Rense.com

 
Open LetterTo Messrs. Falwell,
Robertson, Swaggert, Etc

11-17-2

Dear Esteemed Sirs:
 
For many years now, Christians everywhere in the world have looked to you for guidance and counsel, and to light their path to the Cross and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Forgiver, Redeemer and Savior. In this regard, your every word is special and important, for they become the opinions and attitude-builders of many millions of Christians. Your prominence and position as leaders of vast numbers of Christians the world over, carry a great weight and are a most terrible responsibility delegated to you by God himself. It is therefore with great care and attention that you should speak publicly, always ensuring that your pronouncements are validated by the pure word of scripture, and reflect the humility and love of Jesus Christ.
 
This is why I am dismayed and disturbed by the recent rash of statements made by you and your peers, and why I am not encouraged by the fact that no Christian anyway has taken you to task for uttering those statements. Please do not misunderstand. I am quite aware of my lack of qualification and I am certainly not one to criticize such esteemed gentlemen as you. However, I feel that in this case, at least, you have failed to represent the real interest of Christianity, or for that matter, to truly represent Christ. In this regard, therefore, it is my duty to speak out.
 
Already there has been much embarrassment as one of you has already had to apologize for stating that "Mohammed was a terrorist", and I do not doubt that decent Muslims will be demanding similar apologies for other statements. The evidence of the effect of such a hate-filled statement was the rioting it occasioned in India. This is also the evidence that persons such as you must be careful in public speech. You well know how Christians respond when Jesus is portrayed in an unfavorable light in books, movies and plays. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Pr. 23:7) I am troubled that such prominent leaders of the Christian Churches in the World should be now revealing a serious "heart" problem, and that their words, motivating to so many innocent people, point to a heart contaminated with hatred, not Christian love.
 
It saddens me to think that you harbor such thoughts of hatred against Muslims as is revealed in such statements as "what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse than the Holocaust", attributed to Mr. Robertson; "We ought to tell every other Muslim living in this nation that if you say one word, you're gone", attributed to Mr. Swaggart, and also his characterization of Mohammed as a "sex-deviant". Why are you so intent on stoking the fires of war in the Mid-East? What is the Christian role in all this? What side should the Christian take in this conflict? It seems very clear that you have chosen a side. I wonder if you have consulted the Bible, and specifically the words of your savior, Jesus Christ, to find out what he thinks?
 
It might be well to bear in mind the fact that the Arabs are the seed of Abraham, the father and progenitor of their brothers, the Jews. He was forced by his wife to abandon Hagar and the child he fathered in her. Of course, we have a massive system in place now to ensure that abandoned mothers and children do not become a burden to the State and that the fathers take care of them. However, back then, this system did not exist and Hagar and her son, left to die in the desert, survived only by the mercy of an intervening God. As such, regardless of their current religious orientation, for those who claim to believe the Bible is the word of God, respect for the children of Abraham is a duty. This may be a weak point, but we must not forget that these Arabs are also originally tied to the Bible as the seed of Abraham. If what you have expressed can even be remotely described as Christian respect, then you have certainly missed the point of Christianity, and your followers also.
 
Jesus was very clear on these things. His teachings are precise and unambiguous. He stung his listeners by telling them to "love your enemies. Do good to them that curse you" (Luke. 6:37) "Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you" (Matt. 5:44) Now if your enemy keeps on cursing you, even after you have blessed him, you might want to look at what you are doing wrong to earn his cursing. Jesus also said, "turn the other cheek." Are such teachings now out of fashion among professing Christians? Many seem too willing to kill for their religion. But who is ready to die for it as Christ was? He also said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself". This important statement is mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and repeated again in different ways in such books as Acts, Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, Hebrews and James, obviously a very important concern. Once, a clever lawyer sought to trap Jesus by asking him, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus' reply was to recount the story of the Good Samaritan.
 
 
The point, however, is that we are all neighbors on this planet. The Samaritan did not care that the man he was nursing back to life was someone who hated him and someone who might have left him for dead, had the roles been reversed. The Christian's duty is to show the love of Jesus to all men without discriminating. The Christian's love must be like the cloud-raining on everyone, good and bad, like the Sun-shining on everyone, good and bad, unconditional, just like our Savior's. Otherwise it makes a mockery of the statement "love the sinner, not the sin".
 
The most important point that I want to make, however, is this, that you have obviously not consulted the Words of Jesus, in order to understand the Christian's duty at this most difficult and dangerous time. It is a time of woe and great tribulation. That much is evident. It is a time of great deception, and of wars and rumors of wars. In all this, Jesus has very kindly instructed his followers how to react and deal with such a situation. His instructions are found in the Sermon on the Mount. Please read it carefully and instruct your followers to study it day and night. There, you will find Jesus describing the nature of the true Christian. He says, "Blessed are they who 1) are seeking God; 2) who mourn; 3) who are humble; 4) who hunger and thirst after righteousness; 5) who are merciful; 6) who are pure in heart (sinless); 7) who are peacemakers; 8) who have suffered persecution. There are also specific blessings from God attached to each quality.
 
We will have no difficulty today identifying the true Jesus follower because, not only is he seeking God and hungering and thirsting after righteousness with a pure, sinless heart, you will also find him mourning, sorrowing for the great sins that are being committed on the planet, humbly going about his business because he knows that God says that "to this man will I look who is humble, of a contrite heart and trembles at my word" (Isa. 66:2). You will know him because he is full of compassion for all, even the less fortunate animals, what to speak of other human beings. And you will know him because, in spite of all persecutions, he endeavors to stand on the side of peace, promoting peace, making peace by becoming himself peaceful in the grace of God and representing that quality to all. Please tell me how this description in Matthew 5, describes you, your words or your congregation which has not taken you to task for uttering them.
 
The Lord has placed you in your high positions as leaders of the Christian flock, at least, he has allowed you to occupy those positions. Why should we not expect to see in you the epitome of the qualities spoken of by Jesus and elaborated on by Paul in the book of Galatians? Where is the love that Paul demands of the true follower? Should it not be evidenced in you? And if you do not have it, how can you give it to your flock? And why should they follow you if you do not dispense the pure message of Jesus and the love of Christ?
 
Sirs, I humbly request that you withdraw your statements, apologize to those attacked by them, and also to the nation and your congregations for using your God-assigned office to misrepresent the pure message of Jesus. Kindly study these simple teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5, and Paul's discourse on the "Fruits of the Spirit" in Galatians, and instruct your followers worldwide to meditate on these things daily. How else can you and they learn to embody the teachings of Jesus, and represent them to the world thus earning his blessings? He has given the instructions for hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Why not follow them?
 
In Love,
 
Malcolm Owensby







MainPage
http://www.rense.com


This Site Served by TheHostPros