A Modern Woman's Perspective On The Kingdom of God on Earth


Showing posts with label Multiculturalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Multiculturalism. Show all posts

June 20, 2016

Appeasement Will Be Our Ruin

     Whether in politics, in our culture, or in our religion, appeasement has become the byword of this generation.  Webster's dictionary defines the word as "To pacify; to dispel anger or hatred; to make quiet; to calm; as to appease hunger or thirst; to reduce to a state of peace; to still; as, to appease the tumult of the ocean, or of the passions."  In other words, to appease is to use diplomacy and compromise to forestall a confrontation.
     We are seeing appeasement today, almost everywhere we turn... on the world stage, our government seeks to placate potential enemies by surrendering our national sovereignty and defense; culturally, we have yielded moral ground to segments of society that threaten to disrupt the foundations of our character and conduct; and religiously, we are allowing other gods to usurp the supremacy of YHWH, and diminish the Authority and Victory of Jesus.
    This infection of appeasement has now reached a stage I never thought possible.  The Southern Baptist Convention, the US’s largest Protestant denomination, is now helping to build mosques.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Don't believe me?  Here is a direct quote from BaptistNews.com: ... a legal dispute between a Muslim community and a New Jersey township is showing a different side of inter-Christian relationships. Baptist and other Christian organizations accustomed to cultural and legal sparring have joined the fight for the construction of a new mosque.  “It’s good when we can join hands with … folks we are sometimes on the other side of,” said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.  Those folks include the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and the International Mission Board, both agencies of the Southern Baptist Convention. The National Association of Evangelicals is also supporting the mosque-building case.
     Apparently, it is in the name of religious liberty that the Southern Baptists (along with other evangelical groups, Jews, Buddhists, Hare Krishnas and Sikhs) have determined that it is a Constitutionally-guaranteed right to build mosques -- even though there is the potential that American legal institutions are beginning to come under threat from Islamic codes and sharia law.
     So, here is something I think we better consider:  Have our denominations and churches become "American" first, and "Christian", secondly?  As Bud Ahlheim, a writer at Pulpit and Pen, recently wrote, "Proclaiming there is no other name under heaven by which men may be saved seems uncannily hollow when you’ve just joined hands to help build a Christ-denying mosque. Once again, Christianity becomes just another flavor of religion to an onlooking world and our witness as Southern Baptists diluted by our religious liberty defenses."  Sadly, one has to ask, "Are these Christians still willing to make that proclamation?  Or has the Church decided that the way to peace is to appease the Islamic faith -- and thereby attempt to pacify and calm their anti-Christian rhetoric and beliefs -- by declaring that we all worship the same God?"
     The most recent example of appeasement in history led to genocide and world war.  Less than 80 years ago, the world attempted to appease Hitler and we know that was a mistake.  The 1938 Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia, and it started Hitler on the road toward the extermination of over 6,000,000 Jews.  I fear that the American Church may be traveling that same road.  By choosing appeasement towards a faith whose radical elements have sworn death to our nation, and who have demonstrated their willingness to generate their own genocide of Christians and Jews, the Church is treading on dangerous ground.  They may think they are exemplifying American Christian justice and grace, but I have to wonder if any of the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have stopped to seek God's will in this matter.
     What has God told us in His Word?  Pastor John Rothra, a Baptist preacher himself, has written an excellent article concerning this subject.  He points to the Book of Judges as a guide to what God thinks when we choose our own path, rather than the one He has commanded.
     Joshua had just died. There was no single military leader, but instead each tribe was responsible for conquering their respective regions. God was to be their king and they were to be God’s people.  You will remember that God instructed them to destroy all the native inhabitants and to completely conquer the lands God promised them through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  But Israel decided on its own, that this was too harsh an action.  Rather than conquer the enemy, some tribes chose accommodation, peace treaties, enslavement, or mutual cohabitation.... in other words, appeasement.  That might have seemed more humane to the ancient Israelites (and to us today), but it was not God's will.
     As Pastor Rothra points out, in order to appease and cohabitate with her enemies, Israel adopted false gods, heretical practices, and abandoned God’s righteousness for a righteousness of their own. This was not an accident. They did not fall into sin. Rather, the Israelites chose this sinful path.  The Israelites did not maintain the Supremacy of the One True God, and began accepting other gods and beliefs as equal to their own.  To put it simply: the people did whatever they deemed was right in their own minds.  Isn't that what the Southern Baptist Convention is doing?
     There will be those who will concentrate on the fact that this is a problem of the American Church, and I cannot deny that.  But as my wise husband pointed out to me, satan has been trying to destroy the relationship between YHWH and those whom He calls His own since the beginning.  We see that in the ancient Book of Judges.  And it only took a century after the Church was founded for the Enemy to infiltrate it and try to utterly destroy it.  But the seeds were planted and it was the will of God that faith in Jesus should spread to the ends of the globe.  The devil is still trying to destroy the Church by any means he can.  Today, when people (and the Church) seek to mirror the world, we see that we will do whatever we must to ease the conflict among us; to pacify our enemies; and to obtain peace and conciliation.
     But I have to add another aspect of this apostasy, from my spiritual warfare perspective.  You will recall that in Ephesians 6, Paul warns us that we are fighting against various ranks of the Enemy's army.  They are spiritual and not made of flesh and blood; they have specific assignments, such as the Prince of Persia in Daniel, Chapter 10.  Among the Rulers, Powers, World Forces, and Spiritual Forces are the retinue of satan's false gods who are assigned to battle against God's people on earth.  Allah is a very real entity, and just one of those Rulers who is in dedicated conflict with the Most High God.  We must not lose sight of that fact!
     We must face the reality that we can't have it all -- we can't profess faith in YHWH, the One True God, and yet help to build houses of worship to a false god.  We can't let political correctness and religious liberty supersede the position of YHWH.  We can't profess to be part of God's Church, yet put our own desires to be magnanimous and inclusive before God's will.  That is merely a form of self-idolization, and results in the lukewarm Laodicean Church.   And what does Jesus say He will do with that Church?  He will spew them out!
     That is the warning that I think all Christians must take seriously!  Is appeasement of our faith pleasing to God?  What is He more interested in ... His Church gaining political power, influence, and unity among all religions and false gods -- or seeing that we are committing ourselves to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  The last time I checked, Islam rejects the deity of Christ.  How can appeasing that religious philosophy be, in any way, pleasing to my God?

Galatians 1:10    "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."

   
       
   




March 30, 2016

What Is The True Goal Of Multiculturalism?

     I think we can all agree that at the heart of national and world events is the issue of multiculturalism.  The official definition of multiculturalism is "the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviours, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles."
     The last few decades has seen it become a major political issue, both here in the U.S. and Europe.  The fact is that the world is unraveling; you can see it in the Middle East, in South America, and in Africa, for instance.  Peoples of different ethnicities and races; different religious beliefs; and different social values are clashing in countries where the politically correct politicians are forcing their social agenda views.  The true results of multiculturalism are hidden behind utopian rhetoric that promotes equality and justice and a homogenous society; one in which everyone is seen as identical, similar, and comparable.  Why can't the world see that this can never be!
     Oh, I know, there will be those who say America has always been "the melting pot" of the world; that we are a nation made up of immigrants.  That is true, but there is a major difference between our policies of yesteryear and those of today.  In the past, other cultures were assimilated into ours.  They were not heralded and protected, or labeled as mistreated and abused.  There were no terms like "Irishphobic" or "Italianphobic".  Every nationality that came to America arrived on our shores because they wanted what we had ... the freedom to become all they wanted to be.  And they were willing to become like us; to adopt our values, our standards, and our behavior.  Their faith was a matter of their own conscience, and it served to reinforce the principles of freedom and liberty for the individual -- the backbone of our national existence.
     But that idea of assimilation is no longer applauded.  Today, entire countries are being overrun by huge populations of immigrants, and it is the native citizens that are expected to adapt and capitulate their rights to accommodate the migrants.  Understandably, there is going to be conflict.  And I would suggest that this is really the ultimate goal of multiculturalism; both here and in Europe.
     Can you concede that behind this massive push to open up the floodgates to migrants from the world's trouble spots is a political ideology that wishes to destroy the basis of Western civilization? Are you able to see the puppet masters who are hard at work to dismantle capitalism and free enterprise, and who wish to institute collectivism and communal property?  Can you accept that this chaos and conflict are all about Power?
     As it was so deftly worded on the website, Gothamresistance.com, "Turning Americans into a minority in their own country is the only way to control these pesky, greedy, racist people who are so obsessed with freedom and prosperity."  We're already seeing it happen in Europe.  Entire communities in France and Germany are controlled by Muslim immigrants who refuse to assimilate, and who are outright antagonistic towards Western behavior and values.  Furthermore, this particular population is increasing rapidly (especially with recent policy), and they are younger and angrier than their fellow citizens.
     Both British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both publicly admitted that "multiculturalism has failed".  Well, duh!  As Chuck Coulson explained in a 2011 article at The Christian Post, "The underlying reason for this is that culture reflects beliefs of the people. In fact, cultures are formed by those beliefs. For a society to survive it has to have one culture -- a culture that enjoys the participation and contributions of all of its peoples."  But that implies a willingness to cooperate and compromise.  What about sharia law suggests that this is even a remote possibility?
     And I must agree with the sentiments of Walter E. Williams, an economist, commentator, and the Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University.  Mr. Williams said, "At the very heart of multiculturalism is an attack on Christianity... and also on free market capitalism.  [This is because] Christian nations, which have a great measure of economic liberty, have been at the forefront of the struggle for personal liberty and private property rights for centuries. Personal liberty and private property are anathemas to people who want to control our lives. That is part and parcel of the multicultural and diversity movements infecting the Western world."
     Just listen to the words and look at the actions of the immigrants that come to the West.  Do you see any evidence that they will ever agree with our basic tenets of freedom, whether religious or social?  Just their attitudes about the rights of women should tell you something.  And targeting Christians for torture and death clearly speaks of their hatred for any religion not their own.  That has never been the way of the West!
     I found this observation by Melvin Rhodes at Beyond Today quite compelling:  "There's an interesting verse in the New Testament of your Bible that stands in direct contradiction to the multicultural idea. While “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34), we read in the same book that “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings (Acts 17:26)."
     He goes on .... "It is also interesting to note that Jesus Christ, when asked, “What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3), warned that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (verse 7). A kingdom is a political entity. But the word “nation” here is translated from the Greek word ethnos, from which we get the words ethnic and ethnicity. In other words, Jesus was saying that immediately prior to His coming to establish God's Kingdom on this earth, there would be a time of great ethnic conflict—the inevitable result of mingling diverse people groups together."  There's no doubt that this is what we're seeing today!
     Here is what the Politicians and the Elite will never realize ... the only way for the world to truly live in harmony is to come to the One who died to make all of us His own.  And that is the battle that we see unfolding right now.  This conflict is going to continue until every person on earth has made their choice.  I believe the terror attacks and social upheaval are the beginning of the birth pangs that will force the nations to choose who they will follow.  We cannot remain on the sidelines, nor can we compromise to try to win their allegiance.  It is time to face the music ... not only has multiculturalism failed, but it is ushering in the final showdown and the world's day of reckoning.  Are you ready?

Psalm 117:1-2    "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!"