April 2005

April 2005

We are Getting Close to the Cross with the “God is Going Back to School” Campaign

The National “God is Going Back to School” campaign kicked off with a bang this March in Charlotte, NC. We were overrun with phone calls and emails as Flip and the team passed out brochures for one week. Those brochures included “Abortion is Murder – Homosexuality is Sin – Islam is a Lie” and “Do Not Judge.” (You can find all of our brochures and the daily reports from this school outreach on the web.) One specific day, the students brought eggs and super-soakers to greet our folks. We witnessed to many who have been taught that tolerance is to be guarded at all cost – even at the expense of the truth of Scripture and salvation through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. Below is an article written by Flip as a result of being at the local high school in Charlotte.

This picture represents, better than any other, our “God is Going Back to School” campaign.  We have a brother, Joel Crumpon from Fire School of Ministry, who actually brings a cross to the schools with us.  It is an awesome picture of the love God has for us and for each one of the students and teachers in the school.  It is also an awesome picture of theology becoming biography in this world.  Jesus came to this sin-sick world to save it, but the world thought He came only to condemn it (John 3:16 -21) .  Those He came to save thought He hated them, because He exposed their wicked deeds.  Little did they know that He loved them enough to tell them the truth.  “The wounds of a friend can be trusted.” Proverbs 27:6.

In our New Testament Bible reading yesterday, Mark 11:27-12:12, we find Jesus getting very near the cross that He will be nailed to, and where He will ultimately give up His life.  It is after His triumphal entry from the Mount of Olives, the parabolic cursing of the fig tree, and His turning over of the tables of the money changers in the temple of God that he makes this very revealing statement :  “… Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations '?  But you have made it a ‘den of robbers'.”  Mark 11:17.   You can rest assured that when one makes a statement like this to the religious folks of the day, he is about ready to get nailed.  It exposed their sin and they were having none of it.

God's house was to be a house where all nations could come and pray to Him, find forgiveness of sins, and freedom in the only One who can truly make them free.  But it was, nevertheless, God's house.  It belonged to Him and Him alone.  It was not to be shared with false gods.  He alone makes the rules.  He alone is the way.  He alone is the truth.  He alone is the life.  Pretty intolerant, isn't He?  And yet, He longed for His house to be a house of prayer for all nations .  How can this be?

God loves the nations – all of them.  He loves you and He loves me.  He desires that all (everybody and every nation) come to Him, but they must come in His way – not the way that seems best to them.  Unfortunately for the nation Israel , and all of the rest of the nations during Jesus' time, the temple of God had become a place of merchant trafficking, pharisaic rule making, and a den of robbers.  It was highly unlikely that anyone could find the “Living God” in the midst of all of this mess.  God's people had failed miserably in rightly representing the heart and love of God for all the nations.  Thus, when God Himself came to His own house in the person of Jesus, He condemned it.  Ouch!

I wonder what His reception would be like if He showed up at one of our church services today?  What would we say to Him if He came in acting all judgmental, and began turning tables over in our own sanctuary?  What if He dared to show up at our own high school and said things like:  “Abortion is Murder, Homosexuality is a Sin, and Islam is a Lie.”   Now mind you, those of us outside North Mecklenburg High School are not Jesus, we are simply friends of His, saved by His grace and mercy.  But we are His instruments, as foolish as we appear, to bring His message of truth and love to you.   

How would we respond?  More than likely we would respond in the same way that the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders responded to Him when He showed up at their own temple in Jerusalem :  “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked.  “And who gave you authority to do this?”  Mark 11:28.   You see, they forgot that the temple did not belong to them.  It belonged to God.  They were worshiping God in the way they saw fit, and who was He to tell them what to do?  Pretty arrogant, huh?

Amazing that this was exactly the same question asked of me by the kids writing for the school newspaper at North Mecklenburg High School today.  “Who gave you the authority to do this?  Who gave you the right to judge?”  Rather than asking about the content of our message and attacking that, they went right for the jugular and made us – not the message – the object of their consternation and wrath.  This is a dangerous path indeed. 

“Who gives you the right to call homosexuality sin, to call Islam a lie, and to call abortion murder,” was their cry.  These are very good questions that have very specific answers, but those asking the questions had no desire to understand.  You see, the argument had moved from content to form.  No longer concerned with the content of the message, the argument moved to the form of the message which simply means, “You have no right to interfere with my personal peace.  If you continue, I have every right to swear, lie, throw stuff at you, beat you, and kill you.”  Whenever this occurs, you can be sure that the cross is not far away.  Kill the messenger!

“Then they looked for a way to arrest Him because they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left Him and went away.”  Mark 12:12    

Yes, in Jesus' day, they hated Him, even though He so loved them.  Jesus told his earthly brothers, who had no real understanding of what He was saying until after His death and resurrection, “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that what it does is evil.”  John 7:7.   Perfect love, hated by the world?  Go figure.

We have brought the truth to North Mecklenburg High School and are hated for it.  Why?  What is it about the Jesus that dug us out of the pit that so offends and vexes the folks at North Mecklenburg High?  When the theology of the church house becomes biography in the streets of our cities, you can be sure that there is going to be a cataclysmic clash between those who bring the Gospel of life in Christ and those who love death.  If you can't deal with the message, you can always go after the messenger. 

The apostle Paul said it well: “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?”  Galatians 4:16.

BTK – NOT THE ONLY SERIAL KILLER IN WICHITA
(Sent out as a press release March 2, 2005)

Bill O'Reilly has never heard of mass murderer George Tiller? You have got to be kidding!

Tiller has never met a baby he would not kill, baptize in the name of Jesus, and then burn to ashes in his own "on premises" crematorium. He is simply the single most notorious murderer in the United States of America. People from around the world come to kill their children in Tiller's abortion mill.

"Tiller the Killer," the mad butcher of children in Wichita, is finally being exposed for what he really is. This is all taking place at the very same time Dennis Rader, aka the BTK (bind, torture, kill) Murderer, is being brought to justice in Wichita. Coincidence? Not in God's economy.

These two men have much in common:

• Neither have respect for anyone else's lives but their own. Apart from the thousands upon thousands of babies he has killed, Mr. Tiller just finished mutilating a young lady with Down's syndrome last month. He was performing an abortion on her and somehow allowed her to bleed to death on the table. Of course, he succeeded in killing the baby. Talk about bind, torture, and kill.

• Both perpetrate their heinous acts in secret. Neither want their actions to be exposed. Tiller does not want the records of the young women on whom he has performed abortions (some 11-14 years old) to be given over to the state Attorney General, Phil Kline. Both Tiller and Rader play sophomoric little games with the media, police, and the government – “Catch me if you can!”

• Both believe they can kill with impunity. Tiller has been doing it for years, and getting away with it. It was no different with Dennis Rader.
  
• Both are members in good standing in their respective churches. Mr. Tiller was on the Board of Elders at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita for years. Dennis Rader was on the Board of the Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita for years. Both of these churches are in the same synod, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). (Just a cursory look at the ELCA will show that they are pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, and absolutely apostate – a breeding ground and a great cover for murderers.)
  
• Both began killing in the same year. Rader's first murder is well documented on January 14, 1974. George Tiller's first murder (abortion) was also performed in 1974 at Wesley Hospital in Wichita.
  
• Both Tiller and Rader have been considered model citizens in their community. Tiller's name can be found as one of the contributors at " Exploration Place" in Wichita – a great place for parents to take their kids to learn. He is highly respected in the Democratic Party, even to the point of spending a night in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House during the Clinton Administration. Mr. Rader was a leader of a Cub Scout den in Wichita and also worked for the city.

• Unfortunately for the citizens in the city of Wichita and all of us in America, both men are inhabited by the same spirit of murder. This spirit, once unleashed upon a city or a nation, knows no bounds and only increases in ferocity until violence overwhelms the earth. To lock up one and not the other is to allow this spirit of murder to continue its savagery with impunity.

The one thing that we can find different between these two men is that BTK stopped killing in 1991. That is the same year that Christians from across America came to Wichita to lay their lives down in front of Tiller's abortion mill so that the slaughter of little baby boys and girls waiting to be born would stop. Over 2500 Christians were arrested during the tumultuous summer of 1991. The gates of hell in Wichita, KS, were hemorrhaging as the Church of Jesus Christ allowed her theology to be biography in the streets. This was enough to stop BTK, but George Tiller continued on in his murderous spree.

God is speaking to the saints in Wichita and, indeed, He is speaking to all of us in America. What is He saying? "See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers!" Isaiah 1:21. Yes, our great country has become a nation of murderers.

As we have shed blood in the womb, we are reaping a horrible harvest of bloodshed in our schools, workplaces, and streets. "... bloodshed follows bloodshed …." Hosea 4:2. If we sow blood in the womb, we will reap blood in the streets.

Removing the BTK murderer from the streets of Wichita will not restore peace to that city. There will be others more ferocious than he. How do I know? "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7.

Until George Tiller and his ilk are brought to justice, and the shedding of innocent blood in the womb ceases, there will be an ever-increasing harvest of bloodshed in Wichita and in America.

NATIONAL EVENT – OPERATION SAVE DENVER – JULY 16-23, 2005

The team in Denver is hard at work preparing the way for this summer. The battle is stirring for the glory of God. Below is an invitation to come and stand for King Jesus from Ken and Jo Scott who are heading up the local team.

The OSA Operation Save Denver summer event is shaping up to be very exciting! We will be on the streets in Denver , Boulder and Colorado Springs . Several media outlets are already working with us. Our days will be packed and fruitful. Our nights will be filled with praise and God's Word. We are expecting to turn Denver upside down for Jesus. Glory!!!!

Philip Wogaman (Clinton's former pastor in Washington ) will be hosting “Lunch with the Professor” at the Iliff School of Theology. We're planning to invite Jesus to the luncheon and our theology will become biography when the wolves in sheep's clothing are exposed. For one week you'll be surrounded by like-minded Christians, great preaching and the beautiful mountains of Colorado. Who could ask for anything more?!

Looking forward to serving our Lord and Savior with you this summer! Hotel Information
Ramada Continental Hotel
2601 Zuni St
Denver, CO 80211
303-433-6677
$63.70 (sleeps four)
Ask for the OSA block

For more housing options, please visit the Operation Save Denver link accessible through the OSA website. Online registration will be available soon. Com Center number: 972-240-9370

Keep storming the gates - Flip