We are witnessing a call for a Neo-Crusade, an unholy war against the entire Muslim world under the name of War on Terrorism.  Worse yet, it is finding its support in the place least expected, from the pulpits of many loudly proclaiming we are born again Christian churches.  Our purpose is not to observe or complain about this terrible wrong, but to research it, explain it and with God’s help, correct it. 

On Sunday, our Arizona Project Strait Gate advisors joined others in a silent Vigil for Peace at the Calvary Tri-City Church in Tempe, AZ.  We talked to or gave literature to about 75 of the hundreds of attendees who passed our big yellow and black message boards.  Some Strait Gate team members arrived at 8:30 in the morning, and we were still there at 2:00PM.

Twice members of Calvary congregation came out to tell us how grateful they were we had come.  Each stated they had great concern about their church’s teachings about war upon the Mideast.  And Roger, a former member of Calvary, was among our group holding a sign that read:  CHOOSE LIFE, NOT WAR.

Between services, at a lunch devotional held in the Mexican restaurant next door, one man commented,  “it made me feel free.” He, like all of us, felt liberated from the responsibility of knowing something is very wrong, and failing to tell everyone in the church. 

We have all learned there is no way to speak out, inside most churches.  The pastor and deacon board maintain practiced control, and serious challenges are usually treated as apostasy.  This was not so with the early Followers of Christ, where there was apostasy, but there was also dialogue. 

The Calvary pastor, John Higgins, received two delegates from Project Strait Gate courteously before the first service, and he accepted our literature package.  He went so far in his courtesy as to give us his own published book, sent out coffee and donuts, and suggested he might invite this author to join a debate panel in January with a celebrity evangelical David Hocking. I accepted hopefully.  We will see if he really allows Project Strait Gates message inside the church.

The biggest hazard of a picket at Calvary is embarrassment. Embarrassment one feels for the pastoral amatons who came out to the sidewalk to interrogate us and expound their end-times salvation mantra. We are embarrassed for them because they consider their shameless presumptuousness before Jesus evidence of their faith.  Every one, when asked, professes to be pro-life, but supports the current wars.  Embarrassing to this writer because I came out of a church like this one, and waited too many years to condemn the apostasy that allowed me to ignore genocide in the name of supporting Israel. 

Strait Gate Ministries has a plan to change the churches of America between now and the next elections.  We have a logical, legal, tested, and Godly program already launched to help recapture morality for Christianity.  At this very moment in history, Judaized-Christian celebrities, including Jerry Falwell and Gary Bauer, are organizing for bigger and greater political victories, specifically demanding support for wars and unlimited support for the State of Israel, while paradoxically proclaiming themselves to be pro-life and pro-family.  Whose lives and whose families, may we ask,  Certainly not Muslim lives or families!

How does Project Strait Gate know which church is Judaized before we Vigil there?

You cant always tell by the sign over the door or the denomination.  Many pastors who know better and believe otherwise, have said little against the Neo-Crusade.  Here is an example, found on an interior wall of All Saints of the Desert Episcopal Church, Sun City, Arizona.  There, a banner read:

“If anyone studying to be a Christian or anyone of the faithful wants to become a soldier let him be turned away. Christian soldiers are not to kill even if commanded to.  Christians are not to become soldiers voluntarily.  He who carries a sword must be sure he does not shed blood.”

(Early Church Teaching)

These are strong words, preserved for almost two thousand years, are worth examining today at a time when every American soldier is a “volunteer” and when they are being instructed to kill everyone in sight with impunity.  Whether or not we, in our modern age, have been taught to agree with this thought, Jesus did, and the early church, most assuredly, did agree. 

Our friend Catherine, who was inspired by the Episcopal banner, called Reverend Dr. Clark, the Rector at Desert Episcopal, who confirmed the statement was from an early Church teaching, but the Rector had not know it was there.   Twenty-four hours later, to Katherine’s great disappointment, the banner for peace was removed from the meeting room wall of the church!  Sadly, the Episcopal Church is one of the best in terms of willingness to challenge unjust wars, and has not supported the Neo-Crusade, but not all priests think alike.  Many mainline churches also need to hear from Project Strait Gate.

– end

MUST READ:

CHRISTIANS ARE OBLIGED TO KNOW

Tammy, a Christ follower in an Arab family writes to Project Strait Gate

WE MUST DENOUNCE THE UNJUST KILLING AND DISPOSSESSION OF MOSLEM PEOPLE

A letter to Project Strait Gate with a strong suggestion R. Schleyer, M.A.

The Strait Gate Ministries team in Fresno-Bakersfield, California, has conducted no less than a dozen successful Vigils this fall.  Contact us if interested.