May2002 Newsletter

May 2002

REVOLUTION BREAKS OUT IN BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT

The Summit abortuary in Bridgeport is desperately trying to move to a new location (downtown Main Street), but the saints of God are in hot pursuit! The city of Bridgeport had given $300,000 to help the mill relocate. On April 4, 2002, the saints lost two approved sites for their rally to stop this move. The chief of police had approved the permits for the rally, but Bridgeport's mayor took the permits hostage. The police department then gave the saints a second location, but it too was taken away! Never a dull moment following Jesus!

In the midst of the turmoil, God raised up Pastor William Marshall, a black pastor whose church just happens to be directly across the street from the proposed site of the abortuary. He invited the saints to rally at his church! On Saturday morning, the shofars were sounded and the pastoral leadership gave a war cry! Well over 200 of our Lord's gentle warriors stormed the gates of hell with signs in hand and praises in their hearts! Hordes of media lined the street to report on the spiritual warfare taking place in Bridgeport.

Fifteen fearless pastors called a Solemn Assembly across the street from the proposed abortion mill site. The saints listened and repented as these watchmen publicly confessed and repented of their own apathy toward God's children. They repented of their culpability in the shedding of innocent blood and prayed that God would have mercy upon our blood-defiled land. The preaching, proclaiming, prophesying Church of Jesus Christ is on the rise in Bridgeport. Satan's time is short and he knows it. The men of God are rising up!

Saints allowing Theology to become biography in the streets of Bridgeport

GRANITE CITY, IL - HOPELESS CLINIC SHUTS DOWN, by Angela Michael
A momentous event took place at the Hopeless abortion mill on Saturday, April 13, 2002, in Granite City, Illinois. For the first time in 28 years, not one drop of innocent blood was shed. The Hope Clinic for Women did not open it doors. Not one baby was killed! This took place on the busiest killing day of the week when the murder of approximately 50 precious babies is the norm. This "death center of the Midwest" knew that gentle Christians were coming to stand for our Lord and His pre-born children. They knew that O.S.A. Director, Flip Benham, was coming to lead Gideon's army into spiritual battle at the mill. "…the wicked flee though no one pursues."
Calculating the lost revenue for these abortions, coupled with the lost revenue from the sale of baby body parts and organs, the clinic probably lost over $20,000 that day. According to the answering machine, Hope Clinic decided to take a staff holiday so they could be with their family and friends. Woo Hoo! May they take many more holidays and may we give them more excuses to take them! Praise the Lord!

We sang glorious praise and publicly repented of our own sin on site! Jeff led us in "Amazing Grace" as we marched completely around the building. Not one police officer from Granite City drove by. As a matter of fact, one could hear the wind blowing across the empty parking lot, except for the celestial voices that filled the air with the Name of Jesus. Reggie, the new guard, told us they shut the clinic down because they heard that we were coming. Three guards have left to find new jobs in the past two months. Thank you, Jesus!

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR OPERATION RESCUE CASE, Press Release, April 22, 2002

In a case long awaited by Christians living out their faith at abortion mills, the Supreme Court of the United States of America has agreed to hear Operation Rescue vs. NOW, et al. "We are thankful that the Supreme Court has decided to hear this case," said Rev Flip Benham, National Director of Operation Rescue. "It has been a long time coming!"

"For years the abortion industry, NOW, Planned Parenthood, and their ilk have been, hand in glove, using the courts of this land to bully Christians off of the streets," said Rev Benham. "By their continuous harassment with frivolous civil suits, lawsuits, court injunctions, RICO statutes, ad nauseam, they have done everything possible to prevent Christians from giving mothers in crisis pregnancy situations a real choice."

"This ubiquitous form of censorship, aimed directly at silencing the Christian message at abortion mills, must be stopped. The Supreme Court of the United States of America is the last vestige of hope that can put a halt to the judicial activism that is censoring the Gospel of Christ."

"This case is not about violence outside abortion mills, it is about silencing those who give a voice and a choice to little children who have neither!"

"The abortion industry and NOW know that the battle for the lives of children is being won in the streets of this land. Abortions are at their lowest level since 1976. There are 675 fewer abortion mills today than there were in 1991. The number of doctors performing abortions has dropped 40% since 1991. The number of people in America that believe abortion is murder has risen 13% since 1995. The abortion industry is hemorrhaging, and without the help of courts it is finished."

"We pray the Supremes do justice when they hear the case this fall and allow Christians to continue giving mothers a real choice at the very place they need it most - the local abortion mill."

RECONCILING THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT WITH THE GOD OF THE NEW

Have you ever wondered how the God of the Old Testament squares with the God of the New? Could he possibly be one and the same? The God of the Old Testament wiped out cities, not even sparing children. He had His people destroy everything that breathed, showing no mercy at all! How does this God reconcile with the God who revealed Himself most perfectly in the person of Jesus? The one who was a friend of sinners and children. They loved Him. The only ones who trembled at His presence were demons and Pharisees.

When they were little, my twin boys came up with their own special way to deal with this issue. They told me that the God of the Old Testament was mean and very harsh but that was before He became a Christian. When He became a Christian in the New Testament even little children loved to be around Him. As silly as this sounds, their childlike insight reflects much of the thinking and theology of the church today. It is precisely this kind of theology that leads to a neutering of the Gospel of Christ where the only kind of ministry allowed is that of the "mercy ministry." We are allowed to put back together that which the devil smashes, but we are not allowed to take him on in the Name of Jesus and crush his lying head - that would be too confrontational!

This manifests itself in many ways. At abortion mills we constantly hear this tired old mantra, "Jesus loves me and will forgive me. He would never judge me like you do. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" After seeing folks drive into the abortion mill with fish emblems, "I love Jesus" bumper stickers, and carrying Bibles, one begins to ask some questions. Where does one get the idea that he can kill a little child and Jesus will have to forgive him? Where does one get the idea that we can sin all the more that grace may abound? The Apostle Paul debunked this kind of theology in Romans 6:1-2.

At the Metropolitan Community Church (homosexual), the United Methodist Church, the Unitarian Church, and many others, we hear the same old tired mantra, "Jesus loves me and accepts me the way I am. He would never judge me like you do. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!" After witnessing young homosexual men and women going to the altar of these churches celebrating the Lord's Supper and their oneness with Christ, one begins to ask some questions. Where does one get the idea that one can be a practicing homosexual and a Christian at the same time? Where does one get the idea that we can sin all the more that grace may abound?

At the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance on September 14, 2001, our nation gathered at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to remember those slaughtered by Islamic terrorists. We honored false gods right alongside the one True God (Jesus). "There are many ways to God, and Jesus happens to be one of them. God is too big to allow Himself to be confined to one religion. He would never be as judgmental or intolerant of other religions as you are." Where does one get the idea that Christians in America should be tolerant of all, even false, religions? Where does one get the idea that Islam, in the words of our born-again President, is a "great religion"? Where does one get the idea that all religions should be one?

It comes from the "seeker-friendly" preaching so prevalent in the pulpit today that cannot and will not reconcile the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New. The mighty Church of Jesus Christ has been reduced to playing with beads in the playpen when it should be engaged in the battle for our culture. "Seeker-friendly" preaching will dispense mercy galore but will not fight the issues for which the world and the devil are contending.

It comes from a church that is far more interested in proclaiming peace than, fighting the devil and his false ideologies. It comes from a church that fears more than anything else, appearing intolerant, judgmental, and manly! In this emasculated state the church has surrendered its prophetic ministry, "Thus saith the LORD!," for a mercy ministry that only allows us to put back together those things the devil robs, kills, and destroys.

It comes from a church that believes, like my twin boys, that God became a "Christian" in the New Testament and accepts everybody, no matter how bad, what sexual orientation, or what religion. We live with a New Testament "god" of grace and mercy and no judgment. This is precisely the reason we see America falling all over herself trying to deal mercifully with an enemy like Yasser Arafat. We turn the other cheek hundreds of times while this murderer, liar, and thief continues his bloodbath. "…but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel." Pr 12:10.

These compromises, however, ultimately become cruel. The "seeker-friendly" preaching that allows a young lady to believe that Jesus will forgive her for every abortion, even ones she will have in the future, because that is what he came here for, is a lie from the pit of hell! He did not come to this earth so that we could sin all the more! This does not bring God's mercy and grace into play - it brings His judgment! Mercy triumphs over judgment to be sure but mercy cannot be had apart from judgment (James 2:12-13).

The "seeker-friendly", heretical preaching that one can be a practicing homosexual and a Christian at the same time, is a lie from the pit of hell! The seeker-friendly, syncretistic preaching from the pulpit that there are many ways to God and Jesus just happens to be one of them, is a lie from the pit of hell! These compromises, though on their face appear very accepting and non-judgmental, bring with them death!

In Genesis 15:16 God says that it would be over 400 years before Abram's descendants would be allowed to enter the Promised Land because the sin of the Amorites (Canaanites, Perizzites, etc.) had "…not yet reached its full measure." God, for 400 years, sought to bring these people to Himself but they became so totally debauched (see Leviticus 18 for a description of their utter depravity) that they had to be completely destroyed (charem) so that they would not lead God's people astray. The Hebrew word "charem" means the irrevocable giving over of persons or things to the Lord, often resulting in their total annihilation. This doesn't appear very compassionate does it?

In Exodus 23:22-23 God, in preparing His people to enter the land, told Moses, "If you listen carefully to what he (the angel of the Lord) says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you back into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perezzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites and I will wipe them out." God then warns the people explicitly not to make a covenant or treaty with these nations because they will cause them to fall away from Him. In Deuteronomy 7:1-6, Moses reiterates the above command, "…and when the Lord your God has delivered them (Amorites) over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally (charem). Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy."

Here we see it again! God is going to totally annihilate certain nations, women, children, animals, and everything that breathes. Does this sound like Jesus to you? Would He say, "… show them no mercy?" Seeker-friendly preachers and Christians have great difficulty reconciling the God of the Old Testament with the God of the New?

In Deuteronomy 20:10-18, however, we find a very interesting distinction made. God says that His people can make peace with cities that are far away but they must show no mercy to cities that are nearby. The cities nearby just happened to be the Amorites. Their sin had now reached its full measure and they had to be utterly destroyed (charem). What was the reason? God had for more than 400 years patiently dealt with this people but they would not turn to him. If left alive they would lead Israel astray:

"But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you …then you may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you." Joshua 23:12-13.

Let's suppose that you had a malignant cancer in your body. Would you be pleased if the doctor informed you that he had removed most of the cancer? Of course not! You would have wanted him to remove all of it. Why? Because that malignant cancer, if left, would ultimately destroy you. This is exactly why God dealt so ruthlessly (charem) with the cities nearby. If left they would lead to the destruction of God's chosen people.

In the Book of Judges this is exactly what happened. The people of Israel did not drive out the people of the cities nearby and the Lord would no longer drive out these nations from the land but would leave them there to "…test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it…." Jdgs 2:22.

In the New Testament we find that God is the very same. Jesus is the God of the Old Testament, "…the same yesterday, today, and forever." There are disputable areas and good Christians can disagree, like whether or not a person can eat meat offered to an idol. The Apostle Paul called this a disputable matter (the cities far away) in Romans 14:1 and then goes on to explain the principles by which one deals with a disputable matter.

On the other hand, there are indisputable matters (the cities nearby) that must be demolished (charem) or they will result in our own destruction: "For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.

We must totally destroy every argument and pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God or it will result in our own destruction. We must be utterly ruthless, for if we try to compromise with them they will bring our ultimate destruction. Of course I am referring to Abortion, homosexuality, and Islam. They have set themselves up against the knowledge of God and must be totally destroyed (charem). This will require the God of the Old Testament

Be strong for the task! The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New will help you.
Flip