My thoughts on a Presbyterian News Service article ...

After writing that the Presbyterian News Service had not published any information on the attacks against Egyptian Christians and their churches by the Muslim Brotherhood, the PNS did so today, August 22, more then a week after the fiery persecution began. The article entitled “PC (U.S.A.) Partners in Egypt call for Peace in Wake of Violence: Several Christian Churches, Bookstores Have Been Destroyed” is written by Bethany Daily. There is helpful information in this article but it also raises some questions about the ideological positions of the PNS.

One helpful part of the article is its links to the Presbyterian mission page for Egypt with its many links to information. And the article covers statements by several Christian leaders in Egypt, including the Secretary General of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Egypt, Rev. Refat Fathy and Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Church.

But I was troubled by the title of the piece which included the information that “several churches” and “bookstores have been destroyed.” And I was curious that the main title turned the article toward a call for peace as though this was the most important issue to be reported. So I will address both of these issues.

My concern with the statement about several churches and bookstores being destroyed is how it belittles the situation. One thinks of maybe two or perhaps three when the word several is used. But this was not a mere event but an overwhelming catastrophe. The AsiaNews.it carried a report which not only provides numbers but the names of the churches as well as other institutions which were burnt. Of Catholic Churches and Convents there were fourteen (Some of these are Coptic). Of Orthodox and Evangelical Churches there were 35 (Some of these are also Coptic). Of Christian institutions including the Bible Society there were nine. 58 houses and 85 shops belonging to Christians were burnt. 16 pharmacies and 3 hotels were burnt. 75 cars and buses were burnt. Seven Christians were killed.

And this belittling of the persecution also belittles the Christian leaders' call for forgiveness and an end to violence. The bigger issue here is the pain and suffering that the Christians of Egypt are going though and how it will be resolved. Their call for peace and forgiveness is both amazing and expected but it is not the story. The story is about the suffering of fellow Christians. There are of course some side stories such as the one about the Muslim woman who offered shelter to three nuns who were being paraded through the streets as prisoners of war. There is the video of an old man who in the midst of ruin just keeps sweeping the ashes out of the church because it is his home. There is the sad detail that a monastery after holding services for 1600 years will miss a service.

An urge to promote peace is not about peace if it fails to show real concern, compassion and a sense of the humanity of those who are true victims.

An indistinct sound: the bugles of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle. (1 cor. 14:8)

Paul, in 1 Corinthians, writes about speaking in tongues and the need for clarity in the message that is given. He upholds as a better means of clarity, revelation, knowledge, prophecy and teaching. I would like to say that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is speaking in tongues. The messages are truly indistinct. Here are several examples.

On Twitter, World Mission Director, Hunter Farrell linked to a letter from Rev. Refat Fathy, the General Secretary of the Evangelical Presbytery Church in Egypt. Fathy explains the situation including the reality that the gatherings of the Muslim Brotherhood “included armed banditry that terrorized citizens and showed contempt for the law, and defied the authority of the state.” He went on to explain the violence that happened to churches and Christian businesses and gave a complete outline of how Christians must act in the midst of the turmoil.

I contrast this with the prayer Stated Clerk, Gradye Parsons offered. Neither Parsons or anyone else from the office of the General Assembly have acknowledged the great suffering of the Christians of Egypt. The one exception I have seen is Farrell's Twitter link. A formal prayer which fails to address the pain of brothers and sisters in Christ is a disconnect from reality and is definitely, when contrasted with the letter on the PCUSA mission page, a garbled and indistinct sound. What are the feelings of the PC (U.S.A.) leadership toward the Christians of Egypt? Why hasn't the Presbyterian News Service offered any news about the destruction of churches in Egypt?

Another example is the contrast between various new worshiping communities. They all resound with care and compassion but their foundations are quite different. Recently I watched a video on the front page of the PC (U.S.A.) web site. It was about two churches that had merged, sold their buildings, which they could no longer afford, and started a new church in a train station. The new name is Friendship Presbyterian.

The train station caught my attention-I have several family members who are extremely fond of trains. I looked up the church. The people are genuinely friendly and creative. But on their affiliation page I found only More Light Presbyterians and the Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches. And in their “about” statement I found little about the redemptive purposes of Jesus, rather it is full of welcome words, service and human hope. That is not a bad thing it just isn't the core of Christian faith. This is a bugle call to grow the church progressively and from human experience. A clarity that gets blurred in the contrast of another video.

The other video is part of the 1001 new worshiping communities. It is about Hope for life Chapel. I will place the video at the end of this posting. It will give hope, a hope that begins with Jesus. 

And yet the confusion remains, the message is indistinct when all of the new worshiping communities are seen. I write this because one can explore and end up here, on Level Ground, a member of the 1001 worshiping communities, whose main purpose is to arrange for LGBTQ films for both progressives and the orthodox. It is supposedly all about dialogue but the films only affirm the LGBTQ lifestyle.

Level Ground grew out of “One Table” the new LGBTQ dialogue group at Fuller Theological Seminary. But it is problematic to see them as a new worshiping community. The indistinct call of the PC (U.S.A.)'s bugle is building, alongside of the new communities, a mass of confusion. Every statement by one group or person can be countered by a different group or person. Without the authority of God's word or the Lordship of Jesus Christ this confusion will continue. Faith will simply dribble into general sentimentality. The scripture text is right—the question is exact: “who will prepare himself for battle?”

But there is hope:

Picture by Ethan McHenry
Video HT to Marie Bowen & others

Sending a message to Facebook ....

Recently David Fischler of Standing Firm, myself and others have tried to persuade Facebook to remove a page that is loaded with hate speech. The Facebook site, “The Untold History,” is a site that only honors Caucasians and Hitler. Its diatribes against the Jewish people are not only deplorable but in all cases untruthful. For instance there is this:

 





There is a picture of Hitler crucified, equating him to Jesus. I couldn't bring myself to use that one. In fact, most are so offensive I didn't want to use them.

 

When one sends a message to Facebook asking them to delete the page this is the message they send back:

 

"Thank you for taking the time to report something that you think may violate our community standards. Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment. We reviewed the page you reported for containing hate speech or symbols and found it doesn't violate our community standard on hate speech."

This one particular site is not the only one that Facebook is ignoring. Recently I was reading the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) twitter page and I noticed that they were linked to a video which you could watch on their page but if you go to where it was on YouTube, and they do provide a link, it is a nationalistic fascist site. The site is Ye Shall Know the Truth and the Truth Shall site You Free . The symbols there are those of the Nazis. This is a YouTube site connected to several web sites titled, “Unity of Nobility.” There is a European one which pulls in all of the various worldwide fascists sites.

Just to give you an idea of what these web pages are pushing here is one of their videos, and I have to admit that as I read the articles, the praise for Hitler and watched some videos, I couldn't help thinking of the beast in Revelation that is killed but has his deadly wound healed:

 

 

They also have a Facebook site: Unity of Nobility-News for Europeans. It constantly lists all of the supposed crimes of other races against Caucasians. Of course, according to them, there are no crimes by whites against any other race. Facebook also turned aside the problems with this page although they are not so apparent as the “Untold History Page.”

David Fischler has created a Facebook page entitled “Protest the “Untold Story and Other Anti-Semitic Pages.” You can go there and like the page and help encourage Facebook to live up to its standards.

Pray for the Christians of Egypt

The Christians of Egypt need our prayers as the radical group, the Muslim Brotherhood, turns on them. In some cases they are blaming Christians for the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi but in all cases they are persecuting Christians because of their faith. Some secular news outlets are acknowledging what is happening, others are offering small bits in the midst of other details and other news groups are ignoring the horrible plight of the Christians of Egypt. But there are Christian and Jewish media telling the truth about what is happening in Egypt. I am linking to those reports here.

The Bible Society of Egypt is reporting that their "bookshops in Assiut & Minia" have been burnt. The article is "Bible Society of Egypt Newsletter." They write:

"The attackers demolished the metal doors protecting the bookshops, broke the store windows behind them and set the bookshops on fire. They did the same to many stores on those streets as well as demolishing many parked cars"

The Jerusalem Post has posted, "Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi Supporters  Torch Egyptian Churches.  The author reports at least three known attacks on churches but writes that there may have been at least twenty.

Clarifying the data BosNewsLife, quoting an advocacy group, writes:

 "We regret to report that at least six church buildings have been attacked so far, three in Minya, one in Sohag and two in Fayoum," areas confirmed Middle East Concern (MEC) advocacy group in a statement to BosNewsLife.

"In addition, the Al Raai Al Saleh Convent in Suez has been set on fire and Christian-owned businesses in Sohag and Assuit have been targeted," MEC added. It was not clear yet how many Christians were injured in those attacks amid a still unfolding situation."

At the National Review Online site Samuel Tadros is interviewed. It begins:

"Samuel Tadros is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom and author of the new book Motherland Lost: The Egyptian and Coptic Quest for Modernity. A son of Egypt whose family has been active in the Coptic revival there, he talks about the unfolding events with National Review Online."

To the question why are the Copts hated, Tadros replies:

"Under the rule of Islam, Copts have fared poorly. Their numbers deteriorated throughout the centuries. Various forms of differentiation and discrimination were imposed upon them under their Dhimmi status. While most of the official restrictions against them were removed in modern times, the social aspects of Dhimmitude remain. Islamists continue to frown upon any attempt by Copts to act as equals, viewing it as an affront to Islam’s supremacy in its land. Even the liberals were largely anti-Coptic, as they viewed Coptic identity as a threat to the emerging Egyptian nationalism they were formulating."

Christianity Today's Gleamings has this article, "
After Military Kills 150 Protesters, Islamists Take Out Anger on Egyptian Christians."  It begins with an update:

 "Update (Aug. 14): Anti-Christian violence swept Egypt today after the military forcefully dispersed camps of protesters, killing more than 150 Muslim Brotherhood members and their supporters in the bloodiest day yet of Egypt's revolution. World Watch Monitor (WWM) reports how Islamist protesters "took out their anger Wednesday on government and [dozens of] Christian buildings and homes."

Update: Here is another good article from Action Institute Power Blog: "Explainer: What's Going on in Egypt?"

Pray for Egypt-Pray for the Christians, for their safety, comfort and peace. Pray for the Muslims both moderate and radical that they will be touched and changed by the Holy Spirit and the redemptive purposes of Jesus. There are even some socialists who are angry about what is happening to the Christians, pray that they will be open to the good news. Pray for Egypt.

The Welcoming Toolkit & laggards

In my last posting, The Pastor & the grace of Christ: standing between the congregation & harm, I explained how the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force had produced a booklet that was to be used to help small unofficial groups move a church to become a welcoming church for the LGBTQ community.* I noted that the pastor and the biblical grace of God were those bulwarks that stand between their agenda and the congregation.

There is more in the booklet that might be addressed, but one particular statement was troubling and I want to speak to highlight it. There is a chart of sorts showing how different personalities will react to the idea of becoming a welcoming church.
 
The chart called “CATEGORIES OF INNOVATION IN THE WELCOMING MOVEMENT,” name those who are the last to agree or who never agree to a welcoming church as laggards. In the chart their values are “tradition, predictability and constancy. After watching the LGBTQ movie “The Bible Tells Me So,” they will simply say “Let’s go home.”  The only appeal to them is civility. (Of course calling them laggards isn’t civil.) In this context when writing of how to present the ideas about a welcoming church the authors state:

•  Laggards or “The Traditional” — These are the people who are not going to change. Period. It is an unfortunate term, but it is accurate. They make up about 16% of the organization.

They also write:

 •  Don’t design for the Laggards or the Late Adopters, which is what is usually done. They are not going to change and focusing on convincing them will only slow the process down or end it all together.

And:

•  Laggards can be resilient, but do not give them more energy than they deserve. They are a small percentage that will sound like they are the majority. They are not. You should hear them, but do not let them control the process.

What I want to say here is that apparently the orthodox have a reputation and it is a good one although those defining the orthodox don’t understand their own words.  Constant in what you believe— standing in the faith. Isn’t that what Paul admonishes Christians to do when all else has been done, to stand firm. Keep standing.

And this that I have quoted above: the authors rationalize, “They [the laggards] are a small percentage that will sound like they are the majority. They are not.” It reminds me of a wonderful Bible story. The king of Aram attempts to capture the prophet Elisha, surrounding the city of Dothan with a great army. When Elisha’s servant goes out in the morning and sees the army he fearfully returns to tell Elisha, who then prays that God will open the servant’s eyes:

“And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)

I would tremble to scoff at those who are standing faithful to Christ. Imagine what holy armies stand about them, unseen by any.

What is undoubtedly not understood by the authors of Building an Inclusive Church a welcoming Toolkit 2.0,  is that all are sinners and in need of the new life given by Jesus Christ though his death on the cross and resurrection. It is not our righteousness that holds us steady, rather it is the righteousness of Christ. It is the keeping power of the Lord.

 

*-I want to emphasize that Christians should welcome anyone who comes to their church, but this does not mean condoning or encouraging their sin-nor does it mean that the unrepentant sinner should be allowed in leadership.

The Pastor & the grace of Christ: standing between the congregation & harm

If a small group of people, no more than 5 to 10, gathered in your church to unofficially decide how to move your church toward a position that the Bible calls sin, who or what would be the most important person or authority to stand between them and the congregation?

Seemingly, the very people who have plotted such an action, have given the church a very large clue. In the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s document, Building an Inclusive Church a welcoming Toolkit 2.0: Helping your Congregation Become a Community that Openly Welcomes People of all Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities, the pastor and the true grace of God stand between sin and conspiracy.

The toolkit begins the active process with this:

“The first step in a Welcoming Process is to gather a group of five to ten people who share your passion for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the life of your congregation. These people will form your Core Team, and will work together to advocate for, design and shepherd the Welcoming Process.”

The welcoming process includes meeting with individuals on a one on one basis in order to establish relationships and find out how  various people feel about the ideas presented in the toolkit. Leaders in the church are also approached in a one on one relationship meeting. After all of the meetings and a survey the core group considers how fast the process should go. That includes looking at all of the power structures in the church, both the formal ones and the informal ones.

There is this statement about the pastor:

NOTE: If your clergy is against the process, it is very difficult for it to proceed. They do not have to be ardent supporters, but active opposition to a Welcoming Process on the part of clergy makes it very difficult for the Welcoming Process to succeed. If you do have clergy opposition to a Welcoming Process, stay in the “Core Team” phase of your work and focus on relationship-building with the clergy and informally work within the congregation. We recommend working only through Step Four of this Toolkit until the clergy are no longer opposed. (Bold the authors)

This is truth coming out of the pen of those who will harm the sheep of God’s pasture. The pastor stands as the one who watches over, guards and nourishes with God’s word the people of Christ. A small group of people intent on having their way, beginning in secret and one by one picking off members of the congregation need to hear from a pastor immersed in the word of God. And it is the word of God that both those who are unaware of the gathering activity and those who are operating in a nefarious way need to hear.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force use a process they call “Graceful Engagement.” They refer to it as “deep listening, seeking “that of God” in the people with whom you engage and finding the ways in which God is revealed to you through them.” They add:

“Graceful Engagement is a way of practicing holy conversation, where each person is treated as a loved child of God. It is about listening, sharing one’s own story, hearing one another’s perspective, finding commonalities and shared experiences. It is about building relationships around values that bring us together as opposed to things that polarize us.”

In the appendix of the document is a questionnaire about what grace means. And there is a list of Bible texts to explain how grace works:

“the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37), the Woman at the Well (John 4:4-26), the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:35-40), Peter cutting off the ear of Malchus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:51-52), and Jesus on the Cross (Luke 23:34)”

While one can commend the authors for suggesting that the conversations should contain grace and civility—these texts contain much deeper thoughts then how to gracefully encourage others into your plans and agenda. They are certainly not about how to gracefully encourage others to enter into sin.

For instance, Jesus points out the woman at the well’s sinful lifestyle that she might more willing see her need for the true water of life. The greatest commandment spoken of in Matthew 22:35-40 is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” One can hardly love God in that way and intentionally live contrary to the word of God. The second great commandment is “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” You cannot love your neighbor and encourage them to continue in sin. Jesus loved his enemies as he died on the cross but he did not excuse their sin but died that they might be transformed.

The grace of God, the true grace of God, holds well with John Newton’s hymn “Amazing Grace.” “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.” The grace that the Holy Spirit brings is transforming because it is the grace of Jesus Christ bought by his death on the cross.  It does not welcome the sinner to the dark world of her own sin, but rather welcomes the sinner into the fellowship of the Trinity and into the fellowship of the church.

The National Gay and Lesbians Task Force Document offers things to do after becoming a welcoming church. One is extremely offensive:

•   Gather a discussion group to examine the gendered language in your bulletin, newsletter, sermons, liturgies, and hymns. Talk about the assumptions these language choices imply and who might feel constricted or excluded by the gendered wording. Explore creative ways to avoid exclusively binary-gendered language, such as “men and women,” “sisters and brothers,” and “mothers and fathers.”

Between this and the congregation stands a pastor who loves Christ and his word; stands the grace of God given because of Jesus’ life death and resurrection, stands a church well taught by the pastor, leaders and teachers; stands a people committed to their Lord. May Jesus Christ protect his church.

 

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Israel/Palestine Mission Network & My Catbird Seat: racism anyone?

Peace making surely requires discernment. And if so, Christian peace making requires Christian discernment which should include prayer and attention to biblical passages on peace and what makes for peace. Integrity, fairness and wisdom with a desire for reconciliation among warring peoples are the attributes that is generally associated with peace seeking individuals and organizations.

Thinking of peace and reconciliation in the context of the work of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), one looks for purposes and meaning when considering their links to various sites on their Twitter page. Since their purpose is to advocate for the Palestinians and help bring peace to the troubled Middle East there should certainly be such connections in their links.

 Since they believe that Israel is an apartheid racist state which has practiced genocide it seems that they would link to sites which are against racism to make their case. One would think that they would at least be interested in democratic sites. And sometimes they are, but the ideological splintering in differing directions of so many extremist groups, both left and right, seems to be disorientating the IPMN.  They have forgotten what it means to honor Christ in their peace making and what it means to be objective and discerning.

There is, too often, links to sites which promote bigotry and racism. Three times in less than a week, twice on July 30^th and once on July 26^th they linked to My Catbird Seat, an information organization administered by Debbie Menon who is also the editor. The site is a sister site to VeteransToday and Veterans News Now, using many of the same writers.

But going beyond that, Debbie Menon is also the Editor-in-Chief, managing editor and writer for Veterans News Now. Always, all of these sites publish anti-Semitic material. One expects to find many bizarre articles on all of the sites, but to find an article promoting a presidential candidate of a nationalist party who insists that the United States needs to return to a time when most of its citizens were European is simply beyond belief.

Merlin Miller of the American Freedom Party in a video on the VNN site, after explaining what he perceives to be the main problems in America, states:  

When we start to put all of these pieces of the puzzle together you finally come to the conclusion that a battle is going on right now between two forces. The forces are globalism which is the Rothschild banking network, their Jewish American organizations of support within the United States, the American main street media, the political arena that they control, power, they have power, great power but we have to stand up, we have to find a way to fight that.   But the force that can fight and beat that is nationalism.* America needs to get back to its roots. We need to be a country that will stand strong again for American ideals. We were founded as a Christian nation, European derived, I have nothing against people from other countries, other walks of life, but let’s protect America’s national identity.

This was an article placed on the site by an editor—so it can be reasonably assumed that it was an article agreed to by the editorial board. So now one can see the absolute confusion and yes, even hypocrisy, of a denominational organization that links so many times to a web site, My Catbird Seat, whose editor helped to place an article on another site where she is editor-in-chief, lifting up an American fascist. All of this while calling Israel a racist nation.

When I first started writing this blog, about six years ago, I did several articles on movements which were mimicking both the right and left of pre-World War II Germany.  All groups were socialist, but some were nationalist and some internationalist. They all hated capitalism and most hated the Jewish people or Zionism. It was a confusing time—it is today also. The IPMN needs to back off from their Twitter linking and really work for peace and reconciliation. They are sending out all kinds of messages and many of us cannot believe anything they link to because they do such a bad job of discernment. Surely they don’t want to link to people or sites that promote racism and nationalism.

 

 *Thankfully when Miller mentions nationalism some people boo. It would have been far better if they had also booed when he was maligning the Jewish people of America.