Project Strait Gate Vigil for Peace was held on October 13, at “the Promise Keepers UNLEASHED” outside the Glendale Arena, the future Arizona site of Superbowl 2008.
Our hope is that we may have encouraged some Promise Keepers to unleash a worthwhile effort, why not “UNLEASH PEACE AND JUSTICE”? Sadly, PK s loving complacency and self-satisfaction at being a man of purpose among real men who ride Harleys, falls short. Our message is presently to the minority, but a fast growing one judging from this event.
Project Strait Gate s Vigil for Peace was rewarding beyond our expectations. The attendees, some wearing “UNLEASHED” black tee shirts, were warmed up by a rock band and a parade of pricey and noisy bikes called THE THUNDER, who unleashed a “real men” theme. But beneath the tee shirts and “hug a brother” attitude is the emptiness of PK s message that makes commitment seem to be a veneer. Based on the responses of the majority, commitment to the State of Israel is iron clad; commitment to ending serial wars is officially absent.
Promise Keepers has in past years collected pledges from attendees “supporting the troops”. Nevertheless, the leadership contends they are war neutral. IT IS AGAIN TIME TO CALL THIS ORGANIZATION TO BE A PEACEMAKER. The best way to support the troops is to bring them home before they become serial killers. To see and learn about our past vigils at Promise Keepers and to read our letter to Coach Bill McCartney: https://whtt.org/straitgate/index.php?id=73
Strait Gate s primary purpose is to let everyone inside, especially the presenters, know that someone thinks it is important too.
I was on the private parking lot of the Arena without an eighty-nine dollar wristband, passing out our literature and wondering how long it would take for someone to usher me off the official premises, as the disciples were usually ushered out of the synagogues. The pockets of my slightly too large sport coat(an asset in this job)were crammed with three hundred folded flyers and Pro-life, No-War bookmarks.
A powerful younger man, a former Marine, I was later to learn, stood in front of Promise keepers main entrance with a megaphone and Orange armband, one of many local volunteers at the Promise Keepers Extravaganza. I spoke to him, and he started off with a big smile. “Great hat” he said,(he liked my fedora) in fact your dress is just perfect”, he added. I thanked him and offered him a flyer to read: “FOLLOW CHRIST, REJECT “CHRISTIANITY”. He read the first line and his demeanor darkened:
“The evangelical church s stated reason for attacking Islam is Muslim “militancy.” The Christian Right s leaders managed to read far enough into a Qur an to find passages about conflict with other tribes in the 7th Century when the book was scribed.”
“You sound like you are for Muslims, let me tell you I have been there, I served 12 years in the Marines and I was in Iraq the first time and they are killers.” He continued non-stop to the effect that whatever the Israelis do to the “Philistines” is justified by the biblical accounts in the Old Testament where “God told the Israelites to spare no one but to cleanse the land.” This kill them all at God s instructions is a common theme among devout evangelicals, and this one has been through jar-hard kill-kill-kill-a-raghead training.
He charged on, continued with detail explaining that today s Arabs are the same as the Philistines, and today s Israelis are the same as the Israelites, therefore, the stories in Joshua and other Old Testament accounts of slaughter are, he said, as applicable today as they were 3000 years ago. The Marine stated he believes we are empowered by those stories to wipe out “Philistines” today, and he went on to remind me God punished the Israelites when they failed to kill all the Philistines. This was a one-sided conversation, he had a lot to say about killing Arabs with no reservation at all, and not thirty feet from the Entrance to the meeting of “real men.”
This “Christian” Marine firmly believes (or rationalizes) that these Bible stories justify his own acts in Iraq in 1991. There, he told me, he was part of the machine called Desert Storm and was in an armored tank battalion on the deserts of Kuwait. He stopped just short of telling me the details, though I gave him plenty of rope.
There were things he did not tell me that I know. I told him that his side slaughtered an entire entrapped and defenseless army of Iraqi youth in a few days, and plowed the evidence under the sands of Kuwait. He explained justification for the slaughter by telling me (falsely) that Iraqis “surround themselves with their own children as body shields.” That is why so many civilians are killed.
It was here I reined in the Marine by pulling out my very small pocket size New Testament, which I held to his forehead and shamed him for lying. “How dare you take God s name in vain”, I told him, “don t you fear lying to me and telling me God empowered you to kill Iraqi boys and girls?” “Where in this Book of Jesus own words do you find justification for being a hired killer for your government?” This ended the conversation, but he did put “FOLLOW CHRIST, REJECT “CHRISTIANITY” in his pocket. Maybe his conscience will bring him to read it.
Some hundreds of flyers disappeared into the gate in the hands of attendees before I aroused enough attention to get me ushered off the parking lot by two security guards. It was worth it, in only half an hour I was able to salt one side of the promise keepers convention with a bit of truth in a sea of feathers and biblical fluff.
Another attendee was Freshman Congressman Trent Franks who was looking for a parking place for his giant black Escalade when our eyes met…he waved. Four or five pro-life and pro-Trent Franks bumper stickers garnished his tailgate. As the Congressman parked I was able to give my flier to his right side passenger as he exited, and no doubt Franks will get it. Project Strait Gate picketed him at his fund raising breakfast last spring. It is worth the trip to have a pro-Bush war supporting Congressman see our team, with signs on the street handing out challenging literature in his district (1).
The female security guard scolded me as she ushered me from the parking lot. “Don t you know you are not supposed to on our private property” she asked, you are supposed to stay on the street.” “Yes, I know it, but I also know you must give me a warning first, don t you?” She took a flyer as did most security guards.
A lady named Oneeda was having a great time on the street. It seems security had kept her company for the hour I was gone. First they tried to intimidate her by misquoting the law (“this sidewalk is private property”) to which the lady stood her ground. “I think I will wait until the police come,” she told them, “they will know who owns this sidewalk, and I think it is public ground.”
Oneeda told me she overheard many cell phone conversations, including some to Promise Keepers about “these demonstrators.” She overheard discussion sbout our team on the other side of the arena who seemed to have the security team upset. Promise Keepers management was also fretting about it, they know us well.
A half hour later there was still no police and Oneeda was still on her corner. One of the guards told her that they had located the City Attorney at home to get a ruling….the sidewalk is public domain! Oneeda not as nervous as the guards, she never budged facing the influx of traffic with the two giant yellow signs, CHOOSE LIFE, not WAR, and the other identifying We Hold These Truths with our website and phone number close at hand.
The West entrance report was even more encouraging. Formally dressed Katherine, stood at a temporary entrance in a construction zone where every person entering must file through what we named “the strait gate”. She passed out about half of the 950 odd pieces of literature that disappeared into the arena to “Leaven the whole loaf.” Conversation at her gate was constant and sometimes prolonged from 4:30pm till after sundown. It turned out Katherine was standing on a right of way and did not know it. An inverted funnel-like entrance was erected of temporary fences in the middle of what is normally a public street leading to parking. God had provided a place to stand at the Strait Gate!
One vigil team member reported a productive conversation with a seminary student who stood at the strait gate for thirty minutes waiting for a friend. The conversation between the two was continuous and rewarding, and at the parting, the student understood Project Strait Gate, and you may bet he will never forget it because he made many statements of agreement.
There has never been a bad vigil; four determined persons with six signs leavened the loaf of 4-5000 Promise Keepers. It is all in the signs, timely literature copied from (www.whttt.org) and a few people who mean business. God will bring forth his remnant from every church when the truth is available, the right people will see it in our flyers.
Christian-Zionist churches and dispensational organizations, including PROMISE KEEPERS, continue to be the largest, most vocal and compromised supporters of Serial wars BECAUSE THEY ARE DECEIVED.
Signs:
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS
CHOOSE LIFE, NOT WAR.
NO MORE WARS FOR ISRAEL
WHO WOULD JESUS BOMB
START A PROJECT STRAIT GATE IN YOUR TOWN
Everything is provided, except a little courage.
P O Box 14491
Scottsdale, AZ 85267, 480 947 3329
info@whtt.org
