Liberal Methodist Leaders Call Bush to Repentance

AgapePress ^ | April 17, 2003 | Jody Brown and Bill Fancher

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

Those Whose Stance Falls Outside Traditional Methodism Take President to Task

(AgapePress) - Several officials of the United Methodist Church (UMC) are calling one of their fellow Methodists to repentance. While that, in and of itself, may not be unusual, it is noteworthy that the call appeared in a full-page magazine ad -- and the person called to repentance is President George W. Bush.

The April 5 edition of Christian Century magazine contains a full-page ad titled "A Prophetic Epistle from United Methodists Calling Our Brother George W. Bush to Repent." The ad, signed by several United Methodist bishops and the head of the denomination's lobby office in Washington, D.C., denounces the president for contributing to "spiritual forces of wickedness" and calls for him to "repent from domestic and foreign policies that are incompatible with the teaching and example of Christ."

Among those signing the ad are UM Bishops Joseph Sprague and Melvin Talbert, and Board of Church and Society general secretary Jim Winkler. The officials accuse President Bush of "threaten[ing] the very earth and all its inhabitants with open discussion of the use of nuclear weapons," and promoting "redemptive violence" in his policy towards the "sovereign nation of Iraq."

In addition, it claims that the president's domestic policy is "incongruent with Jesus' teaching" and falls short of the compassion of which Jesus spoke, despite Bush's claim to be a "compassionate conservative."

The ad concludes with the statement: "May our call to repentance speak to your conscience."

Mark Tooley heads the United Methodist committee of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. He says that first of all, the signers of the ad "are hardly symbols of strong, mainstream" United Methodist beliefs. He points out that Bishop Sprague denies that Jesus Christ is eternally divine, Bishop Talbert has endorsed same-sex "marriage," and Winkler is a pacifist.

Mark Tooley

According to Tooley, the UMC affirms Christ's full deity, opposes same-sex unions, and is not pacifist. "Yet these church officials claim it is President Bush who is violating his own church's teachings," he says.

"These [church] officials are effectively telling the president he is not a good Christian because his policies do not match their own left-wing beliefs," Tooley continues in a printed release.

"Bush is supposedly a bad Christian and a bad Methodist because, like most Methodists, he does not agree with these church officials in their equation of compassion with a large federal welfare state and in their opposition to a strong military defense for America."

Tooley says it is "nonsense" for the UMC officials to "equate their brand of politics with Christianity, and assume that political disagreement is a sign of spiritual apostasy."

Anti-War Academics
Religious leaders are not the only anti-war faction in the news these days. It can also be found in the world of academia.

Anti-war demonstrators are composed primarily of college-age students, both in America and in Europe. Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation says that is because anti-American feelings permeate the world of academia -- and always will.

"The academics identify with academics abroad," Weyrich says, "and of course, the academic community [abroad] is very anti-American and believes that George Bush is a greater problem than Saddam Hussein or anybody else you can name."

Weyrich says that anti-American attitude is transferred to the students on a daily basis. "They believe that they need to expose the student community to the anti-American point of view; hence, the kind of people that they are really featuring in their various programs."

Weyrich says that is why students are on the front line of various types of anti-American demonstrations.

[Krodg]

LOL...love your Pastor

[Belial]

Check it out. Check out the history. That's exactly why it was formed. Don't take my word for it.

Oh don't worry, I won't. If I had time to research every crackpot fantasy posted on FR, I'd go without food and sleep, and be none the wiser.

[ClancyJ]

Wonder why they saw no need to say such during other presidential terms.

Are they put here to be the judges for God?

I would suggest they worry about their own relationship to God and quit using God and his churches to try and control the actions of a president. Are they saying that God must operate as they see fit? What if God put George Bush here at this time for God's purposes?

[Dog Gone]

I've never heard of the Christian Missionary Alliance or a Vineyard Church. Actually, I'm probably asking the question in the wrong way, anyway, since I'm burned out on all national and international churches. Far too much of tithes and offerings go to administrative overhead, and the career church bureaucrats seem to feather their own nests.

You see power struggles, and often a lot of politics. And don't get me started on the televangelists, who are milking a wonderful scam.

I'm sure there are wonderful unaffiliated neighborhood churches filled with good people. All I need to do is some legwork.

[NathanR]

Why would a church want to advance an atheistic philosophy?

During the Viet Nam War, many seminarys accepted any man who was interested, because the government still gave student deferments for going to divinity schools after 1968. They accepted any warm male body, even when that body held such minor opinions as not believing in God or believe church dogma or things like that. Many of these people went into the ministry, because they liked it, not because they had an actual calling, unless you counted being a Marxist a calling.

That is one reason why there are so many marxists in the denominations which opposed the Viet Nam War.

[FreeRep]

Those several officials of the United Methodist Church need to repent to the Iraqi people.

[Lauratealeaf]

I have been disgusted with the national ad campaign the Methodist Church has been running lately. Several ads claimed the United Methodist Church is open, open minded, open whatever, but of course, not open minded to President Bush's waging war to defend our country.

[kayak]

The National Council of Churches does, indeed, have a history of supporting socialist movements.

[Belial]

That is one reason why there are so many marxists in the denominations which opposed the Viet Nam War.

Well, your response has nothing to do with the original conspiracy theory. Which was that that laundry list of churches formed with the express purpose of advancing Marxism.

You're proposing another tinfoil theory, which is that legions of Marxists joined churches to avoid military service, thus explaining the opposition of several churches to the Viet Nam War.

I find the simplest explanation is often the best. Most likely these churches opposed the war, since they believed it to be immoral. Any draft dodgers would be junior clergy members at best during this time...they would certainly not have the pull to influence the senior policy making decisions.

[Cordova Belle]

Yes--a little legwork. Your community is bound to have a good local church. To answer the other thing:

The Christian Missionary Alliance Church was founded by Dr. A. B. Simpson, author of a number of classic Christian books. It's known as CMA for short. I'm not a member, but ran into a great number of excellent churches affiliated with them. It began strictly as an organization to support missionaries. As for The Vineyard, founded by John Wimber, headquartered in Anaheim, California, it's a great church too, that didn't start out to be a denomination, but Vineyard churches, planted by members of the original church there in Anaheim, began sprouting up all over. They still don't consider themselves a "denomination," so there is no overhead---just a home church there in Anaheim that helps get young churches started. The Vineyard came out of the Jesus Movement of the 60's and 70's.

Lastly, don't be too hard on organized churches. The Southern Baptists, for example, 11 million strong, don't spend a lot of money on national headquarters and overhead. And each church is an autonomous governing body.

In short--I hope you find a local group where you can experience the blessing of fellowship with fellow believers.

[nickcarraway]

Pharisee Alert

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[nickcarraway]

United Methodist Women used funds for mission to lobby Bill Clinton to VETO the ban on partial birth abortion.

What a waste of money...he would have done it anyway.

[Northern Yankee]

Looks like its really time to become a CATHOLIC in S. Dakota.

There's an opening...

[epow]

This is not the Methodist Church of old.

No it isn't, and it hasn't been for the last few decades. My godly grandparents were Methodists of the old type who still believed the bible is the inerrant, infallible, Word of God. If they were alive I know they would not still be in a UMC church. My deceased dad was raised in a bible believing Methodist church, but quite a few years ago he left his UMC church and joined a Baptist church when he couldn't take any more of the leftist, pacifist, globalist, one-world junk his denomination was preaching and teaching.

That isn't to say there are no true believers left in UMC churches. It's surprising that there are still many true born again, bible believing Christians who are members and pastors in UMC churches, but I personally know some who are still hanging in there. I just don't know why.

[Belial]

The National Council of Churches does, indeed, have a history of supporting socialist movements.

That's just because religion is the opium of the masses.

[Belial]

No Offense to any practicing Methodist, but don't they condone homosexuality?

No worries, my friend. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell will always be glad to step up and take your money, and boy do they hate homos.They will be glad to tell you how the NAACP was responsible for 9/11, and which Teletubby is gay.

[michigander]

Daniel 12

Matthew 6
¹ Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
² Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
...

[birdsman]

So when are the liberals going to demand that the Radical Religious Left keep it's nose out of politics, as per the so-called seperation of church and state?