Posted on 08/01/2010 4:50:30 AM PDT by geraldmcg
A trial date has been set for September 16th in District Court in Dearborn, Michigan with four Christians charged with breach of the peace after they tried to share their Christian faith to Muslims at the June 18th International Arab festival.
As the four were taken off to jail, many in the crowd shouted "Allah Akbar" as the four were placed in handcuffs. Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center says there is the very strong possibility that a federal Civil Rights case will be filed on behalf of the four Christians.
Muise also says, "It's evident that the Dearborn Police Department was more interested in placating Muslims than obeying the U-S Constitution."
State Representative Tom McMillin of Rochester Hills, Michigan has called on Michigan’s Attorney General Mike Cox to investigate the arrest of the Christians, who were exercising their First Amendment rights on public property.
View the full video news story at: http://www.cleantv.com/web/ProgramDetail.aspx?pid=322
And yes, salvation first and then living an obedient life in God's will can bring tangible blessings.
And the "Kingdom of God" is at hand as we can see by the end-time prophecies being fulfilled almost on an hourly basis in our generation. As Christians we have a responsibility to spread the Gospel and make as many people as possible aware that Christ is returning soon to, among other things, set up His kingdom.
But nowhere does Jesus say that there will be a literal, physical kingdom set up by human beings and nowhere does Jesus say that we are to work to gain control of the earth's governments and social institutions. Nor does Jesus' return depend on human beings attempting to do any of those things.
“...nowhere does Jesus say that we are to work to gain control of the earth’s governments and social institutions...”
...er, how about: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation...teaching them to obey all I commanded...” Jesus certainly isn’t saying that He has nothing to say about the poor, the innocent, children, slaves, employers, husbands, wives, kings, government officials, merchants, soldiers, craftsmen, farmers, butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers (oops, got carried away there) but you get the point.
Their plan is to come with swords drawn and not to listen.
You might want to join us in the real world.
OK...off the cuff, how about: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...Matt 28.
Nothing about not trying to influence the nations (including governments...).
I think perhaps the better choice of words would be “serve” or even “govern people righteously” rather than “control governments” or “be in charge of governments.” I think that serving is very much in God’s nature.
yeah, it might be their intention to come with swords, seems that Paul the apostle had similar intentions...but that ended unexpectedly for him.
There are plenty of Christian Arabs, especially from Lebanon.
So was this an Arab Festival, or a Muslim Festival?
God has a plan for each of our lives which includes service, but we have to be careful to hear His voice and serve in the manner that He wants us to.
And His service may not involve governing people. Jesus never governed people while He was here; He focused all His time on telling people about His future kingdom and the only way to be part of that kingdom.
No, it IS their intention.
What is so hard about that to understand?
If it was reversed - and some Muslims had a booth at a street festival would you think they should be arrested?
In this hypothetical scenario of a generic Moslem visiting a public festival I thought the words “might be their intention to come with swords” didn’t preclude the fact that many Moslems want to kill non-Moslems.
So, it isn’t difficult for me to understand.
Most of us don't have the cojones to follow the Biblical directive, some do. Praise God for them.
...so God doesn’t want us to govern (serve the public) or make disciples of anyone who may be governing?
Here is the phrase I was responding to, not a reference to a public festival, football game or pet store.
"Came to a Christian festival" is a wholly different concept.
"Serving the public" for a Christian takes many different forms, none of which is singled out by Jesus as something that every Christian is to participate in.
We know that Jesus never told Christians to go out and seek to govern other people, but that doesn't mean that He would not put an individual Christian in a government job for that person's livelihood and that person would then be in a position to witness to others.
But nowhere does Jesus even give the slightest hint that the purpose of a Christian is to get themselves installed in the government so that they can govern people.
That notion comes from the mind of man and cannot be supported by Scripture.
I agree it is different - but - even I would like to believe that jihadis can be converted...as was Paul the apostle. Of course we must be willing to defend the innocent from the wicked, so there should be many Christians willing to do whatever is necessary to neutralize a threat to their friends and families (even strangers) at a Christian festival or wherever.
All that said - I think we are probably really on the same page here. Best regards,
Uh, so Joseph didn’t end up in Pharoah’s household and ruling as Pharoah, thereby bringing about deliverance for the Jewish nation... or Esther didn’t affect public policy...and Paul didn’t try to convert Agrippa...
What about the importance of stewardship? Are not we, the citizens of the US (if you are a US citizen) called by God to steward what we’ve been entrusted with?... a country where men are not to dominate other men, where the poor and rich are equal in the eyes of the law, where God may be worshiped freely...etc, etc, etc.
Do you think the Christians went to listen, or to disrupt?
Joseph and Ester and Paul were in the positions they were in to do what they did because God put them there for a specific purpose. They didn't decide on their own to go to Pharoah or to marry King Xerxes, or to go to all the places where Paul went. They were doing the will of God for their lives.
That's the difference.
What about the importance of stewardship? Are not we, the citizens of the US (if you are a US citizen) called by God to steward what we’ve been entrusted with?... a country where men are not to dominate other men, where the poor and rich are equal in the eyes of the law, where God may be worshiped freely...etc, etc, etc.
I guess it comes down to each person who calls himself a Christian making the decision to live his life according to what God wants his life to be and to accomplish or to decide for himself to do what he thinks is the best thing to do and to not live his life for Christ and suffering the consequences of refusing to completely turn one's life over to Christ.
I guess it comes down to if someone who calls himself a Christian really means that he is a Christian and will live his life serving God and His purposes or if that person is going to live his life for himself and what he thinks is wise.
And you haven't been able to produce any Scripture to support any of your positions so far.
How about trying to find anything where Christ said that there would be any equality among people in any laws made by men?
And I pray for you as Elisha prayed for Gehazi that you will see the world as it is. (2 Kings 6:8-23)
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