Let me begin with Brother Paul in 1 Thessalonians:
5:12 But we appeal to you, brothers
and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of
you in the Lord and admonish you; 5:13 esteem them very highly in love
because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 5:14 And we urge
you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help
the weak, be patient with all of them. 5:15 See that none of you repays
evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.
5:16 Rejoice always, 5:17 pray without ceasing, 5:18 give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 5:19
Do not quench the Spirit. 5:20 Do not despise the words of prophets,
5:21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 5:22 abstain from
every form of evil.
The Apostle Paul was very plain here when he was encouraging the church
of Thessalonica especially in verse 15, "See that none of you repays
evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all." I
have been watching the coverage on this issue and I have heard countless
times that "This pastor is starting all of this commotion and he is
over a church of 50 people." Well I say, it took one woman to push for
prayer to be removed from schools. But I digress that point.
I won't go through the gyrations of Pastor Jones and his logic but at
this point, he was willing to cancel the Koran burnings if the folks in
NYC move the proposed mosque away from Ground Zero. So it is ok to try
to broker a deal by threatening to burn the book of someone's faith. In
our country, Constitutionally, Pastor Jones and his church can burn the
Koran and everything they can get their hands on. Yet in the same token,
Constitutionally, the Moslems in NYC can place a mosque near Ground
Zero. (I know I am bouncing around a little bit but please bear with
me.) Yet Pastor Jones, today in essence, told everyone that he is
holding the Koran symbolically for ransom. How in God's name does these
actions even jive with what we as Christians claim to believe through
the love of Jesus. Pastor Jones claims that he is taking a stand, but he
is no better ANY, let me restate again, ANY terrorists or as the
neo-cons would call, the extremists. One of the first known terrorist
groups, the Ku Klux Klan, burned crosses as a part of their methods of
terror on African-Americans. Now, the Klan was considered a Christian
based group. Don't get it twisted, I am not calling Pastor Jones a
member of the Klan, I have no clue on that. But he seems to have taken a
play from the playbook...
But even deeper than this, I do question the motives of Pastor Jones and
straight up, I am wondering what Jesus he is serving. I also wonder
what Jesus is his church serving. My brothers and sisters, we have to
have a personal relationship with Jesus. Our walk with the Lord is
communal and personal; simply put, God has blessed us with common sense
and reason. The Lord speaks to each and everyone of us and through the
love Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we get the ability to
discern things. Not to be blind, powerless sheep to men. This pastor is
holding not only the Koran hostage but Christianity hostage as well. I
don't want no part of it and I will flatly say that Pastor Jones has
needs to get saved and get saved today. Those are my .02 cents...What do
you think???
Pastor Chuck Coulter
5:12 But we appeal to you, brothers
and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of
you in the Lord and admonish you; 5:13 esteem them very highly in love
because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 5:14 And we urge
you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help
the weak, be patient with all of them. 5:15 See that none of you repays
evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.
5:16 Rejoice always, 5:17 pray without ceasing, 5:18 give thanks in all
circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 5:19
Do not quench the Spirit. 5:20 Do not despise the words of prophets,
5:21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good; 5:22 abstain from
every form of evil.
The Apostle Paul was very plain here when he was encouraging the church
of Thessalonica especially in verse 15, "See that none of you repays
evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all." I
have been watching the coverage on this issue and I have heard countless
times that "This pastor is starting all of this commotion and he is
over a church of 50 people." Well I say, it took one woman to push for
prayer to be removed from schools. But I digress that point.
I won't go through the gyrations of Pastor Jones and his logic but at
this point, he was willing to cancel the Koran burnings if the folks in
NYC move the proposed mosque away from Ground Zero. So it is ok to try
to broker a deal by threatening to burn the book of someone's faith. In
our country, Constitutionally, Pastor Jones and his church can burn the
Koran and everything they can get their hands on. Yet in the same token,
Constitutionally, the Moslems in NYC can place a mosque near Ground
Zero. (I know I am bouncing around a little bit but please bear with
me.) Yet Pastor Jones, today in essence, told everyone that he is
holding the Koran symbolically for ransom. How in God's name does these
actions even jive with what we as Christians claim to believe through
the love of Jesus. Pastor Jones claims that he is taking a stand, but he
is no better ANY, let me restate again, ANY terrorists or as the
neo-cons would call, the extremists. One of the first known terrorist
groups, the Ku Klux Klan, burned crosses as a part of their methods of
terror on African-Americans. Now, the Klan was considered a Christian
based group. Don't get it twisted, I am not calling Pastor Jones a
member of the Klan, I have no clue on that. But he seems to have taken a
play from the playbook...
But even deeper than this, I do question the motives of Pastor Jones and
straight up, I am wondering what Jesus he is serving. I also wonder
what Jesus is his church serving. My brothers and sisters, we have to
have a personal relationship with Jesus. Our walk with the Lord is
communal and personal; simply put, God has blessed us with common sense
and reason. The Lord speaks to each and everyone of us and through the
love Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, we get the ability to
discern things. Not to be blind, powerless sheep to men. This pastor is
holding not only the Koran hostage but Christianity hostage as well. I
don't want no part of it and I will flatly say that Pastor Jones has
needs to get saved and get saved today. Those are my .02 cents...What do
you think???
Pastor Chuck Coulter
