Posted on 11/15/2005 11:29:31 AM PST by dukeman
EXCLUSIVE FROM STOCKHOLM: PLEASE KEEP PRAYING FOR PASTOR GREEN…
Last week, I asked you to pray for Pastor Ake Green, the Swedish pastor facing imprisonment for preaching a sermon on Bible and homosexual behavior. Argued before the Swedish Supreme Court last Wednesday, November 9th, this case has serious ramifications worldwide.
As we told you, ADF sent chief counsel Benjamin Bull to Sweden to assist with last Wednesday’s trial. Unlike U.S. Supreme Court oral argument, this was an actual trial where Pastor Green was called to testify and grilled by the prosecuting attorney.
Ben reports:
“Pastor Green’s trial before the Swedish Supreme Court was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen. It was surreal. The case should have been called Sweden v.The Bible. It was like a cross between George Orwell’s 1984 and a Stalin Soviet show trial.
It was hard to believe that this was happening in a “developed” Western country. The entire case was televised live in Sweden and Parliament stopped to watch the proceedings.
The prosecutor made amazing arguments. He repeatedly mocked the Word of God. He ridiculed Biblical texts on homosexual behavior. The prosecutor asked Pastor Green several times what version of the Bible he was using. When Pastor Green politely replied that he used the New International Version, the prosecutor replied that Pastor Green was using a ‘bad translation’ and to ‘get a new Bible’ – one that does not question homosexual behavior. I sat in amazement as a government prosecutor was telling a minister to use another Bible translation. It was like a pastor telling the government that they need to use another law book. This was a case where the state was trying to dictate and reshape theology to fit its own agenda.
The prosecutor demanded that the court convict Pastor Green so he would be an example to deter other pastors from preaching what the Bible says about homosexual behavior. He did concede – quite amazingly – that it is still legal to publish such Bibles in Sweden (for now). The radical homosexual activists demand that Pastor Green be made an example as the first person to be prosecuted under the ‘hate speech’ law since it added 'sexual orientation' in 2003.
Throughout the trial, the justices were almost completely silent. Percy Bratt, Pastor Green’s defense attorney – whom we helped prepare the day before at a moot court – did a fabulous job. He also mentioned the brief that ADF had filed and another we funded on behalf of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council – and the chief justice acknowledged that he had read the brief and found it to be helpful.
All people of faith need to continue to be in prayer for this decision – as three out of four people in Sweden (per a poll) believe that Pastor Green should be sent to prison for simply preaching the uncensored Gospel. If Pastor Green is convicted, it will open the floodgates – and the same thing will be happening in the United States and Canada – sooner than you think. It will be a precedent in international law that pastors can be targeted and prosecuted for engaging in ‘hate crimes’ and we will soon see this cited in American courts. This case must be won and it must be defended.”
Please continue to be in prayer for Pastor Green and for this decision – which is expected in 3-4 weeks. As soon as we receive word of the outcome from the Swedish Supreme Court, we will let you know. Thank you for your prayers and your support, which have made it possible for ADF and its allies to play an important role in this extremely important case for the future of the Gospel.
To read more about the ACLU and its efforts to use international law as precedent in U.S. courts, go to www.acluvsamerica.com.
For more information on the danger of international law in American courts, along with chilling statements from several of the six sitting Supreme Court justices, the ACLU, and other radical activists, go to http://www.telladf.org/issues/religiousfreedom/internationallaw.aspx?cid=3234.
When there is no God, it leaves a vacuum to filled by something else...
I should be amazed, but I am not...that pole to hell is getting very slippery...thanks for the update, let us know what happens.
The issue is not the truth or falsity of what the Pastor said, but freedom of speech, expression and religion. It sounds like they were putting religious beliefs on trial. Absolutely disgusting... And by the way, Sweden disestablished its state church a few years ago, and in any event, the government has no right to dictate religious belief.
The word Paul uses is so graphic and unequivocal that it leaves no doubt.
That sissy prosecutor would be left no alternative but to voice his real problem with Christianity - which is that it is Jewish in origin.
I think WF Buckley said, "When there is no God, any orifice will do." Saturday Night Live's concept of humor addresses that epigram very well.
arsenokoitai? And you're right, it doesn't leave much room for argument (but liberals have tried, believe me.)
Using original Hebrew and Greek would be an EXCELLENT idea!
That's a very readable font, BTW - which one is it?
Is there a way for you to translate the Greek without using a lot of #!*^ symbols and/or getting this thread deleted?
Ruth Bader Ginsberg will be watching this.
Doesn't that qualify as hate speech?
Well, I'll have to euphemise a bit, but the word literally means one who "lies with" other men, except "lies with" is a bit more colloquial and pungent.
I agree that it's very readable, but it doesn't have accents or breathing marks, which can be confusing. I do wish I could find a font with the appropriate diacritical marks.
You mean kind of like the "f" word?
pretty much yes.
I have a hard time believing that even the socialists in Sweden think like this. Am I naive?
Tolerance bump!
Now see, thats the kind of plain talk that is needed. Gay men put their privates into each others' fecal matter. There. I said it.
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