IRAQ? WWJD?
Project Strait Gate has received reports of church vigils opposing the bombing of Iraq that have been held in both London and New Zealand. Vigil Teams are being formed in the USA and Canada. Please do not wait, see our website to learn how you can start with as few as three persons on your team.
The vigil we describe in this letter was carried out by only nine teams members, yet the team has been coverage by all five area TV stations, one area newspapers, and other stories are pending. There can be hardly a Pastor left in the state who does not know about Project Strait Gate. Begin this Sunday, it a matter of life and death. -editor
Open Letter To A Pastor:
Pastor J. Mark Martin
Calvary Community Church
Dear Pastor J. Mark Martin:
Project Strait Gate visited Calvary Community Church for the second time Sunday. Sorry you were ill. I did have a short visit with Dan Holegate. Your staff extended courtesy to our vigil team, and we thank you. Yours is the first church where we have held a second vigil. Here is why:
Over a year ago we published “Sherry s War.” This 16-page report, which I have already provided to you and enclose again, resulted from a series of letters and interviews with a lady by that name. Sherry is outspoken in her belief that she has been “born again.” But without ever recognizing it, Sherry is a born again racist. She loves Israel, and she is at war with anyone who does not love Israel as she does. Israel, the state, is holy to Sherry. She candidly told us about her beliefs in her letters.
We did not print Sherry s surname or the name of her church in the report, but Pastor Martin, you know Sherry personally, because you are her teacher, and she was in your congregation.
Sherry did not talk to us about Iraq then, but she wrote plenty about her love and devotion for the state of Israel and her absolute condemnation of anyone who stood in Israel s path. Sherry s letters received many replies, which we also posted on the Internet. Some of the replies were from Muslims who were hurt and shocked by her callous words, which seemed to discount Muslims as people. Sherry didn t answer Muslims; instead she talked about them in third person. This, too, we published.
We found that Sherry is not an anomaly in evangelical churches. She is unusual only in that she spoke out. Her thinking is typical of most of the people who stopped Sunday to tell us how wrong we are to oppose the bombing of Iraq. Some complained specifically that we are not supporting the State of Israel. A surprising number equated concern for Iraqi children with opposition to Israeli policy. This is curious, because none of our posters mentioned Israel-they only mentioned Iraq. But the perception is correct, because Israel favors US bombing and sanctions against Iraq, including its children.
To many at Calvary, opposition to Israel appears to be a sin! Some told us so. We suspect they learned this from the Scofield Reference Bible or one of its clones, which declare anti-Semitism a “sin” and assert that God has pronounced judgment on “any country” that does not adequately honor Israel, the state.
Oxford University Press, which edits the Scofield Reference Bible, asserts that God granted Israel whatever land its leaders wish to claim for themselves, as long as it is between the Euphrates and the Nile, which is most of the Mideast, including half of Iraq. This seems to us to be a prescription for perpetual war! (see footnotes to Genesis 12:1 (2) and Genesis 15:1-7 (3) at the bottom of pages 19 and 20, 1967 Edition, Scofield.
Pastor, do you not teach that, when the United Nations divided the provinces called Palestine, it was a fulfilling of Bible prophecy? Sherry swears that this is so and that nothing can stand in its way. Most of those in your congregation were surprisingly unwilling to even accept literature on the subject of Iraq. One of our volunteers observed that the information we offered was treated like poison. They seem determined not to learn.
We Hold These Truths started Project Strait Gate in order to challenge racism in churches of America. Anti-Muslim or anti-Arab racism is just as evil as anti-Jewish racism and is much more prevalent, and it needs to be challenged. Only by doing this can we hope to stop serial wars, first in Iraq and then in Afghanastan, Israel and elsewhere.
American taxpayers must stop funding the killing; to do this, churches must take the lead in pronouncing morality. I observed this killing first hand in Gaza. Our research reveals that the USA s serial wars are glued together by the support of Judeo-Christian churches. Pat Robertson supports the bombing of Iraq and urges followers to call their congressmen to support the President s resolution on Iraq. Jerry Falwell claims that 70 million “evangelicals” stand with him in support of Israel s right to eject 2.5 million Palestinians from Israel. How can there be Peace? Don t you agree this is a pretty heavy responsibility for church leaders?
The New Testament is not tolerant of racism. The subject is treated in detail in Galatians, especially Ch 3: 28, a nice summary in one verse. It can be paraphrased: for those who are in Christ, there can be no racism or any other ism. Racism in your church is aimed at Muslims and Arabs; like Sherry, most of your congregants equate them with the Scofield-invented “sin” of anti-Semitism, because of the conflict with Israel.
Some of those who talked to us indicated that anti-Islam (Arab) race hatred shapes their opinions that war in Iraq is inevitable and justified, no matter what the human cost. One man in a “Jesus loves” tee shirt marched past my sign reading “IRAQ? WWJD?” to which he replied: “the Bible says there is a time for war, look it up.” This phrase occurs in the Bible, but Jesus and his followers did not say it. This man left human life in Iraq out of the equation.
Another man told two members of our team emphatically and deliberately “this is a pro-Israel church.” Curiously, not a single one of our signs mentions a word about Israel, but this man senses that any resistance to the war in Iraq is resistance to the will of Israel. He knows that Israel wants Iraq bombed, so he resents anyone opposing it. To him, as to Sherry, Israel has god status. This is no surprise to us because we visited your church in December and found an Israeli flag flying alone over the church. It is pictured on our website next to your church s sign. Yesterday we were pleased to see an American flag flying at half-mast on the same pole. But the Israeli flag still flies in your congregant s minds.
There is nothing unique about Calvary. On January 19 we visited another area church where we witnessed painful anti-Arab race hate reactions. You can read our report at (https://whtt.org/articles/030125.htm ). I am sure you will agree that what those Christians said and did is not “Christian.”
Racism and hatred of Muslims will grow as long as the State of Israel is portrayed as the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, as long as it is taught that Jews are a “chosen race,” and as long as it is taught that failure to love and honor the State of Israel is a “sin” in God s eyes. If you declare that one race–no matter which race–is superior to all the rest in God s eyes, there is no way to avoid radical racism. Is that not a lesson of history?
Pastor, what can we do together in the cause of Peace with Justice?
I am enclosing a copy of the tape, “The Islamic Threat” by Dr. David Morey. He is the most vile of the anti-Islamic racists we have found thus far. Dr. Morey s speech was recently recorded in Los Angeles, where he called for the “vaporizing” of Mecca, Medina, and the Dome of the Rock to end the “Muslim threat.” You will hear he says this in dead earnest, not a bad joke.
Your church bookstore sells books by Dr. Morey entitled “When it is Right to Fight,” “New Atheism” and “The Erosion of Freedom.” I hope you will stop selling them.
We can and should pronounce that neither Jesus nor his followers, as recorded in the New Testament of Jesus Christ, allow or condone the killing of children. This is especially true of children in a country 12,000 miles away who present no danger to us or to our own children. Nor can we provide the money for others to kill Arab children. If you know an exception to this, please let me know.
We are dealing with a life and death matter for millions. And, of course, there is His admonition about misguiding His sheep, a heavy burden that both of us bear. Let us work together to end serial wars, for a peace with justice.
Yours very truly,
Charles E. Carlson, Director
Must read books: (https://whtt.org/eshop.php)
SHERRY S WAR, by C. E. Carlson (16pages)
THE SOURCE OF OUR WAR PROBLEMS, WHY JUDEO CHRISTIANS DO NOT DEMAND PEACE, by C. E. Carlson (12pages)
THE FINAL APOSTASY – by Gordon Ginn Ph.D. ,218 pages $14.00
Is your church apostate, would you know it if it were? A book that reveals the untold historical and documented ex-post facto changes made in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament…after Christ. These changes have effected what all of us believe, from the Reformation to Day911. Ginn shed light on the turmoil in the Middle East and reveals the results of the some Christians tragic errors in accepting the “Final Apostasy
GOD S WRATH ON LEFT BEHIND – Exposing the Antichrist Agenda of the Left Behind Series, by Lisa Ruby, 215 page paperback, $15.00.
“God s Wrath” is a review of the mega-selling 10 book pulp fiction series, which masquerades as theology in make believe land. The writer has laboriously reviewed the entire series and explained the moral misdirection she found throughout. Much more, the book is a distillation of faulty theology. It provides a tidy explanation of what fundamental Christianity is and is not.
FORCING GOD S HAND by Grace Halsell, 165 pages $14.00.
Why millions pray for a quick rapture and destruction of planet earth. The author made several trips to the Holy Land and exposes Judeo-Christian mythology and the fruits of dispensationalism. Easy reading style and written by an around the world journalist and adventurous war correspondent.
