write this paper as a argument that what’s wrong with America - that is the moral decline of our nation can be directly attributed to theological errors in the pulpit. Those errors have led the shepherds of the Church to commit the same sins of the old shepherds of Israel - "dumb dogs that don’t bark."
If we desire to see an honest moral changing revival in America - then these theological errors must be counteracted with truth. These errors are pietistic theology of non-involvement and avoiding controversy, and the antinomian/dispensational misconception of law and grace.
The Pietistic movement began in the 17th Century in Germany and greatly influenced many other movements and denominations. The Pietistic movement had some positive influences: it emphasized the study of the Bible, prayer and a personal relationship with Jesus. But the negative effect was to privatize religion and over emphasize the personal aspect and the result was "let’s get people saved and the heck with the culture and society." The Wesleyan Holiness Churches such as my own Nazarene Church has bought into this non-biblical approach with it’s "just preach Jesus" slogan.
The antinomian-dispensation view is the most popular American folk theology around today. Antinomian literally means anti-law. One hears this constantly over the Christian radio- "we are under law not grace." The dispensational view again creates this law-grace dichotomy. So we hear messages filled with the idea that Biblical law does not apply to govern neither the individual nor the nation. We hear message after message that God is love yet nothing about a holy God that will judge this nation for its violation of God’s eternal law.
These are the theological errors that have caused the shepherds of America and the Church in America to stop impacting society.
One verse of scripture haunts me day and night and keeps me "barking"- the words of Jesus "ye are the salt of the earth…. Salt is a preserving agent. We, the Church are to be the preserving agent preserving our nation from further moral deterioration. The nation of America will continue to decline as long as the Church fails to preach the law of God and be the salt. "But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men."(Mt 5:13) If Christians in America refuse to be salt it will result in the judgment of our nation and since judgment begins in the house of God - then passive shepherds and their passive flocks will be held accountable. Jeremiah’s words ring true today: "Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my flock, saith the Lord." (Jer 23:1)
Rev Ed Kelly
eddiekelly@heartland.net
902 E Coolbaugh St
Red Oak Iowa 51566
Partial Birth Abortion, Republican
Heroes and The Gullible Christian
To the Editor:
The latest news coming from Washington is that partial birth abortion "WILL BE OUTLAWED". As one who has for the last 13 years stood on the front lines in the battle for children's lives, I say, "BIG DEAL". We are a pathetic lot when we get excited over the banning of one form of execution as opposed to another. The banning of partial birth abortion will not save a single life. Not one! Large donor based "pro-life" organizations raise enormous sums of money over this non-issue because it is an easy sell to their gullible Christian donors.
Let me explain. The Church has by and large prostituted itself to anyone in public office who speaks the worn out words, "I'm pro-life." Whether or not the politician's life bears witness to this or not isn't the issue. The magic words have been spoken and the Christian community has been taken under his spell. When the magic words are spoken the brain becomes numb, thought processes become sluggish, and anger rises in the breast if anyone questions the magician's integrity. But then again, why should we expect it to be otherwise, the magic words have been uttered.
Please hear me well. A woman who is denied the joys of having her beautiful child's brains sucked out will not suddenly spin on her heels, and march out of an abortuary while saying:
"If I am denied a partial birth abortion, I guess I'll love my baby!"
or
"I have three goals in life, to run a marathon, to climb Mt. Everest and to have a partial birth abortion. My only wish is that I could have reached all of my goals."
The method of execution isn't the issue. The death of the baby is. When PBA is outlawed the same babies will still die by other standard procedures that have been and continue to be employed. The same child will die a death no less painful at the same stage of development. So what are we so excited about. After hearing the latest news from Washington, many in the Christian community are acting like a child who has been given a lifetime supply of chocolate. All giddy and excited, when the only true victory is held by those politicians who have once again pulled the wool over the eyes of their Christian supporters who are obviously "under the spell."
I picture a dog happily wagging her tail and licking the hand of her master who just drowned her puppies. She doesn't seem to realize that her welfare and that of her offspring isn't on the top of the priority list of the master. As a matter of fact, she will continue offering her devotion until the very moment she is dumped off miles from home.
Instead of licking the hand of those who only feel that some modes of death are "nicer and gentler" than others, we should demand that they immediately oppose "all" forms of murder without exception. When you demand a little, you get less and this is no victory for those scheduled to die, only for those who have secured another vote from the enchanted masses.
Dennis Green
Life and Liberty Ministries
The Road to Tyranny and Truth Saying
To the Editor:
The world never stays the same, but the job of the believer always does - to represent Jesus Christ and the truth to the world around us. Even in the best of times, telling the truth is not a popular profession. Since we are all sinners, we also rankle at hearing our own sins exposed. When the times are good; when conditions allow truth sayers to do so freely, there are many more who are willing to stand. When it becomes hazardous to speak truth, few are willing. Sometimes it becomes so difficult that the truth may only be spoken covertly - as it is today in China.
After 9-11, a frightened populace urged Congress to grant excessive powers to the President under the misnamed "Patriot Act." Now we are looking down the barrel of a much worse enactment - the Homeland Security Bill. While the earlier act was outrageous in scope, there were at least some protections of civil liberties - unless the President declared you an "enemy combattant". The new act allows the government to collect, analyze, store, and file all credit card transactions, e-mail, website traffic, etc. on all Americans.
Well, some say, "We have to give up freedom in order to defend our freedoms." George Orwell, call your office!
Of course, we all know that the feds have their "favorites" to target. The press, and even the Predsident, have made it politcally incorrect to label or speak against the obvious enemy - the false religion of Islam. And, besides, going after the real enemy could be dangerous. I mean, those folks shoot back. Jesus freaks don't.
Whenever in history things get truly bad for truth sayers, they go underground with the message. However, those who are caught in the transition - those who were public in their truth saying before things soured - have no real hopes of doing that. The best thing for known truth sayers to do is to just keep on speaking - possibly louder than before.
Those who were afraid to speak up when things were good, will probably (outside of a Divine move) remain silent as the curtain descends - or worse, they may just turn "state's evidence."
As we see the tyranny descending from the likes of "pro-life" Bush, "I have a prayer meeting in my office every morning" Ashcroft, Tom Ridge, and the like, remember your job has not changed. Be wary of the ones who were faint-hearted when the going was good.
As Jesus said while carrying His cross up the hill, "If they do this in the green tree (the good times), what will they do in the dry?"
I pray that there will be a turning and that my forboding might not come to pass.
Paul deParrie
A Better Solution
To the Editor:
There have been news commentaries lauding US Catholic bishops for their get-tough policies, while castigating the Vatican for obstructing them. These commentaries are the reverse of reality.
For decades, the bishops have been defying the Vatican by allowing sexual deviants to become priests. When the consequences -- mainly sexual molestation of teenage boys -- began to appear, the bishops tried to cover up the problem by means of payoffs and transfers.
After the scandal broke in the media, the bishops made yet another attempt at damage control, the so-called "zero tolerance" policy. Some PR firm probably suggested that to them. Now the bishops are getting kudos for being tough on perpetrators.
The true solution would include eliminating the root cause of the problem. This would mean rausting the sodomites and their mentors from the seminaries and chancery offices. Make sure the perverts do not become priests to begin with. However, the bishops are not doing that.
Presently, anyone can anonymously accuse any priest of abuse and probably ruin his career. There are plenty of motives for making a false accusation -- hope for a cash settlement, personal grudge against a priest, political reasons, etc.
The Vatican is trying to eliminate the problem at the source by keeping the perverts out of the priesthood. At the same time, the Vatican is trying to ensure that innocent priests are not sacrificed along with the guilty. The rights of an accused person are recognized in both civil and canon law, and need to be enforced.
Allen Dobey
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