False Prophets Continue to Seek

 “Common Ground” About allah

“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31).

The efforts of many prominent Christian and so-called “Christian” spokesmen to make “Common Ground” with some Muslim leaders are ricocheting around Christendom. As you will learn from the excerpts below, many truly Biblical and orthodox believers are denouncing the signatories and demanding they withdraw. 

As you will see, these people (including myself) believe that signing the statement, although well-intentioned, is heresy and a betrayal of true Christianity and especially the divinity of Jesus Himself. Remember: JESUS IS LORD!

CitizenLink, an offshoot of Focus on the Family, wrote in January:

“An attempt by leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) to win friends and influence Muslims is alienating another group — evangelical Christians.”

“Reactions have been negative and strong. Islam expert Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo has called it a ‘betrayal’ and a ‘sellout’.  Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary (Southern Baptist), termed it ‘naiveté that borders on dishonesty.’”

“It appeared to leave the fundamentals of Christianity — especially the deity of Christ — open for discussion.”

“It even seemed to acknowledge allah as the God of the Bible.”

“The very name of the Muslim communiqué — A Common Word between Us and You — is from a verse in the Quran that condemns ‘people of the Scripture’ (Christians) for alleged polytheism (the doctrine of the Trinity).”

“Mohler said the agreement ‘sends the wrong signal’  and contains basic theological problems, especially in ‘marginalizing’ Jesus Christ.”

 “‘I just have to wonder how intellectually honest this is,’ he said. ‘Are these people suggesting that they wish the military conflict with Islam had ended differently — that Islam had conquered Europe?’”

“Gary Bauer, president of the Campaign for Working Families, told CitizenLink the NAE leaders ‘have left the (card) table without their pants — that is, they’ve been taken and may not even realize they’ve been taken.’”

 “‘I find it difficult to understand how senior evangelical leaders in the West can join hands with other Christians who actually are betraying the Christian faith (and) their Christian brothers and sisters in the Muslim world’ [Sookhdeo] said.” (emphases mine)

(Entire article here: CitizenLink: Evangelical Leaders Pledge Common Cause with Islam)

As reactions to “Common Ground” have grown, so have the defections. A CitizenLink article wrote (on February 11):

“The president and two other administrators of prestigious Wheaton College have asked that their names be removed from a controversial statement staking out so-called common ground between Christians and Muslims.”

“President Duane Litfin made the announcement in Friday’s edition of The Record student newspaper, saying he’d ‘moved too quickly’ in endorsing the flawed document. Provost Stanton Jones and Chaplain Stephen Kellough followed suit in having their names removed.”

“Litfin said he found the statement was ‘not carefully enough crafted to avoid encouraging that basic premise of civil religion, i.e., that we are all worshiping the same God.’”

 “To speak unqualifiedly of ‘our common love for God,’ as if the Quran’s allah and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ are one and the same, and as if what it means to ‘love God’ in these two faiths means the same thing, is to say more than I am willing to grant.” (emphases mine)

(Entire article here: CitizenLink: Support Weakens for Christian-Muslim Accord)

To me, the original support for “Common Ground” (318 prominent leaders) is dismaying. Here is a short list of some of their names:

Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals ¨ Harold W. Attridge, Dean of Yale Divinity School ¨ John M. Buchanan, Editor/Publisher, The Christian Century. ¨ David Yonggi Cho, Founder and Senior Pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, Seoul, Korea ¨ Rev. Richard Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals ¨ Harvey Cox, Harvard Divinity School ¨ Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA ¨ Timothy George, Dean, Beeson Divinity School ¨ Kim B. Gustafson, President, Common Ground Consultants, Inc. ¨ Heidi Hadsell, President, Hartford Seminary ¨ Joseph Hough, President, Union Theological Seminary in New York ¨ Bill Hybels, Founder and Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church ¨ Rev. John A. Koski, Assemblies of God, Dearborn, MI ¨ Sharon Kugler, University Chaplain, Yale University ¨ Rt. Rev. Peter J. Lee, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of Virginia ¨ Rick Love, International Director, Frontiers ¨ Brian D. McLaren, a leader of  the “Emerging Church” ¨ Mennonite Central Committee ¨ Richard Mouw, President, Fuller Theological Seminary ¨ David Neff, Editor in Chief, Christianity Today Media Group ¨ Doug Pennoyer, Dean, Biola University ¨ Steve Robbins, Pastor and Director, Vineyard Leadership Institute ¨ Rev. Dr. Robert Schuller, Founder, Crystal Cathedral and Hour of Power ¨ Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, feminist Professor, Harvard Divinity School ¨ C. L. Seow, Princeton Theological Seminary ¨ Mark Siljander, Member of the U.S. Congress (r) ¨  John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Regent College, Vancouver, Canada ¨ Rev. Dr. John Stott ¨ Jim Wallis, President, Sojourners ¨ Rick Warren, Founder and Senior Pastor, Saddleback Church, and The Purpose Driven Life, Lake Forest, CA

[Please note that this is only a partial list of hundreds who signed originally and more who are joining everyday.]

It is also very upsetting that NO JEWS have been invited to participate in this dialogue. It is alleged that this was purposefully designed by anti-Israel Christians who helped the 138 Muslims write their original statement.  (see Christian Newswire: Inter-Faith Dialogue or Propaganda Tool? )

It is very obvious that people who teach, speak and write about Christianity do not seem to treasure the core essentials of our Faith, and are therefore willing to throw the Trinity under the bus for the sake of an illusory peace which will never happen.

Also, it is clear that they have not studied Islam to see how radically it differs from Christianity in its understandings about God, Jesus, His Crucifixion and Resurrection, Heaven, Salvation, God’s Love, Forgiveness, etc.  These people should be ashamed!

So, here we have some possible Prayer Targets:

1.      Again, Lord, we have to REPENT for misrepresenting You and leading millions of people astray;  

2.      Please FORGIVE us Lord, for not being Bereans; for not LOVING and OBEYING Your Word! We do not seem to know who You are, so we collaborate with people who worship IDOLS;  

3.      These Muslims and Christian-oriented people are DECEIVED!  Please deliver us and ESTABLISH YOUR TRUTH!

Harry Valentine, CHPA Founder/Publisher

P.S.:

In case you have not yet seen it, here is a link to John Piper’s very important analysis of this topic:

   John Piper on "A Common Word Between Us"

Christian Leaders Betray Jesus:

 Seek “Common Ground” with Islam’s allah

 “And I give them eternal life… I and My Father are one… that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him” (Jn 10:28, 30, 38b). 

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live’” (Jn 11:25). 

“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22-23). 

For several months a religious war has been raging – between so-called Christian “leaders” and more biblically and historically orthodox theologians, writers and activists.

For me the most troubling aspect is that these “leaders” agree with Muslim leaders that we share the same “God”. 

ANYONE who has studied the two religions should know that this is heresy, a betrayal of Jesus, poppycock, ridiculous and SAD!

Why is it SAD? Because respected pastors, theologians, writers, etc – who should know better – have heaved Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, kingship and divinity under the bus for the sake of “peace” and “common ground” with another religion (2 Cor 11:4; Gal 1:6).

To further understand what this is all about, please first listen to John Piper’s very important analysis:

John Piper on "A Common Word Between Us"

(In the above link, John Piper  discusses   "A Common Word Between Us and You" and the response to it from 300 Christian leaders.)

Joseph Farah calls this effort “wishful thinking”:

“It was predictable in this age of wishful thinking.”

“After 138 Muslim leaders last month wrote an open letter to Christendom calling ostensibly for peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding, self-proclaimed Christian leaders and other celebrity Christians took the bait.”

“The appropriate response would have been to search their own Scriptures, to get down on their knees to beseech God to give them wisdom, to seek the counsel of others, particularly those expert on Islam, history and the persecution of the church in Muslim lands.”

“Among more than 100 theologians, ministry leaders and prominent pastors, signing the letter were Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church and Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.”

“As a Christian myself, I want to make it very clear these men do not speak for me. More importantly, I do not believe they speak for Jesus.”

 “The word ‘Muslim’ literally means ‘one who submits to allah.’ In other words, far from attempting to find common ground with Christians, these Muslim leaders are in fact using the words of their own ‘holy book’ to proclaim themselves as the only true monotheists in the world today.”

“In the eyes of orthodox Islam… Jews and Christians must stop accepting lies, submit to Islam, become Muslims or accept the harsh treatment they deserve…”

“Jesus did not teach believers to seek common ground with the world. He did not teach us to conform ourselves to the ways of those who deny Him.” (emphases mine)

Entire Article Here: Begging Forgiveness of Islam?

I commend to you a very helpful article by Gary Bauer in which he reviews the history of Islam’s use of JIHAD from the 700’s to advance its goal of world domination. Here are two excerpts from this very good article:  

“Western civilization again faces a defining moment in the struggle to defend itself against an enemy that seeks its demise.  Sadly, however, many in the West today, including many Christians, fail to understand what’s at stake:  the continuation of our way of life and even our very lives.” 

“I caution against the false hope of letters like ‘Loving God and Neighbor Together.’ At the end of the day, an enemy committed to the total destruction of western civilization must be defeated.  It is essential that Christians recognize that any attempts at finding ‘common ground’ or ‘mutual understanding’ with Muslims will be fruitless unless and until Muslims stand up to confront their co-religionists’ use of faith to justify violence and the annihilation of the west.” 

Entire Article Here: Can Christians and Muslims Reconcile?

In closing, I must admit to you that I am both puzzled and saddened by the blindness, ignorance and political correctness of very significant men who call themselves “Christians”. Jesus’ deity is non-negotiable; He, not Muhammed nor allah, is The Only Way (Jn 14:6; 10:9).  They have become false prophets! 

How far have we fallen! Listen to John Piper! PRAYER and TRUTH are our only hopes and TRUTH can only be found in Jesus (John 1:14). 

 Join us in Prayer: 

1. That these “leaders” will be effectively rebuked, understand and repent;

2. That pastors, priests, theologians, activists will come to a true understanding about Islam, jihad, allah, etc;

3. That we will be able to Love the Muslims, while definitively explaining Biblical Truth about each member of the Trinity.  JESUS IS LORD! 

 Additional Relevant Articles:

Influential Theologian Troubled by Christian-Muslim Dialogue

Evangelical Leaders Pledge Common Cause with Islam

Harry Valentine, CHPA Founder/Publisher

Are Democrats and Their Candidates ‘Traitors’? 

“Woe to you, O traitor” (Is 33:1) 
“But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was a traitor… Therefore Shalmaneser seized him and put him in prison.” (2 Kings 17:4; see also: Neh 13:4) 

It is not always difficult to detect TRAITORS, especially when they are in full view as they cast their votes in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.   

Democrats (including candidates Obama and Clinton) have shown again that they did not mean it when they promised to PROTECT you and me from terrorist (read jihadist) attacks.   

“Harry, how can you say that with such certainty?” you may ask.   

My answer: “Read the excerpts below regarding the renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).   Democrats do not want to allow this to be renewed, thereby emasculating our intelligence operations.”   

You may wonder why elected Americans would continuously block this very important legislation.  Here are a few educated guesses:  

1. Democrats do not take this War seriously;
2. Democrats are basically anti-war pacifists;
3. Democrats are against everything President Bush proposes;
4. Democrats are controlled by a group of significant leftist organizations; in this case MoveOn.com, the ACLU and trial lawyers;
5. Trial Lawyers do not favor the protection granted to telecommunication companies; they want to SUE them! 

According to a Heritage Foundation memo, this behavior of the Democrats is “to the detriment of national security”.  If their politics encourage our sworn enemies (people who intend to murder as many of us as possible), are these “leaders” not committing “treason” (Webster: “betraying one’s country”)?
Here are some excerpts to help you understand this matter:  

From the Heritage Foundation:

 “The Senate is on the verge of passing legislation to extend the important intelligence surveillance authorities of the Protect America Act, passed six months ago. Those authorities, set to expire on February 1, allow the intelligence services to conduct surveillance of communications between persons located outside of the United States when the communications happen to pass through domestic networks. Without this fix, approving such intercepts of solely international communicants would become an even lengthier and more onerous process—one never intended even by the Congress that passed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)—to the great detriment of national security.”

“In addition, the Senate legislation grants retroactive immunity to telecom providers that, in good faith, worked with the government in its surveillance programs, a fair and crucial step to encourage future cooperation on security matters.”

Entire memo: The Intelligence Community Needs Clear - and Permanent - FISA Reform

From Human Events:

“Republican Senate leaders fell well short of the 60 votes needed to end debate on the bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill…” 

“Democrats are still playing chicken with national security.” 

“[T]hese Democrats… are willing to deprive our intelligence gatherers of the ability they now have to disrupt terrorist attacks, prevent terrorists from entering the US and discover terrorists’ disguises.  Those are actions we usually associate with enemies and their agents, not allies or fellow Americans.” 

Entire article: FISA Cloture Vote Failed Monday  

[Last Wednesday, Congress avoided killing FISA by passing a pathetic 15 day extension which will expire next week.] 

How do we PRAY? 

1.      REPENT!  As Christians we are all responsible for the deterioration of our culture (see my last Alert of Feb 1 – Dan 9: 4f);

2.      Ask the Lord to CONVICT these politicians of their wicked ways (Hab 1: 12-13);

3.      MAY FISA PASS! 

Harry Valentine, CHPA Founder/Publisher

The (Sad) “Spiritual” State of the Union 

“If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?” (Ps 11:3) 

While President Bush and his liberal, pagan opponents vied with each other to put forth their respective spins on “The State of the Union”, not one mentioned The Lord, to give Him the Honor He is due, nor to thank Him for our founding (which was His doing), our founding principles and the men and women who participated in that historic process.  Nor did they thank the Lord for being merciful to us in general and for protecting us in 2008. 

This tells a lot about the “Spiritual” State of the Union.   

“The wicked shall be turned into Hell,
and all the nations that forget God.”
(Ps 9:17, emphasis mine – see also Job 8:13; Ps 50:22)  

Notice here that “nations that forget God” are defined as “wicked”.  We are becoming a “wicked nation” because we are deliberately removing Him from our thoughts, history, public squares, and even from the American Church.   

1.      The Church – In general, the Church is creating another god (see Gal 1:6-9; Amos 2:4-5); not the Biblical God of mercy, love and justice, but a god who winks at sin and doesn’t have or enforce laws and standards to which we MUST conform.  This Church believes He even shares His Preeminence with a moon-god called “allah” (at least that’s what President Bush told the Arabs during his recent tour of the Middle East) – (see article:  In Heart of Islamic World, Bush Puts Forth His Faith includes quote by President Bush: “I pray to the same God as a Muslim prays.”) 

So-called “evangelical” church leaders water the Christian message down, deny the significance of abortion and homosexual marriage, and sponsor public meetings with avowed pro-abortionists and Muslim leaders to see if we can’t all “just get along”. 

(see related articles: Evangelical Leaders Pledge Common Cause with Islam; and Rick Warren: “the future of the world is not secularism, it’s religious pluralism.”  Also see our Alert of 12/20 Abominations! .) – (see Rom 16:17; Gal 1:8-9; 1 Cor 5:11)  

The American Church has ceased to be “salt and light” with a true prophetic message (Amos 8:11-12).  It is becoming increasingly irrelevant and occasionally is being helpful to opponents of true Christianity. 

2.      The American Government – With many wonderful and heroic exceptions, pagans are succeeding in running our governments (Federal, state and local).  Thus, wicked laws are being enacted (see Isa 10:1) - (e.g., funding for Planned Parenthood; homosexual unions, benefits and privileges; and ever-larger governments with more and more regulations, control, intrusions and almost confiscatory taxes) – (see 1 Kgs 12:8-11; Ezek 46:18; Luke 3:12-13).  

3.      The Culture – Once-upon-a-time, we had a culture based on Judeo-Christian values and understandings.  Now we have a culture obsessed with Hollywood, Las Vegas, sex, immorality, pornography, celebrity, materialism, etc.  This certainly contributes to the declination of the “Spiritual” State of the Union (Num 25:1; Ezek 8:6f; Rom 1:28, 1 Cor 5:1).  

4.      Turning Against Israel and Towards Islam – In past Alerts (see Nov 21^st and 28^th ) I have explained how it is spiritually very dangerous to go against God’s Prophetic Words about “cursing” Israel and, specifically about participating in dividing the land God gave the Israelites as an “everlasting possession” (see Gen 17:8).  These days it is worse because we are “initiating” it and “bullying” Israel into accepting it, seemingly for selfish ambition and very impure Presidential motives (see Jms 4:3-5).

“I truly believe President Bush's travels were partially motivated by relationship-building for future earning purposes. His three-day, two-night visit to Riyadh gave him an opportunity to spend a lot of time with King Abdullah, who has enormous influence in the Middle East.” Bill Koenig 

The natural and spiritual consequences of these (and similar previous efforts by Bush 41 and Bill Clinton) are obvious for those who have Biblical understandings.  For example, many believe that our declining status in the world and the meltdown in our economy are the results of our touching and cursing the “apple of His Eye” (Joel 3:2; Zech 2:8-9; 21:1-9). 

At the same time our governments, academics, media, entertainment industry and business world are becoming more and more “politically correct”, giving Islam protected status.  Why?  Because it isn’t that “evil Christianity”, and also “woe to your head if you don’t”.   

5.      Multiculturalism – This “theology” and “philosophy” has dominated our thinking for many decades.  At its core it is “anti-Christian”, trumpeting and enforcing a “moral equivalence” between all religions and cultures.  So, if no religion is misguided (except Biblical Christianity and its “one way” belief-system), how can America expect to be blessed if it forcibly kicks out the King of Kings (see related articles: Multiculturalism promoting Islamic extremism; and Crayons and Qurans. Also see our Alert of 12/20 Abominations!)  For a very thorough analysis of the disastrous effect of multiculturalism, see Diana West’s new book: The Death of the Grown-Up. 

6.      The Youth of America – I must mention “The Spiritual State of our Youth”.  Again, with wonderful sparkling exceptions, the young generation is LOST!  It has given itself over to the pornification of America and is virtually unaware of, and disinterested in, Biblical Christianity.  Oh, yes, many wear crosses as jewelry, but their hearts are with their cell phones, the Internet, My Space accounts, lesbian Ellen Degeneres, Brittany, etc. If the youth are lost, so will the nation be as well!  (Rom 1:28; Ps 112:1-2; Prov 19:27; Prov 22:6) 

And much of the responsibility can be laid at the feet of the irrelevant, pathetic, seeker-friendly or legalistic Church.   

7.      The International Community – Lastly, you may not be aware of it, but the United States’ sovereignty is vanishing.  We are slowly giving over control to anti-Christian international organizations which decide what we can and cannot do, believe or think (e.g., the UN, the World Court, WTO, EU, NATO, etc.) – (see our Sep 24 and Oct 26 Alerts about the Law of the Sea Treaty [LOST]).  

These organizations all HATE us and our Judeo-Christian way of life, beliefs, traditions and, especially our God-given Constitution.  Their rulings are hurtful to American interests, senseless, totalitarian and pagan (see Ps 2 - all).  

How can our “spiritual state” be good with this going on (see Ps 11:3)? 

_____ 

So, first we must be aware this is happening.  CHRISTIANS, AWAKE!  The “Spiritual” State of Our Nation is rotten!  

Read Daniel’s famous prayer in Chapter Nine!  As a member of his nation which was being ravaged by barbarians, Daniel accepted his share of responsibility and REPENTED; so must you and I:  

“We have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments… 

“O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him…  

“As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth…  

“O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.  (Dan 9:5, 8, 9, 13, 19)” 

Please join me in this prayer (or something similar):  

“Lord, we have sinned so grievously!  We have allowed this beautiful nation and civilization to be overtaken by barbarians.  

“We have not resisted and fought hard for Truth, Righteousness and Justice.  

“We have allowed You to be mocked, ignored, misrepresented and, finally, rejected and replaced by idols of our own making.  

“Is it too late?  Have You given us over?  Will You give us another chance?  We pray You will.   

“Lord, hear, forgive and ACT! In Jesus’ Name, Amen. (Ps 119:126; Ezek 24:14) ”   

Harry Valentine, CHPA Founder/Publisher