Last week, as the sniper shot rang out mortally wounding President Obama, the country woke up to the historical fact that idle words are indeed the devil’s playground. History will long note and judge those, who while the ambulance was attempting to carry the dying man to the nearest hospital, surrounded the vehicle, only to have the Secret Service fire into the crowd, wounding several, killing one. Some of the protesters stood idly by, crouched in prayer, not for the life of the man on the stretcher, but for the death. With angry shouts of ‘Death to the Muslim’ and ‘I want my country back’ ringing in his ear, the 44th President of the United States passed from this life.
(snip)
Now, as members of both parties call for ‘Canadian-like’ rules on hate speech, and Congress is poised to take up the new measures -- many say the first laws could come within the next 24 hours -- Christians lament what many on the Right are calling a government take over of the pulpit but the Left calls a preventative measure. For those who have been following the interaction between the former President and the Religious Right, the time line will seem hauntingly familiar.
During the 2008 election, then Senator Obama was hounded by rumors of his secret Muslim beliefs….
(snip)
His election was met with announcements of prophecies, including some that President Bush would be the last President of the United States. Joseph Farrah, editor and founder of World Net Daily, demanded that Christians refuse to pray for the President, announcing that contrary to the traditional interpretation of Romans 13, in a democracy everyone was a ruler.
It was also met with, among other things, people declaring that Socialism would over take the country, “I predict the Obama Administration will not only give illegal aliens high paying jobs through this federal infrastructure program, but also citizenship. With citizenship comes the right to vote and thereby securing election after election for the Cultural Marxists,” spewed Brannon Howse, president of Worldview Weekend. Howse later said, “The more I read, hear, and research, the more I am willing to believe this financial crisis, that was birthed in the Clinton Administration, was possibly orchestrated in order to destroy the middle class and implement radical, extreme socialism.” He asserted, “The goals of Cultural Marxism are primarily the destruction of Christianity and the creation of chaos. The ultimate goal is to move from Cultural Marxism to traditional Marxism and that is what is happening to America today.”
Obama “is definitely a Marxist ‘true believer’ who will not deviate from his socialist goals,” wrote Janice Shaw Crouse, director and senior fellow of Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute, earlier this year.
“Did you sign up for socialism?” asked Janet Porter Folger, founder of Faith2Action, in a column title. She labeled the president’s economic stimulus bill as “The Socialist Stimulus partisan package” which “will take money from you, your children and grandchildren to give” to programs such as global warming research and HIV prevention.
One of the the Religious Right’s grandfather’s, Pat Robertson, told his staff at a prayer retreat that God shared with him that Americans will welcome socialism.
“The steps taken will lead to a dramatic increase in the power of government. The people will welcome socialism in order to relieve their pain. Nothing will stand in the way of a plan by Obama to restructure the economy in the same fashion as the New Deal in the ’30s,” said Robertson.
“How many have been duped by Obama’s personality and good looks? Don’t they understand that a socialist economy means the end of prosperity, individual initiative, personal dreams and a complete transformation of America, as we have known it? After the ‘stimulus bill’ will come health care ‘reform.’ Watch Obama declare an emergency in his pursuit of socialized medicine,” charged columnist Cal Thomas, a Moral Majority vice president in the 1980s.
As the year progressed, as protesters started to use the catch phrase ‘I want my country back ‘ and as the hype started up, a protester at the 9/12 rally plainly announced that the Muslims where taking over, referring to her fact that the President was a Muslim….
In March, Tim LeHaye, author of the best-selling Left Behind series, noted that President Obama could be the ‘warm-up act’ for the Antichrist.
In June, a former Vice-President of the Southern Baptist Convention, called for God to kill the President:
“Are you praying for his death?” Colmes asked.
“Yes,” Drake replied.
“So you’re praying for the death of the president of the United States?”
“Yes.”
“You would like for the president of the United States to die?” Colmes asked once more.
“If he does not turn to God and does not turn his life around, I am asking God to enforce imprecatory prayers that are throughout the Scripture that would cause him death, that’s correct.”
When Dr. Tiller was murdered on that Sunday morning in his church, many came out in near support of his murderer. This followed a very warm May in which several religious conservative leaders came out in support of torture as something that Jesus would have supported, including Fox News host, Sean Hannity.
During the worse of the Tea Parties, protesters would show up with various signs, some urging death not only to the President, but to his family as well.
Followed in September by a pastor in Arizona, saying, “I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today.” Little noticed was the fact that the young African-American man who carried an AR-15 assault weapon to a rally attended by the President was a member of Steven Anderson’s congregation.
In the same month, at the 9/12 Rally, a woman was featured saying “We are losing our country, we think the Muslims are moving in and taking over,’ and relating her belief that the President had lied about being a Christian. During this rally, Leigh Anne Caldwell remembers several protesters shouting such things as “waterboard Nancy Pelosi,” and who said that Barack Obama is “too black to be President” and that an armed “revolution” might be necessary.”
It was CNN host Anderson Cooper who questioned Mark Williams, a Tea Party organizer, on his statement that the President was “an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and a racist in chief.” But, just 3 days before that, Glenn Beck of the Fox News Channel interviewed Pastor Stephen Broden who claimed that the President and the “the liberal left” was trying to destroy our “Judeo-Christian Nation” heritage. He claimed that the left is trying to replace our heritage with “a socialist doctrine and atheistic doctrine that is founded in Darwinism.” Further, in the same conversation, he stated that many of his fellow Texans. This was in a response to Beck’s insistence that God must be restored to His proper place.
Then, there was the questions about his place of birth and even attempts to announce that the reason that his birth certificate was not release was that it might show an Islamic connection. Most of these rumors were believed bases on rumor and internet email. Author Avi Lipkin, in June, started calling for ‘revival’ to save Israel from a Muslim president:
I think Israel must be very concerned and so should the entire Christian world that the U.S. president is either a Muslim, or firmly in the Muslim camp. Indeed beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If the Muslims see him as a Muslim, then for all intents and purposes, he is a Muslim.
Whatever, if Mubarack Hussein Obama is a Muslim or self-proclaimed Christian, God’s eyes are on every move America and the world make regarding Israel. Many Christians have said to me on my most recent lecture circuit that if Obama moves against Israel God’s judgment on America will be a punishment on all Americans, Christians and Jews included.
It is indeed a time for Christian Revival for Israel’s Survival!
During the recent health care debate, while the specter of socialism was raised to build fears in American heartland, articles started to appear insisting that the Bible mandated capitalism, not to mention that during the School Speech Controversy, many assumed that during the 18 minutes in which we was to speak to the students, he would some how brainwash the students.
It wasn’t just in the health care debate in which the President was greeted with messages of armed resistance. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., warned that people needed to stand up to the energy legislation. “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back,” she said. “Thomas Jefferson told us, ‘Having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people, we the people, are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country.”
(Snip)
Then in September, at the Eagle Forum founded by Phyllis Schlafly, a speaker called for Americans to buy guns and be ready. It was also around that time that a columnist for Newsmax, John L. Perry, wrote calling for a military coup. Then, as the leafs started to change, Jan Markell launched at attack against ‘red-letter’ Christians who supported the President.
So, as we lay to rest the country’s first African American President, many are shouting that those who proclaimed the love of Christ were the ones who pulled the trigger. Perhaps given the 900 years between the murder of this president, and the murder of a Catholic Bishop, the world could have learned to control the tongue.
In November, Psalm 109 was merchandised in relation to the President, calling up his ‘removal from office.’
Starting the year off with the Tea Party, Sarah Palin said, “America is ready for another revolution, and you are a part of this”.
(snip)
We return to Farrah’s comments in which he refused to accept the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency. With the assaults on not only the legitimacy of his presidency, but also the legitimacy of his American Citizenship, and the daily reinforcement that he was a Muslim intent on destroying the Christian heritage of this country, is it any wonder that the assassin’s bullet found it’s target, legitimized by the hate speech from the Right?
Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:5-8)
While surely, this would never happen here in this great country of ours (it has before, here and other places) the main point -- the only point of this exercise is to show case the rising hate in this country by those who reportedly claim Christ. Hate is being legitimized -- and it is not a long walk from hate to hateful actions.
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Joel, this is one of the most sobering posts i’ve ever read.
Did you put this together yourself, and, may i have permission to repost it at my blog?
All i can say is WOW.
God bless you brother
Thanks for allowing me to share it as well. To be honest, i don’t care if it offends any readers. Its the truth.
Something needs to wake up Christians in this country to what they have allowed themselves to become a part of–this ugly satanic hatred.
I’ve already lost people at my blog for posting about this–a few more won’t matter. LOL
I am sorry to say that I felt this way ,some, but I learnt that we as Christians are not supposed to get involved with this kind of thing, we are to have faith and remember that God is in control at all time even until the end, He will never forsake us.. the Bible says that if you hate your brother , you have committed murder.. Now what do you think about the soldiers that are having to go to war? Does ,Thou shalt not kill , pertain to them too? It is a crazy world in which we live in,
This is extremely worrying.
Regardless of supporting personally any political leader this must be stamped on. No political leader should be targetted for assassination due to personal prejudices or due to disagrements over policies. That kind of behaviour does not belong in any civilised democracy.
It is extremely dangerous to incite murder in this way, perhaps especially if it is coming from those who purport to be believers in God.
We are fighting a similar battle in Britain where some think it is just the thing to incite the murder of public figures in order to show one’s strength of feeling. It’s worrying how traditional values have given way or threaten to give way to judgement by political opinion. That leads to mob rule and endless civil strife.
The commenters at many British press publications have often shown their violent side over recent years, especially regarding Tony Blair & Iraq.
But now we have a film director trying to write his next script, only it’s real life/death, or could be.
http://keeptonyblairforpm.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/blairs-head-on-a-spear-charge-frears-with-incitement-to-murder/
Until the law stamps down on such inciters, it won’t get any better, sad to say.
This fantasy you put together is defintely scarey. But it seems to me you once again are painting with a very wide brush stroke that endangers more than it helps.
Disagreement is not necessarily hate. And hatred of policies or actions is not necessarily hate for a person or group of people.
I have not participated in any of the tea party things – but your lumping of wackos who glom onto that movement is just like your lumping of patristic folks onto the quiverful movement. Its no different than saying there are wackos who hate that are part of christianity, so the religion must be full of hatred and wackos, so lets get rid of it.
While there might be a few people who espouse hate for any reason, few do – and little of it is based upon skin color.
But certainly there are many who express doubts and mistrust in Obama, and I think rightfully so, based upon his record and those he surrounds himself with. This does not mean they hate.
While we are ambassadors here, we are also citizens of this country, and must render unto cesar – which would include being involved in our governmental affairs – voting, paying taxes, etc.
I have no problem with pointing out the extremes and calling it wrong, it seems that the way you chose to do so has painted anyone in disagreement with the same brush stroke.
If someone is in disagreement with someone, they should have the right to say so – not be condemned or beaten (as has happened) by people are pro-obama.
Again, a few extermists are not the entire population. It certainly appears as if you are painting anyone who disagrees with Obama with the same brush as the extermists. These extermists are putting an ugly face on disagreement with Obama – but there are MANY who disagree with his policies who are not radicals.
I dislike much of what I have seen Obama do, call for, or approve before and since his presidency began. It has nothing to do with color. *shrug* I’m half-mexican. I know racism – from whites AND mexicans. But just because someone disagrees with you does not mean they are racist, even if they are of a different tone of pigmentation. I think the media is painting disagreement with the racist brush in an attempt to discredit it. I think you are failing prey to the media’s focus on extremists and are reading into this what is not there for the majority of people.
BTW, I think what I have seen of the proposed national health care plan IS socialized medicine. If that makes me extreme, or a fear monger, then so be it.
Yes, we SHOULD speak out against people who call for death of anyone – regardless of the venue. But it still seems to me you painted with a wider brush than needful.
Again, I apologize if I did in some way, Wb. I would not intentionally insult you – regardless of the situation.
ok. I’m sorry for focusing on this to this extent. I’ll leave it alone.
I know you didn’t intend to, and all is forgiven. no worries, polycarp.
interesting. my “I’ll quit” comment went before my other comments.
sigh… I really did quit when I said I did.
Let’s llok at the facts:
There is no connection between the biblical Jewish man that came to be known by the Anglo name of Jesus. Christ is a Greek term for the ‘Anointed’ as Caesar was referred to as. Jesus is replaced in the “New” Testament by, the Lord, God the father, etc. and always finishes off with “In Jesus name A men” until the advent of Roaman Christianity ALL THOSE THAT FOLLOWED IN “HIS” FOOTSTEPS proudly converted to Judiasm AS A WAY OF LIVING not a way of dieing!
When we FOLLOW THE DEEDS of Christianity – we find Christianity & the majority of the followers of ‘Christ’ to be Anti-Jesus…… As to the DEMON Barac Obama who follows in the teaching of the Huemanity in the Words of this man that until this day is still a THORN IN THE SIDE OF THE CORPORATE wHOL-E GHOST ‘PERSON’ having all the attributes and NO responsibilities to huemanity upon this Island earth!
It is truly WEIRD DOWN HERE – one nation UNDER God in heaven – where we cannot go if we still have a physical BODY…… Mighty WEIRD down here!
ALL RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE Anti-Christ – All Christians of the Lord are “Anti-Jesus” no exceptions – FOLLOW THE DEED’S – FOLLOW THE DEED’S!
Philip, I only allowed you comment to show just to show how much help you need. Nothing you said, besides not making sense, is true.
test – being prevented from posting
No, you are not being from posting. I have you moderated so that I can proof your comments, to see if remains up to your previous level of dialog
It was VERIZON peventing be from posting – so I sat there & cut it out & sent the test page to see if it would go thru – I Then immediately paste and sent the above & it went thru!
philip
No, Philip, I prevented you from posting. I have spam filters set pretty high to keep the garbage out.
Actually, Philip, Polycarp means ‘many seeds’. One other thing you got wrong, but the least of your worries
Thanks, PJ – not sure how it will go over, but I felt led to do this. Please feel to repost at will.
Post away, PJ. If it gets too hot, send them my way. My worse commentators will be on Facebook, I suspect
Deb, you are dead on in this case. I do not support some of the things which the President does, however, hate kills no matter if it is only internal or we carry out the action.
The Church is supposed to be the light of the world – and look at what it is being used for.
Blair, I would agree with you, of course. While I except harsh statements from both Left and Right, when those who claim to know Love make them, it becoming intolerable.
Wb, at what point does it cross the line from disagreement to hate? When people are calling for his death? Surely, that is more disagreement. Or when you show up at rallys – the day AFTER your pastor calls for the death of the President – with an assault weapon? Or when you go on national radio to ask God to kill the man? Again, we see the President being compared to Hitler – has the President killed 6 million Jews? Or proclaiming the end to American because of national health care?
I am unsure, Wb, as to your definition of ‘hate’. Calling for the death of a man, and the sending of his soul sounds like hate. Asking for the death of his wife and children, that sounds like hate as well. People are advocating hate – death – fear – and for ungodly reasons.
I have not painted everyone in disagreement with the President with one brush – what I have done is show that many who claim Christ are allowing hate – again, calling for the death of a man is not disagreement but hate – to rise around them.
Again, what exactly is your understanding of disagreement and hate?
I feel that you have greatly erred in the things you have written hear, WB, greatly. This is not a pro-Obama supporter attempting to ‘beat’ (which is funny, because I have yet to call for the death of any of these deathmongers, fearbaiters_ nor have I attempted to stop them. My intentions is to get Christians to wake up to the fact that they are being used to spread and legitimize hate and fear. I condemn hate – calling for the death of the President – and I condemn fear – those people who are birthers, deathers, who tell people that Muslims are taking over, who say ‘we have to take this country back’ and those who would fight for medicare/medicaid but believe that a national health care plan is socialized medicine.
And one more thing – Until you mentioned that you knew of people who claim Quiverfull but were clearly not Patriarchal, I nor anyone else I consulted, know about them.
I am clearly not saying here that all Christians want the President to die – but that, again, the Church is being used to spread the message.
Wb, I have no idea how you – and it seems to be you, as I have ran this across several people for that purpose before I posted this – can see that this post is directed against all those who merely disagree. It is directly solely against those who are ramping up the fear and hate of the President, calling for his death. I disagree with some of his policies – but I have yet to call for his head, his families head, or associated him with Hitler.
I never said it has to do with racism, Wb. While some are – AND some are – it’s not always about that. I do not contend with those people – I contend with those who should be brothers and sisters.
Further, I never said that disagreeing with the President makes you an extremist. What I said was that calling for his death does.
This is not about policies, or disagreements – this is about pastors and religious leaders praying for President Obama – and in some cases, his family – to die. Tell me, is that a disagreement? Is that anything less than extreme? Is that Christian?
Wb, let me ask you to consider this:
How many people does it take to kill a President?
And what happens if, IF, that person says ‘my pastor’ told me?
Wb, the point of this post is to call on Christians to be the salt and the light of this world – and anger, fear, and praying for the death of another does not fall into these two categories? We can disagree on matters of Policy – and we should. The moment that everyone agrees on something, we are in trouble, but when pulpits are being use to call for the death of a man, don’t you think that we should do something?
You know better than to inslut me with the idea that I might claim calling for the death of someone as mere disagreement.
But you didn’t just focus on the folks just calling out hatred or worse. You brought up the Tea Parties – people who are not happy with the taxation policies of this country. You brought up people who are concerned for the moral and political future of this country. How is calling what Obama doing marxist/socialist hate? Yet, it certainly appears you paint Pat Robertson, Tim LeHaye, Brannon Howse, Janice Shaw Crouse, Glen Beck, and Janet Porter Folger (none of whom I follow or agree with regularly, but whom I’ve heard/read) with the same paint brush as those who hate and call for or support murder. Yes, you are painting too wide a path with your paintbrush.
Because many Christians don’t want to see it Polycarp. They would rather believe the hate rhetoric, fear mongering and paranoia are “only” about political policies. You’ll never convince them otherwise, for they are selectively blind.
wbmoore, you speak of only a ‘few extremists’… it was only a few extremists who began the call for our Lord’s crucifixion. It was a ‘few’ extremists who led the world into WW2, which resulted in the death of millions.
A few extremists can accomplish a lot when people are ‘primed’ to receive their message.
And the spirit of antichrist has primed many in the US today–including many who claim to be followers of Christ.
May God have mercy on the Church in America…
Wb, I am not attempting to insult you. I believe that you are missing the entire point of this hypothetical.
By your stance, then, because I said ‘American’ and ‘Christian’ then they must all be under the same paint brush as well? Hardly. Instead, the Tea Parties are a rallying point for many of these people. That much is very true. I pointed out events and people at Tea Parties – not the actual acts. Further, I pointed out ‘during the worse of the Tea Parties…’ and a Tea Party organizer, hardly painting everyone who attends as ones who call for the death of the President.
And yes, I do bring up those people. Considering that these people could be referred to as fuel to the fodder (Was Henry guilty of Beckett’s murder? No – just his idle words, agains, another phrase I use.
No, I think the ‘paintbrush’ is just fine. I think that people who are in these positions should guard their words wisely, or find themselves like the King of England.
I disagree. I expressly point the brush at those who are fueling the fire of the hypothetical assassin.
Wb – for all the world to see, if you think I insulted you, or even attempted to, let me apologize now. This was not my intent and I regret it.
But many of those you named did NOT support or call for death of anyone. And in fact speak against that very thing. Yet, to read your fantasy, that is not clear.
http://www.albertmohler.com/?cat=Blog&cid=4404
Maybe I’m too sensitive on this issue. I was insulted. I think I know you well enough to know you didn’t intend to do so.
I’m not sure if that says more about you and the people to whom you are exposed, or me and the people to whom I am exposed, or both.
The thing is, you are not painting with an even balanced hand – it seems to me that you are guilty of what you accuse these folks of doing.
Wb, I am pointing out the facts of what is happening – with a call to hold our tongue, remembering that it can set things on fire because it is birthed in fire.
I would rather believe that people are good, and even wrong movements are started with good intentions, no matter who corrupts them – such as Quiverful.
PJ,
You wrote, ” they are selectively blind.” I would say the same about those who speak out against the people who warn of what they worry might happen.
Yes, it WAS a few extremists who committed atrocities and led others to commit them – and it was the failure of the church when the Christian leaders did not speak out – as some of the people Polycarp has mentioned have done.
Speaking out against perceived threats is a good thing. The thing is, some dont agree with their position, so they paint them as evil and fear mongers.
I liked Dr Mohler’s message. I agree with it.
“when pulpits are being use to call for the death of a man, don’t you think that we should do something?”
Yes, I do. But you went beyond that. You did not limit it to those misguided/confused/sick/wrong (pick adjective) calling for the death of someone. You included people who do not agree with the president’s policies and have NOT done that.
Calling someone’s policies socialist is not hate nor fear nor calling for the death of someone. Yet, you have equated the two.
Wb – I have yet to see in anything I wrote where I attacked the mere naysayers and ‘disagreers’. Nor have I painted everyone who disagrees with the President with the same brush – I have pointed out, I believe, that one thing leads to another.
It is not a fantasy, Wb, but a nightmare. I believe that is clear exactly what actions I attribute to each person. I linked them, and do not go beyond that. Instead, I tried to show a pattern – which I believe I have done.
If something terrible does happen, rarely is because one person wakes up one morning, forgets his morning cup of coffee and shoots at the President – it is because he or she has been influenced in different ways, at different times, by different people. Again, I site historic examples committed because of idle words. As a hypothetical, I attempted to point out that it is just the action of a few – and if something happened – the action of one which causes everything, but in the end, we will all be blamed, and could very well suffer, because some of those who claim Christ can be identified as hatemongers somehow influenced one lone depraved individual who believe it was his mission to take back this country from a Muslim. This alone is the point of the hypothetical, Wb.
Wb, I have answered this point to the extreme. See my previous comment.
No, I have not, not by a long shot. I am sorry that you cannot see that – and I have no idea how to help you understand.
Calling someone’s policies socialist – especially when they are not – is not hate or fear for everyone, for some it is, nor labeling the President a socialists putting a price on his head. Instead, it helps to fuel people who do call for such things.
You and I disagree whether Obama’s policies are socialist or not. I have thought he was a socialist for a long time. Taking from the rich and giving to the poor certainly seems like socialist thinking to me. (And this has nothing to do with whether Christians should help others, but with whether the government should force such a thing).
I am sorry you can not see linking people who have spoken out against the President’s policies with people who call for/support murder is creating a link that equates the two.
The Bible can be used as fuel for stupid people to do stupid things. This does not make what God says wrong. The same is true for people who warn of something like the possibility of our country moving in a certain direction..
Walter, out of respect to you, I’ll let you have your last word on this subject here.
I really am sorry. I should not have pursued this as long as I have.
Philip, after reading you past few posts, I have made the decision not to allow you to post.
1.) The content of your posts have no connection to the substance of what I have written
2.) Your comments are, to say the least, worrisome and disturbing. I choose not to all you to promote this stuff on my blog.
Poly = SYNTHETIC
Carp = arrogant fish IN A STATE OF FEAR EATING THE WEAK