Who is Charles E. Carlson & why does he picket churches?

Although I am not a Christian Zionist but rather a Reformed Christian, this is asinine and it happens in Sacramento too much.  A friend, Victor Styrsky, who is the Eastern Regional Coordinator for Christians United for Israel sent a message around to some of his friends.  It seems Charles E. Carlson of Strait Gates Ministry is going to picket “Celebrating Israel’s Concert” at Trinity Life Center in Sacramento where Abe Daniel is the pastor.

Carlson attempts to make himself sound legit when he writes letters to the offending church and then pickets. But he is not, he is an anti-Semitic bigot.

I have written several blog postings which mention him and his organization. In one I point out that in his bookstore he offers books by Gorden Ginn a denier of the Holocaust.[1]He is also quoted on one of Stephen Sizer’s blog postings.*  Sizer quotes him writing that the Jewish immigrants to Israel, in fact all Jews, are not related to ancient Israel:

  The poll results state that 73% of those polled think "God's covenant with the Jewish people" continues today, and only 22% say it does not. It should be noted here that this is a Judeo-Christian give-away, since it is based on a false premise. The Pew Forum and all Evangelicals need to understand that there never was an Old Testament covenant with "the Jewish people." Most Evangelicals, radical or moderate, fail to properly distinguish the ancient tribe of Israelites from the Jews of today, and in particular, the Jewish inhabitants of the modern secular Jewish state of Israel. This error is the result of scriptural distortion that is encouraged by the State of Israel and its lobbies in the USA, and by the Israel-friendly press.

He has two articles on his web site about the 9-11 destruction of the WTC. The earliest one blames America’s friendship with Israel for such terrorism. Among other things he writes:

The international banks that office in NYC are among those who fund the wars, and Arabs know it. Arab and Islamic states believe they have been impoverished by internationalist Israeli-Patriot bankers, while being murdered by the Pentagon based Warmakers who control our government. They believe this because the record is clear that the acts of the Bankers and the Warmakers have combined to destroy Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine with Israeli personnel and US weapons;

In the later article Carlson has become a truther, that is, he believes that the destruction was an inside job although he admits he does not know who committed the crime.

Carlson has a weakness for blaming national and world events on the Jews and Christian Zionist. Writing of the many mass murders in recent national news, Carlson blames most on Christian Zionist. Writing of YWAM, Faith Bible Church, Ted Haggard and Matthew Murray, Carlson blames his killing spree on Christian Zionism and Israel. In a later article on Adam Lanza and his horrific killing spree in Newtown CT, Carlson does the same thing.  In fact with the article, “Reclaiming Judeo-Christians Still More Blood On Judeo-Christians’ Hands,” he turns the killing into a conspiracy, writing that “most of the killers are anything but dumb. A pattern is already emerging in the Lanza attack, which I predict will be kept secret from us. Whereas the incident will be used as political grist for various agendas by those who control our President.”  

So this is the man, Charles E. Carlson, he does not believe that the Jews are descendants of ancient Israel, he does not believe that God ever had a covenant with the Jews, he is willing to use holocaust denier’s material, he blames horrific tragedy on Christian Zionists, he is willing to believe that 9-11 was an inside job.

Carlson is picketing a church that, while I don’t agree with everything they teach nonetheless, possesses compassion, not denying the needs of other people. Carlson, who says he does not believe in war nonetheless is capable of causing great conflict both among Christians and among Palestinians and Israelis with his own teaching. He is so one sided that he uses conspiracy theories to bolster his views. May God protect all people from such a one as this.

* see http://stephensizer.blogspot.com/2011/07/is-zionism-losing-ground-among.html

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[1] Carlson’s bookstore is, as far as I can tell, is no longer connected to his ministry site. But it is still on the web.