Posted on 12/09/2016 7:08:04 AM PST by rhett october
After I read the story entitled, Methodist Churches Converting To Virtual Mosques For Muslim Migrants, I spent much of the day in mild shock. I couldnt believe what was going on inside of a Christian denomination whose founding was so deeply influenced by the great man John Wesley.
I had to know what Methodists thought of this. Surely they didnt go along with it. At least not all of them or even a majority of them. My assumption, and hope, was that it was a very small minority of Methodists who thought that having worship of Allah in their building was an appropriate, God-honoring event. How could they think their church should double as a church and a Mosque? Surely they had not lost their way and could see how apostate and foreign such a thing was to Christianity and the New Testament. Surely this was just one man who had been led astray or who was seeking his 10 minutes of fame.
So I took to the phones, contacting my Methodist friends to ask their thoughts. Here are some of their reactions and concerns.
Suzanne from near Little Rock, AR
Suzanne I heard about it yesterday but couldnt believe what I was hearing. I mean, aint nothing wrong with reaching out to folks, but you dont sell yourself, your soul to do it. You dont give up God to make some other religion happy. You dont join them in worship to a false god.
Rhett October "Is your church taking part in this?"
Suzanne Absolutely not. And if they did, I, we would not go back there. Wed just find ourselves another place to go, to worship you know.
Rhett October "Would you leave the Methodist church over this for another church?"
Suzanne Well, I mean, Im hoping it doesnt come to that, but you asked so Im telling you. Yes, I would. My family would. Were not Muslims. We worship Jesus, not their god, Allah or whatever.
Kyle from Tennessee
Kyle My wife is kind of freaking out about this. She had me call our pastor last night about it.
Rhett October "So I guess its safe to say youre against it?"
Kyle What, are you kidding me or something? Yeah Im against it. You think theyd let us in one of their mosques to worship Jesus? You think theyd even entertain the idea? Theyd see it as an abomination. Theyd no way.
Rhett October "How is your wife reacting? How is she freaking out?"
Kyle Shes thinking in terms of, you know, safety. I mean the biggest thing is the, well, you know, its an affront is what it is. Trying to water down or make all of the religions equal or the same and like were all going to heaven.
Rhett October "In what way is she thinking of safety?"
Kyle Well I told her if where we go, our church, was to do this, wed be gone, but what she was saying was, with the terrorism and the attacks by the refugees, Islamic refugees, which is who that Texas bunch is trying to invite in, you know, shed be worried about an attack or well, and we also have daughters. There have been some rapes by refugees in Europe. It just makes no sense that wed risk our children. You think were going to convert them? Were not going to convert them. They dont want to be converted. Of course, what that Texas group is doing would mean the Muslims wouldn't even have to convert.
Deronte from Austin, TX
Deronte My pastor emailed the whole church and hes was all like telling us that it wasnt going to happen in our church. People be panicking. People saying they going to leave the church if we starting a Muslim service. Im right there with them. Right there, you know.
Rhett October "So you dont agree in reaching out to Muslims in that way?"
Deronte Alright, so theres a difference in reaching out to someone and what theyre doing. Yeah, so what theyre doing is incorporating worship of another God into their church. Your church shouldnt offer worshiping another God as, like a, service they offer. We aint supposed to be a buffet. You know what Im saying?
Angie from Atlanta, GA
Angie Im just reacting now that you told me and Im just in disbelief. This isnt the church I grew up in. Its not my church now. I just, I, why would they do this? Why would they, when we dont just substitute God for some other god to make people happy. Who does that? What church would do that? Would they substitute Allah for Jesus and think its okay or what, I mean, would anyone think that God would be happy to just be replaced. This just seems too crazy to be, you know, well, it seems impossible. Like its not happening. But thats todays world. Thats where we are.
Rhett October "So what would you do if your church decided to do this?"
Angie I cant think about that. I mean
Rhett October "Im saying, would you continue to go to your church?"
Angie Well, no. I mean, no. How could we? How could we support such a thing?
Rhett October "What would you do?"
Angie Wed go to another church, thats what. Wed find a group that doesnt sell out God for someone elses God just to look open minded and well, tolerant-looking, I guess is what theyre going for. They want to look like theyre so meek and mild but the Bible says for us to stand firm in the truth, you know?
Rhett October "Yes, I do know."
“Methodist” ...should be the first hint...they got lost some years ago
We need to look at ALL, repeat, ALL churches that MIGHT BE targets of Islam. We are a CHRISTIAN NATION and that is the number one reason all the Islamist are trying their damndest to change this country. Not to mention odumbo has been their leader since day one.
Might this actually be “fake news”?
I hope it is!!!!
this is how they win, through tolerance and understanding. I’m not a church goer, was born a Methodist but this is BS.
I’m skeptical that you actually found anyone who had heard of this.
Not according to http://pamelageller.com/2016/12/local-texas-united-methodist-church-waco-now-embracing-islam.html/
3 of the 4 I contacted had. One had not. When it’s about your denomination, it spreads like wildfire (Facebook, emailing links, other social media).
I should’ve asked where they all heard about it. One of them said that his pastor emailed him but I don’t know if that was the first place he heard about it or what.
I got the impression that because they were Methodists, they heard about it before people who weren’t since it would be spreading among them. I thought I’d have to explain the story, but as I said, 3 out of 4 that I could get on the phone had already heard about it. The story is on Info Wars as well so it’s spreading pretty strongly.
Other than my MIL’s funeral the last Methodist service I went to was about 25 years ago to take my MIL to Easter Sunday services. Woman pastor but I was prepared for that. Nice music. Prayers said by the minister but no one in the congregation praying. Not even saying “Amen” which I quickly learned not to do. And the homily or I guess the sermon is the more appropriate word - on Easter Sunday but never saying the name “Jesus” or the word “resurrection.” It was largely about helping others as I recall. Sigh. And no donuts and coffee. Now - this was in a college town so that could explain a lot.
Our Terrorist in Chief said America was founded by muzlims. ValJar is striving to turn America Islamic.
The problem is that they don't even realize that Islam rejects the divinity of Christ, thus electing to follow a false belief system.There is no basis for accommodation by Christians of Islam as a religious faith.
They need to fire this pompous, CINO pastor.
If not fake news, this would not surprise me.
There’s an openly lesbian, married Methodust Bushop named Olivetti.
[[We need to look at ALL, repeat, ALL churches that MIGHT BE targets of Islam. We are a CHRISTIAN NATION and that is the number one reason all the Islamist are trying their damndest to change this country. Not to mention odumbo has been their leader since day one.]]
The government is paying churches to house and help these muslim invaders that are going to end up shooting up these churches.
The people in these churches need to walk out and find another church.
Unfortunately, many church attendees have very little background in the basics of their faith and what the Bible says about it. Many probably believe now that the most important thing about being a Christian is being “tolerant”, while forgetting verses like “for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”.
The local newspaper in Waco investigated and declared it false.
The Central Conference of the Methodist church to which this tiny church in Bosqueville belongs says it's false.
The current pastor of the church says it's a lie.
A member of the church for over 40 years and who hasn't missed a service in 5 years says it's false.
This is another case of "a lie racing around the world before the truth gets out of bed and puts it's pants on."
How about a retraction.
The local newspaper in Waco investigated and declared it false.
The Central Conference of the Methodist church to which this tiny church in Bosqueville belongs says it's false.
The current pastor of the church says it's a lie.
A member of the church for over 40 years and who hasn't missed a service in 5 years says it's false.
This is another case of "a lie racing around the world before the truth gets out of bed and puts it's pants on."
How about a retraction.
It’s his own blog that he’s been pimping here for the past month, so yeah, probably just made-up
This is the source: http://pamelageller.com/2016/12/local-texas-united-methodist-church-waco-now-embracing-islam.html/ and they interview a church member. And it says that Rev. Bill Mac Patterson, the interim pastor, installed ostensibly to take a barometer of how receptive the church might be [to taking in refugees], was reportedly fond of one particular Islamic short story, The Scorpion and the Frog.
And then there’s this that says that 10,000 churches in the UK were volunteered for use as Mosques: http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/europe-volunteers-churches-become-mosques and says that Rev. Patterson spent a lot of time tying the Sufi parable to his own ever-present (but Biblically questionable) theme, of helping the oft-forgotten stranger.
Our job is to help the stranger and we are always encouraged that our mission is to focus on the oft forgotten stranger, a phrase Patterson allegedly used periodically to talk about modern immigration concerns. Destruction of the church in the name of fulfilling a command is intellectually disingenuous, the source argues, saying, A lot of churches in Europe have taken people in to sleep on floors and in a weeks time, are mosques, he remarked, expressing his belief that churches are being tenderized to swallow Islamization.
The first source quotes a member of the Methodist church in Waco. And three of the four people I called had heard about it. I simply asked them
1. if they’d heard about it,
2. what they thought about it,
3. what they’d do if their church did such a thing.
There’s no need for a retraction. There are sources claiming that the story is legit and I asked people those questions about it. If it is fake news and didn’t happen, then it’s an example of fake news spreading and people hearing about it for sure. But it wouldn’t surprise me either if it was being denied but still true.
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