Posted on 08/02/2012 5:46:08 PM PDT by Colofornian
Our take: On Sept. 2, the night before the Democratic convention opens in Charlotte, N.C., a group of more that 40 different evangelical churches and denominations will meet in the 20,000-seat Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre to pray for the outcome of the 2012 presidential election and the state of America, among other things. Organizers of the meeting have drawn some controversy for their unwavering opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion and they have called on attendees to fast for the 40 days leading up to the meeting.
On the night before the Democratic convention in Charlotte, at the tip of America's bible belt, more than 40 evangelical, Baptist and other Christian churches will host a massive church service in the 20,000 seat Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.
"Charlotte714," as the Sept. 2 event is being called, was inspired by bible verse 2 Chronicles 7:14, which instructs that if people "turn from their wicked ways," God will forgive their sins. The group's website says that with the country's focus on Charlotte that week, in a "morally degenerating culture," it is an opportunity to organize a service that will help "[God's] church return to Him."
The organizer of the event, David Benham, comes from a family deeply involved in the evangelical church. His father, Flip Benham, leads the Dallas-based fundamentalist Christian group Operation Save America, which fiercely opposes abortion and homosexuality.
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
No matter which way the country votes, judgment is seemingly dead ahead for the church in the United States:
Peter laid it out clearly: For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)
Economic crisis will likely continue if Obama is re-elected; and looks like it's too far gone for any political "savior" to turn around...
Foreign policy related judgment/crisis is likely to be ramped up as well...anytime you put a man as POTUS who is as gullible to deception as both Obama & Romney are, duck!!!!
On top of that, if Romney is put in office, we're talking about God perhaps wondering about His people -- who would have just voted in a guy who claims to be God's rival competitor as a "god"...a guy who claims he's a "god-in-embryo" on his way to full-grown godhood.
It wouldn't surprise me if God removed whatever hedges of protection He has placed on this country...when...
..."His" people "reach" for a "political messiah-god with a divinity complex" as their economic "political savior";
...on top of "His" people aborting at near the same rate as the public-at-large for these past 30 years;
...along with "His" people increasingly embracing homosexuality and same-sex marriage and abortion in the mainline churches (& most churches among the younger members)...
And as 1 Pet. 4:17 shows, the church simply can't point a finger at the world...2 Chron. 7:14 places the burden on "If MY people..."
As somebody once aptly said: "If God doesn't judge America, He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."
Wish we had a “LIKE” button on FR.
A lot of Christians don't vote (though millions do). They're busy doing other things with friends and family, and don't have a lot of time to keep up. Because of Oboma, I see a lot of Christians doing their part to save the country this time from the direction it's going.
America is quickly becoming enlightened. I believe the silent majority isn't going to stay as silent anymore.
The left went too far this time. Millions of closed eyes have been opened.
Mormons certainly are heretical with the idea of men someday growing up to be gods. However, that's NOT the same as them saying men are gods now. The Eastern Orthodox also have a doctrine which sounds a bit like the idea that Christians, being drawn near to God in Heaven will become divine too, depending on what you mean... Of course, the LDS is not to be confused with a Christian denomination, that I understand--and is in essence poly-theistic. Still, I do not think that an LDS bishop, a wimpy moderate politician--is more risky to America than an avowed Marxist intent on destroying out country at its roots.
LIKE
I always ask what kind of Evangelical. I like the conservative ones. The ones that are bible based and preach the Truth.
Better check out the plank in your own eye first.
bible verse 2 Chronicles 7:14, which instructs that if people “turn from their wicked ways,” God will forgive their sins.
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This reporter is so disinterested in this Bible verse and unfamiliar with the Bible...He didnt ever capitalize the word Bible, the only Book that Christians have...
This is God talking to His people...
If MY PEOPLE, who are called by MY NAME, will humble themselves and pray and seek MY FACE and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
Do you believe life begins at birth -- or conception?
Well the same question -- re: a spiritual parallel here -- applies re: Mormon doctrine and their querky interpretation that men are already "gods in embryo."
(Sorry, but already "divine" ones in "embryonic" form is NOTHING compared to the Eastern Orthodox view):
* "What is [man]? He had his being in the eternal worlds; he existed before he came here. He is not only the son of man, but he is the son of God also. He IS a God in embryo, and possesses within him a spark of that eternal flame..." (3rd "prophet" John Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, pp. 52-54, as cited in Teachings of the Presidents: John Taylor, p. 2, 2001 -- compiled & published by its "intellectual reserve" publishing trademark).
* "If we take man, he is said to have been made in the image of God...being his son, he is, of course, his offspring, an emanation from God...He...came forth possessing, in an embryonic state, ALL the faculties and powers of a God." (Taylor, The Gospel Kingdom, p. 52, as cited in Teachings of the Presidents: John Taylor, p. 3, 2001).
Many people know of Spencer W. Kimball, the 12th "prophet" of the Lds church (1973-1985), as the man who allowed blacks to become Mormon priests in 1978.
But did you know Mormonism teaches you are all "gods in embryo"???(And Kimball was one of its key proponents)
Did you know that Mormonism teaches the false "gospel" of self-transformation -- of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps to become a god? (And Kimball was one of its key proponents)
Spencer W. Kimball on these very topics:
1969: "Being a god in embryo with the seeds of godhood neatly tucked away in him, and with the power to become a god eventually, man need not despair...he must...transform himself..." (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 173-174)
A couple he was advising in Kimball's office "did not understand that forgiveness is not a thing of days or months or even years but is a matter of intensity of feeling and transformation of self...This couple seemed to have no conception of satisfying the Lord, of paying the total penalties and obtaining a release..." (Ibid, p. 156)
To Kimball, you had to "pay the total penalties" for your sin -- vs. that being a role occupied by the true Jesus Christ.
September, 1974: Man can transform himself and he must. Man has in himself the seeds of godhood, which can germinate and grow and develop. As the acorn becomes the oak, the mortal man becomes a god. It is within his power to lift himself by his very bootstraps from the plane on which he finds himself to the plane on which he should be. It may be a long, hard lift with many obstacles, but it is a real possibility. Source: http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6057 (Spencer W. Kimball speech entitled Be Ye Therefore Perfect 9/17/74 devotional address @ BYU)
1975: Man is created in the image of God. He is a god in embryo. He has the seeds of godhood within him, and he can, if he is normal, pick himself up by his bootstraps and literally move himself from where he is to where he shows he should be." Source: http://emp.byui.edu/marrottr/LovevsLust.pdf, "Love vs. Lust," Spencer W. Kimball, Provo: BYU Publications, 1975
November 1977: Self-mastery, then, is the key, and every person should study his own life, his own desires and wants and cravings, and bring them under control. Man can transform himself and he must. Man has in himself the seeds of godhood, which can germinate and grow and develop. As the acorn becomes the oak, the mortal man becomes a god. It is within his power to lift himself by his very bootstraps from the plane on which he finds himself to the plane on which he should be. It may be a long, hard lift with many obstacles, but it is a real possibility. To be perfect, one can turn to many areas as a starting place....As we have stated before, the way to perfection seems to be a changing of one’s life—to substitute the good for the evil in every case. Source: By President Spencer W. Kimball An address given to students of Weber State College, Ogden, Utah on 4 November 1977 http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=244ed0640b96b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
July, 1978 Ensign Magazine: Lds church officially endorses Kimball Weber State College comments by publishing them in their official magazine
This quote also becomes part of Chapter 19 of what Lds officially teach college students in their Institute curricula: See http://institute.lds.org/manuals/doctrines-of-the-gospel-student-manual/doc-gosp-11-20-19.asp
Well, frankly, what's been problematic for the "Evangelical" "brand" is that there's one mainline denomination -- the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America -- which isn't even the 4th most conservative Lutheran branch. It is in fact, quite liberal.
* It pays for abortion coverage in its insurance for its churchworkers;
* It voted (barely) to accept homosexual pastors;
* The late-term abortionist in Wichita (Tiller) -- was an usher at an ELCA church;
* The BTK (Bind-Torture-Kill) serial killer in Kansas was the lay president of an ELCA church;
* And the Aurora mass murderer (Holmes) -- had a family who attended an ELCA church in North San Diego County...altho because of its liberalism, that Lutheran church has now (thankfully) left the ELCA to join another more conservative Lutheran denomination.
So I can understand your "image" of some Evangelicals.
I can assure you, tho, that the ELCA is far from representing "Evangelicalism"...
Now I'm not saying that divorce isn't rampant in some Evangelical circles (I'm sure it is). But beyond the ELCA, I don't know of Evangelical denoms or churches which sanction homosexual marriages or abortion.
So please don't size up "Evangelicals" by what one unEvangelical denom has been doing...
“Evangelical” means praying, reading the Bible, going to church, and spreading the word of the Gospel. That’s it. Stop attaching your amoral and immoral meanings to it.
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