The Political Radicalization of the Church of the Nazarene

It’s been a while since a new post. All that has been posted is still in effect in the Church of the Nazarene. The denominational leaders continue to keep their heads in the sand as false teaching is abounding in the church. The seminaries continue to use material and resources that are written by Roman Catholics, mystics, and other false sources. A perceptible softening of views on homosexuality is evident in many churches. Yet, voices remain mostly silent. The church is learning very few lessons, and continues down the road to apostasy. But now we venture further into ill-advised decisions and pronouncements from the denomination’s General Superintendents.

These Generals have now spoken on the issue of President Trump’s directive for a temporary halt to immigration from seven countries that have been identified as dangerous, that are harboring or training terrorists that are bent on killing us. So, congratulations is in order! Their intended result seems to be to unite Christians and generate compassion, but they have succeeded in dividing and causing more rancor! They have managed to further divide a denomination which already has been divided for quite a while now.

What have they done now, you ask? They have decided, against what would be their better judgment, to turn yet again hard left on a political issue, instead of either keeping quiet about it, or at least remaining neutral. They chose NOT to remain neutral, nor to keep quiet as would have been the better option. They acted like they speak for all of us with the same view- and they DO NOT!

They have managed, in their statement, to give a hard slap in the face to many Nazarenes who are, like them, very concerned for the way this country has been going. Perhaps they assumed that we all will fall lock step with them. They are wrong, and they have made a terrible mistake in judgment-again.   Why did they give this statement? What was the motivation? Was it to gain favor in the world of the left, so they all can see how “compassionate and just” the Church of the Nazarene is? Was it to make sure the liberals of the world understand that the Nazarenes are not mean spirited or heartless?

Where was their concern over the last few years when Christians were being systematically wiped out by ISIS, and there was no effort by the Obama administration to help those refugees? Where were they, and where were their voices to demand that those refugees be helped at all? I don’t recall, do you? It seems to me a bit of hypocrisy here. Perhaps your calls for compassion should have started with the Christians who have been persecuted for years, and compassion for the safety of the people of our country.

We as Christians want everyone in the world to be as safe as possible, and to live a good life. But we also have a real concern for our families and our country first. These Generals don’t seem to understand at all that we are under a tremendous threat worldwide, that we don’t want to easily allow anyone to enter this country, because that person who slips through could very well be the next terrorist to kill dozens of our own people. They don’t get it, and instead they have made a statement that will bring great damage within the church.

The only way to fix this is for them to repent, apologize for putting out this very divisive statement, and turn their attention to what they have been neglecting for so long: false teachings in the church. Maybe then they will get some respect from me.

The following comment made by a long time Nazarene on their website post speaks for me, and probably many others:

“I’ve read your post with great interest and find myself baffled by this stand you have taken. This country has been marching toward disaster and Godlessness for the past 8 years at an accelerated pace. Finally we have a leader who wants to turn things around and go toward the right and this is the best you can do? Why couldn’t you come out and praise him for his support for Israel instead?
I see a great problem with welcoming all these people into this country without knowing much of anything about them. Have you and all these folks that are praising your stance forgotten 911? We can’t just let people into this country who want to destroy it. Our own liberal Americans are doing a fine job at that without any outside help. The church that I have been a member of for 67 years and the general superintendents who I hold in highest regard have disappointed me to the very core of my heart. I’m loving and compassionate and am all for “legal immigrants” coming into this country if they are truly seeking to be Americans and adapt American ways. I will say in conclusion, America, love it or leave it and America, love it or don’t come here in the first place and God bless America.”

 

Link to the Board of General Superintendent’s statement and comments:

http://www.nazarene.org/article/bgs-echoes-call-compassion-after-latest-refugee-rulings?fb_comment_id=1311335935599108_1312488622150506&comment_id=1311550485577653&reply_comment_id=1312488622150506#f2b3f2140d2a188

FULL STATEMENT HERE:

In light of recent executive orders issued in the United States and decisions by other world governments regarding the status of refugees, the Board of General Superintendents for the Church of the Nazarene urges governments everywhere to quickly put into place systems whereby eligible and legitimate refugees can find refuge and safety in our countries. Further, we urge the President of the United States, Congress, and other state departments to make this temporary order a matter of urgency so that the United States may continue to be known as a nation of compassion and hospitality to those who are oppressed, vulnerable, and marginalized.

We echo our statement from November 2015, when significant global immigration in many nations compelled us to speak clearly and biblically to this challenging topic, inviting all Nazarenes to express Christian love to immigrants who live among us:

The Hebrew word, gēr, and the Greek word, xenos, can be defined as “immigrant.”

 “If an immigrant dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The immigrant who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:33–34, NKJV). Our Lord quoted, “Love him as yourself,” as part of the Greatest Commandment!

Jesus said: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was an immigrant and you invited me in” (Matthew 25:35, NIV).

“Do not forget to show hospitality to immigrants, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels” (Hebrews 13:2, NIV).

While we recognize the complexity of immigration laws in various nations, the Board of General Superintendents calls on Nazarenes around the world:

• To treat immigrants with love, respect, and mercy.
• To participate sacrificially in local, national, and global compassionate ministry responses to assist refugees and immigrants.
• To encourage their respective governments to approve equitable laws that will allow for family reunification, legal work permits for productive immigrants in the workforce, and pathways for undocumented immigrants to be able to obtain authorized immigrant status.
• To follow the clear biblical mandate to love, welcome, assist, evangelize, and disciple the immigrants near us.

–Board of General Superintendents

Nowhere to Run

By John Henderson

I expect that the recent election results have been a sobering and shocking revelation to decent-minded folks.  It is especially true of Christians because we are keenly aware of the Bible’s prophecies of the end of the age and see many of the foretold events unfolding right before our eyes.  We have seen it approaching for many years but somehow consoled ourselves that it was still a future thing.  Well, that future is someone’s present and this might be what we are in.

I know there have always been those who have falsely declared that certain events of their day marked the time.  This is not speculation anymore.  It is too obvious to be that.  I look at the trees around my home at the end of summer and know that winter is just around the corner.  It is unmistakable.

Perhaps we finally realize that elections will not solve the spiritual maladies of our earth.  Elections work only for a people who are first right before God.  We have not been right before God for a long time and the infestation has only increased.  Look at the 2012 results across America.  Just to mention a few:  legalized marijuana for those over 21 in Colorado; an openly lesbian U.S. senator for the first time; the reelection of moral and mental buffoons in Florida; the election of a jail-bird over a war hero in Florida; approval of gay marriages; and on and on across the nation.  Then, we have the re-election of the most openly corrupt administration in the history of this country.  Already, those who believed the lies once more are demanding their rewards for support.  They will never get them.

And the drumbeat of coming judgment goes on.  Men who think they are somehow above God will soon meet with the horrible truth that they are still mere mortals before a God of judgment who once could have been their God of mercy.

Behind all of this, and largely contributing to it, is the backslidden church.  The church that once stood tall and bold for the truth of God is wildly and openly rebellious against all truth.  She prefers the lie, and the “Bride of Christ” on earth has morphed into the whore of Babylon.  She gleefully plays with postmodern and new age toys and dances with the heathen without once telling them that Jesus will save them from their sins.  They join in frivolous games and abandon prevailing prayer and learning the Word of God.  Being at church is so much more fun and relevant to the world now.  Pass the donuts, tea, and coffee and let us sing, dance, and laugh until it is time to go home—the home we reach by passing scores of lost souls along the way.  But why bother with that.  The blind cannot lead the blind.

We Christians can easily become frustrated with the shrinking resources of real Christian fellowship and support.  As churches and denominations die in their souls, we look around and can find many more of their kind than of the old-fashioned gospel kind.  We seem to have no place to run.  We may be pursued but we will never be overtaken if we keep moving towards Christ.  We may often be very alone, but He has promised to never leave or forsake us.  He will be with us all the way through to the glorious end.

“Unto them that look for Him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).  Those who are so engrossed in the ways and thoughts of this world-order will not be looking for Jesus to return.  They will be caught off guard with no time to repent when He breaks through the clouds.  Those who think they are sitting on top of the world will find out it is about to catch fire.  Someone once told me to hold firmly to the promises of Christ and hold loosely to the things of the world.  Jesus’ promises will never fail and everything of this world will melt with fervent heat.  Its ashes will blow away in the winds of God’s wrath.  I still believe that old slogan:  “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past.  Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Dr. Gran’pa
(John Henderson)

Why I Cannot, As A Christian, Vote For Barack Obama

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Ps. 139:13-16

The following is based on considerable reflection on the responsibilities of a Christian to obey God in all that He instructs, and the duty as a citizen to vote for or reject a candidate for public office, based on one or more positions he/she holds.  Each Christian will have to make up their own mind according to their conscience.

There are many social and political issues that Christians in good conscience can disagree on and not make absolute claims that Holy Scripture supports their position.  Yet, there are issues that are clearly addressed in Scripture, that no Christian should ignore when dealing with the choice of who to vote for.  There are several that stand out for me that compels me as a Christian to rule out voting for a candidate, regardless if he or she agrees with every other political view I hold.  I find no biblical support for a Christian to vote for a candidate for public office who supports the killing of innocent life.

So on this issue alone (although there are others), I cannot and will not vote for Barack Obama, or anyone else, because abortion is in fact murder, and thus is in blatant contradiction to Scripture.  When a professing Christian candidate promotes abortion, it is even worse.  So therefore, how in good conscience can a Christian support the “right” to kill an innocent unborn child, when they go against God’s holy word?

Partial Birth Abortion

It is clear to all who have a good knowledge of current events that Barack Obama supports abortion, and organizations like Planned Parenthood, whose purpose is to promote the killing of unborn children for any reason.  The record is public for all to see.  But Barack Obama takes it even further.  First, he also supports the barbaric type of abortion called “partial-birth” abortion.  What is partial birth abortion?

Partial-Birth Abortion is a procedure in which  the abortionist pulls a living baby feet-first out of the womb and into the birth canal (vagina), except for the head, which the abortionist purposely keeps lodged just inside the cervix (the opening to the womb).  The abortionist punctures the base of the baby’s skull with a surgical instrument, such as a long surgical scissors or a pointed hollow metal tube called a trochar.  He then inserts a catheter (tube) into the wound, and removes the baby’s brain with a powerful suction machine.  This causes the skull to collapse, after which the abortionist completes the delivery of the now-dead baby.  (Source)

This may as well be called infanticide also.  This is a horrendous description, but it is what it is.  It is real, and these nearly-born babies feel horrific pain when this murderous technique is applied to them.  Those who support abortion must be willing to be confronted with the reality of what it really is.  It is not tooth extraction.  It is a horrible procedure that snuffs out the life of a baby about to be otherwise born.  It is murder.  Barack Obama is okay with this procedure.  He has voted present (no) on partial birth abortion ban legislature, as well as against parental notification bills (Source).  Note also that the Democrat abortion platform does NOT exclude partial birth abortion.  This is the party of compassion that Barack Obama is a member of.

Infanticide

Barack Obama also goes further than even Hilary Clinton and many other liberals have ever gone.  When he was in the Illinois legislature, he argued against the passing of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, which had a purpose to “provide that a live child born as a result of an abortion shall be fully recognized as a human being and accorded immediate protection under the law.”

Yes, our president voted against this bill, more than once.  And when its equivalent was voted on in the U.S. Senate, the vote was 98-0 in favor of protecting these babies.  Yet Barack Obama could not even agree that saving the life of a child that was just born was worthwhile.  Instead, he fought against it, and was practically the only state senator in Illinois to vote against this bill.  See this compelling testimony from Jill Stanek, a nurse who worked at Christ Hospital in Chicago.  Then you can also listen to BHO’s own arguments against a bill that was identical in language to the bill that was passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate.

Barack Obama also has said that having a baby can be a punishment. (source).  And there is also the disdain he has for fundamental Bible believing Christians, and lack of biblical knowledge, as evidenced in this video.

These things testify to the character of the man who is currently the nations’ leader.  I will continue with our God-mandated duty to pray for our leaders, and I pray that Barack Obama will repent and turn to Him whom he professes to follow.  However, with my constitutional right of free speech, I will encourage everyone I know to vote him out of office, solely on the basis of his lack of respect form human life.

I could give you so many more reasons why I would vote against him anyway, including his promotion of gay marriage, also an unbiblical position.  There are also economic reasons, foreign policy reasons, constitutional reasons; there are ideological disagreements over freedom, governmental overreach, welfare dependency, ObamaCare, illegal immigration, protection of our borders, national security, defense of Israel, his choice of colleagues such as Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and other radicals; his obstruction of free market ideas, his attitude of apologizing for America to foreign leaders; his raising the national debt another six trillion dollars; disrespect of the Constitution, his attempt to kill the coal and oil industry.

But for his support of abortion, and for not even protecting every baby’s right to live after birth, I believe no Christian can in good conscience vote for Barack Obama and his support for the culture of death.  Please consider this as you prepare to vote on Tuesday.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. Ps. 127:3-5