9/11 and the War of the Pulpits - Various Scriptures

Tomorrow is the eleventh day of September.  Five years ago, we were all stopped in our tracks and we watched in horror as the World Trade Center was totally destroyed, the Pentagon was attacked, and a hijacked plane crashed near Pittsburgh.  It was a bad day, to say the least.  It was also the beginning of the "war on terror" in earnest.  Ever since that time, our government and our president in particular, have gone to great pains to avoid any association of Islam and Muslims in general with terrorism.  They have had virtually miraculous success.

A few days ago, I was given the latest newsletter from Christian Action Network.  I don't know anything about this organization, but I read the letter and then followed up on what they were saying in the letter because, to be honest, I just didn't believe it.  I found the following article from Investor's Business Daily which explains the issue.  From today's (May 22, 2006) Investor's Business Daily.  [http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=3&issue=20060519&view=1]

Teaching Johnny About Islam

"Education: In our brave new schools, Johnny can't say the pledge, but he can recite the Quran.  Yup, the same court that found the phrase "under God" unconstitutional now endorses Islamic catechism in public school.  In a recent federal decision that got surprisingly little press, even from conservative talk radio, California's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it's OK to put public-school kids through Muslim role-playing exercises, including:

•     Reciting aloud Muslim prayers that begin with "In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful . . . ."
•     Memorizing the Muslim profession of faith: "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger."
•     Chanting "Praise be to Allah" in response to teacher prompts.
•     Professing as "true" the Muslim belief that "The Holy Quran is God's word."
•     Giving up candy and TV to demonstrate Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
•     Designing prayer rugs, taking an Arabic name and essentially "becoming a Muslim" for two full weeks.

Parents of seventh-graders, who after 9-11 were taught the pro-Islamic lessons as part of California's world history curriculum, sued under the First Amendment ban on religious establishment.  They argued, reasonably, that the government was promoting Islam.  But a federal judge appointed by President Clinton told them in so many words to get over it, that the state was merely teaching kids about another "culture."

So the parents appealed.  Unfortunately, the most left-wing court in the land got their case.  The 9th Circuit, which previously ruled in favor of an atheist who filed suit against the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, upheld the lower court ruling.

The decision is a major victory for the multiculturalists and Islamic apologists in California and across the country who've never met a culture or religion they didn't like, with the exception of Western civilization and Christianity.  They are legally in the clear to indoctrinate kids into the "peaceful" and "tolerant" religion of Islam, while continuing to denigrate Judeo-Christian values.

In the California course on world religions, Christianity is not presented equally.  It's covered in just two days and doesn't involve kids in any role-playing activities.  But kids do get a good dose of skepticism about the Christian faith, including a biting history of its persecution of other peoples.  In contrast, Islam gets a pass from critical review.  Even jihad is presented as an "internal personal struggle to do one's best to resist temptation," and not holy war.

The ed consultant's name is Susan L. Douglass.  No, she's not a Christian scholar.  She's a devout Muslim activist on the Saudi government payroll, according to an investigation by Paul Sperry, author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington." He found that for years Douglass taught social studies at the Islamic Saudi Academy just outside Washington, D.C.  Her husband still teaches there.

So what?  By infiltrating our public school system, the Saudis hope to make Islam more widely accepted while converting impressionable American youth to their radical cause.  Recall that John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban," was a product of the California school system.  What's next, field trips to Mecca?

This case is critical not just to our culture but our national security.  It should be brought before the Supreme Court, which has outlawed prayer in school.  Let's see what it says about practicing Islam in class.  It will be a good test for the bench's two new conservative justices."

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Do you remember hearing anything about this?  I don't.  I cannot recall hearing or reading anything about this at all.  I realize that I am not as "in touch" with the rest of the world as maybe I should be.  But I would have expected someone within my sphere to have said something, and I would have expected them to say it loudly.  What I have just read to you is the most blatant insult not just against Christians, but against Americans, that I have read in a very long time.  The reason I say this is because we are at war, not only with terrorism, but with Islam.

I want to remind you of something we read last week: Exodus 34:11-16.

"Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. "But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images `(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), "lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, "and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods. (Exodus 34:11-16, NKJV).

Christianity in America is inviting the Canaanites into the church.  It may not be an overt invitation, but it is at least a passive invitation.  The reason I say this is because there seems to be very little said within evangelical circles against Islam.  The primary reason little is said against Islam is because there is little said of any doctrinal substance.  Recently, at a $10/person event in Boston, the pastor of the largest church in America, Joel Osteen, was asked his opinion about homosexuality.  His response was,

"I don't think it's God's best.  I never feel like homosexuality is God's best."  When pressed on the issue, Osteen said, "I don't feel like that's my thrust . . . you know, some of the issues that divide us, and I'm here to let people know that God is for them and he's on their side."1

This is the kind of non-preaching that inadvertently invites error, false doctrine, false teachers, and consequently false religion into the church.  And please remember, this man is the pastor of the largest church in America with approximately 30,000 members.  He is seen regularly on Black Entertainment Television, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Daystar Television Network, USA Network, and in more than 140 countries around the world.  His book, Your Best Life Now:7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential has sold millions of copies.  If everyone loves a winner, Joel Osteen has a lot of friends.

But he, along with what appears to be the majority of evangelical leaders in this country, has great difficulty dealing with biblical truth, particularly when it comes to declaring something to be in error.  Islam is not biblical.  It is not true.  It is also the fastest growing religion in the world.  Why is Islam, in spite of all the bad press it gets because of terrorism, why is Islam advancing so strongly throughout the world, and here in America?

I want to read three excerpts from an interview on Larry King Live with Joel Osteen.  This is from a post by Steve Camp on the Reformed Reader Forums page.  2

Excerpt One:

KING: Because we've had ministers on who said, your record don't count. You either believe in Christ or you don't. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don't no matter what you've done in your life, you ain't.

OSTEEN: Yeah, I don't know. There's probably a balance between. I believe you have to know Christ. But I think that if you know Christ, if you're a believer in God, you're going to have some good works. I think it's a cop-out to say I'm a Christian but I don't ever do anything ...

KING: What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ...
KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They're wrong, aren't they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don't know if I believe they're wrong. I believe here's what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person's heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don't know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don't know. I've seen their sincerity. So I don't know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

Excerpt Two:

KING: You don't call them sinners?

OSTEEN: I don't.

KING: Is that a word you don't use?

OSTEEN: I don't use it. I never thought about it. But I probably don't. But most people already know what they're doing wrong. When I get them to church I want to tell them that you can change. There can be a difference in your life. So I don't go down the road of condemning.

KING: You believe in the Bible literally?

OSTEEN: I do, I do.
KING: Noah had an ark and Adam and Eve?

OSTEEN: I do. I do. I believe that. I believe it all.

Excerpt Three:

CALLER: Hello, Larry. You're the best, and thank you, Joe -- Joel -- for your positive messages and your book. I'm wondering, though, why you side-stepped Larry's earlier question about how we get to heaven? The bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and the only way to the father is through him. That's not really a message of condemnation but of truth.

OSTEEN: Yes, I would agree with her. I believe that...

KING: So then a Jew is not going to heaven?

OSTEEN: No. Here's my thing, Larry, is I can't judge somebody's heart. You know? Only God can look at somebody's heart, and so -- I don't know. To me, it's not my business to say, you know, this one is or this one isn't. I just say, here's what the bible teaches and I'm going to put my faith in Christ. And I just I think it's wrong when you go around saying, you're saying you're not going, you're not going, you're not going, because it's not exactly my way. I'm just...

KING: But you believe your way.

OSTEEN: I believe my way. I believe my way with all my heart.

KING: But for someone who doesn't share it is wrong, isn't he?

OSTEEN: Well, yes. Well, I don't know if I look at it like that. I would present my way, but I'm just going to let god be the judge of that. I don't know. I don't know.

KING: So you make no judgment on anyone?

OSTEEN: No. But I...

KING: What about atheists?

OSTEEN: You know what, I'm going to let someone -- I'm going to let god be the judge of who goes to heaven and hell. I just -- again, I present the truth, and I say it every week. You know, I believe it's a relationship with Jesus. But you know what? I'm not going to go around telling everybody else if they don't want to believe that that's going to be their choice. God's got to look at your own heart. God's got to look at your heart, and only god knows that.

KING: You believe there's a place called heaven?

OSTEEN: I believe there is. Yes. You know, you've had a lot of the near-death experiences and things like that. Some of that is very, to me, not that you need that as proof, but it shows you these little kids seeing the angels and things like that.1


This is what passes for gospel ministry today.  The reason Islam is actually advancing in America is because Christianity is in retreat.  Because evangelical Christianity has no teeth.  Because we are a religion that has become ashamed of the Gospel.  We've lost our first love.  Joel Osteen should not even be allowed to speak from any Christian pulpit anywhere in this land.  But in America, because success is the unmistakable sign of God's blessing on your life and on your church, as long as he can draw a crowd, his position will be quite secure at Lakewood Church.

The church in America has abandoned the Bible to a large degree.  Therefore, it has abandoned Christ.  Political correctness, multi-culturalism, pluralism, and tolerance are the new unassailable doctrines of popular evangelicalism and the mega-church.  The new Gospel is a non-judgmental tolerance of everything and everyone, with no clear conviction about anything.  "Preach sound doctrine" has been edited from the Bible, as has "No one comes to the Father but by Me."  What can we do to turn back the tide?  What can we do to address this slow, national, spiritual suicide?  

It is all the more urgent because of the completely opposite attitudes of our current spiritual enemy, Islam.  Muslims are seen as having convictions.  Some of them are even willing to die for what they believe.  They stop wherever they are every day, five times a day, bow to the ground in the direction of Mecca, and pray.  Their devotion is admirable.  Their self-discipline is laudable.  Their commitment to what they believe to be the truth is amazing.  

And it's not only Muslims.  When the Jehovah Witnesses come to the door, they know what they believe.  They have trainees, disciples with them in order to observe the more experienced person and learn from them.  They bring their children with them as they go from door to door handing out their propaganda.  They are disciplined, and they expect their people to adhere to the teachings of Kingdom Hall.

Every summer, we see young men dressed in white shirts and ties, riding their bicycles through our neighborhoods, disseminating their "gospel" from the book of Mormon.  It is expected of the young men within Mormonism that they will go on a missions trip as part of their obligation to the church.  They give the impression they are committed to the work of their religion.

Christians are not typically seen in that same light.  The word "hypocrisy" easily comes to mind, and rightly so.  One of the things we must do in order to stem the tide is repent.  I'm not only talking about the church "out there."  We here must examine ourselves, look at our own lives, we must start at home and be sure the beams in our own eyes are taken care of before we try to get the specks out of someone else's eye.  This is also a call for a return to church discipline.  If we do not hold ourselves accountable to one another, then to criticize someone else is, you guessed it, hypocritical.

Something else we must do is follow the lead of the woman who called in to the Larry King program.  That brave woman said to Joel Osteen on national television, "I'm wondering… why you side-stepped Larry's earlier question about how we get to heaven?  The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and the only way to the Father is through him. That's not really a message of condemnation but of truth."  She called him on it!  She confronted him about his capitulation.  Capitulation is a military term.  It means, "I surrender," not as in "I Surrender All," but "I give up!"  "I'm not going to fight!"

Ministers of the Gospel should be held responsible to preach the Gospel.  When they don't, they should hear about it.  When they are as large a public figure as Joel Osteen, or Ted Haggard, they should hear about it loudly.  James White has written a book that sounds very interesting.  The title is, Pulpit Crimes: The Criminal Mishandling of God's Word. It is because of the criminal mishandling of the Scriptures that we find ourselves looking down the theological (and the real) gun barrel of Islam.  

The only long-term solution to the current war with Islam (and every other spiritual threat including the Federal Courts), short of the return of Christ, is a return to the pulpit of men who are not ashamed of the Gospel and the removal of those who are.  We must have men who are not afraid to say Jesus Christ is the one and only means of salvation and any religion that rejects Christ's role as Savior of the world, rejects salvation.  It is a false religion.

We also have to return to responsible Christian living.  Loving concern and care for one another's spiritual well-being.  Some churches need to discover this kind of care for one another for the first time.  They cannot return to it because they've never been there.

We also need a return to the individual believer's responsibility to be a disciple, a student of the Scriptures, and not merely a Sunday morning spectator that expects to be entertained by the professionals on the stage.  We need to return to the work of living the Christian life in such a way that the world can actually see it.

Friday night, during our lecture, I said that the "war on terror" will actually boil down to a battle of pulpits.  The Muslim pulpit vs. the Christian pulpit.  At this point, I'm not sure the Christian pulpit is up to the task.  But it also may be that God will use this foe to force His people to decide whose side they are on.  We have to return to the kind of Christian ministry that Paul and the other apostles practiced.  Those who do not, will continue to have "… a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"  (2 Timothy 3:5, NKJV).

Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 10:1-11.

1 Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. ²But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

⁷ Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ's, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ's, even so we are Christ's. ⁸For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed-- ⁹lest I seem to terrify you by letters. ¹⁰"For his letters," they say, "are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible." ¹¹Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present. (2 Corinthians 10:1-11 NKJV)

The war that the pulpit and the Christian faces today is not unlike the conflict within the New Testament church.  There were those who hated Paul's authority, who were more concerned with outward appearances than with the condition of the heart.  They seemed to have no thought for what they thought or believed.  But that is the battleground: the mind.  We as believers are to be able to defend the faith, casting down arguments and philosophies that oppose the truth.  Those same people who were opposed to the apostle Paul were also subjected to church discipline.  

There is much work to be done if we want to defend ourselves against error.  The religious arguments that stand against us are many, and they are powerful.  The Joel Osteens and the Ted Haggards of the Christian world are not going to protect us.  We need more John MacArthurs and John Pipers.  We need more R.C. Sprouls and Albert Mohlers.  We need men and women, but men in particular, who will not compromise the word of God for the sake of being friends with the Canaanites.  And we need Christians to take seriously the charge to walk as Jesus walked, to do everything for the glory of God, to be accountable to one another for our spiritual lives, to be real disciples and students of the Scriptures.

Lord, help us.
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1 Taken from http://www.almohler.com/

2 http://reformedreader.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=60&start=0&sid=f81526af55c3fc70c547d43b97645d8c

3.  See also http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0506/20/lkl.01.html