“Killing Jews is Worship that Draws us Close to Allah.”
These signs were ruled legal and free speech” by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl on Tuesday and will continue to be posted on NYC subways and buses. They have already been appearing on minibusses in San Francisco for quite a while.
While the substance of these signs may sound extreme and hateful, the motive behind the message is not what it first appears.
The signs are a parody and a part of the public information campaign by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI). The ad shows a picture of a man draped in a Palestinian keffiyeh next to a quotation attributed to “Hamas MTV.” They are in response to recent aggressive acts by Islamic terrorists.
The second part of the sign says “That’s his Jihad. What is Yours?”
“The purpose of our campaign is to show the reality of Jihad, the root causes of terrorism. Using the exact quotes and text that they use,” said Pamela Geller of the AFDI.
Whether you agree with the tactics of the AFDI or not, they do realize better than our own elected officials the goals of Islamic extremists. While the means may not be politically correct, they are telling us the truth.
It reminded me of the New Testament book of Galatians where the apostle Paul is teaching that the Old Law has been abolished. It served God’s purpose. It brought us to Christ. It was nailed to the cross with Jesus. And now there is a New Covenant of Christ.
This teaching did not set well with his Jewish brethren. They not only rejected it. But often reacted with violence toward Paul as he preached Jesus on his missionary tours (Acts 14:19). In defending his doctrine, Paul rhetorically asks, “Am I your enemy because I tell you the Truth?” (Gal. 4:16).
As we write on a variety of topics to encourage, inspire, as well as teach, sometimes we are accused of lacking love. Being intolerant. Socially insensitive. Even hateful. But am I your enemy because I tell you the truth?
When I affirm to atheists, there is a God (Ps 14:1), am I their enemy?
When I teach Creationism to evolutionists, (Gen. 1:1), am I their enemy?
When I tell Muslims that there is only one true God (Jer. 10:10) and His name is Jehovah, (Ex. 6:3), am I their enemy?
When I preach that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, (Matt 16:16) am I an enemy of Jews?
When I support marriage as being only between one man and one woman, (Matt 19:4-6) am I the enemy of lesbians?
When I affirm that same-sex relations is a sin, (1 Cor. 6:9-11) am I an enemy of homosexuals?
When I warn young people about the dangers of immorality, indulgence and fleshly lusts, (Gal. 5:19-21) am I an enemy of youth?
When I instruct husbands and wives about their respective God-given roles in the home (Eph. 5:22-33), am I an enemy of families?
When I condemn adultery as sinful, am I an enemy of a person’s right to happiness?
When I admonish churches not to transgress the doctrine of Christ (2 Jn 9) and to respect Jesus’ authority (Matt 28:18), am I the enemy of my own brethren?
When I call my fellow Americans back to faith in God, belief in the sacred Scriptures and acceptance of Biblical morality, am I an enemy of civil liberties?
Am I your enemy because I tell you the Truth?
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
ThePreachersWord 
This is the truth from the scriptures of the true God
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I make the following comments, sincerely in the spirit of Agape to Christian brethren.
Your teachings on difficult issues continue to frustrate me — issues where Christians sometimes find ourselves “between the rock and the hard place”.
Your teachings are wonderful in helping us apply God’s Word to our individual lives. But, we don’t want to be like Pharisees either, and want to “Walk the Talk” on Christ’s two most important Commandments.
Paul found himself caught in one of Life’s “Rock and the Hard Place” with Timothy’s circumcision. The Council of Jerusalem settled this issue. Paul could have drawn a clear line in the sand over this — refusing to circumcise Timothy and then taking him on mission efforts — after all, Paul would have been “RIGHT”.
One can argue that Paul made a mistake (that he was encouraging this) as Paul was told about 10 years after the Jerusalem Council that not much had changed.
But Paul didn’t make any mistake with Timothy — there was something “bigger” involved. Paul had to “weed out” what was important and what wasn’t in the overall “Big Picture”.
One can define this between a “Micro” versus “Macro” view.
In today’s blog you asked a question: “When I support marriage as being only between one man and one woman, (Matt 19:4-6) am I the enemy of lesbians?”
Previously I’ve given an example of a brave female police officer here in Tampa who was killed in the line of duty protecting us. She was a lesbian, and had a “family” of her partner and her partner’s children. This Police officer’s “family” was denied survivor benefits including health insurance for the children.
By only taking a micro view of Matt 19, one just ignores the macro view of Christ’s 2nd most important command. And to answer your question — in doing this, we as Christians become the enemy of the surviving Partner and Children. We also eliminate any opportunity to bring them the Good News of Salvation.
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Stephen,^^^ I really do appreciate and acknowledge your concern, and I VERY much appreciate the ‘tone’, respect and forethought with which you posted the above.
That said, Ken’s article addresses the troubling fact that Christians are engaged in an aggressive onslaught from those who would exchange God’s Truths for lies. One of the big ‘takeaways’ from Ken’s article for me: We must NOT allow those who continue to aggressively dishonor God’s Will, to ‘put words (and intentions!) in our mouths’, by insinuating that Christians who push back against them, are ‘haters’. As disciples of the Lord, we are called to speak the truth in love (and that is a balance statement). We can speak words of truth and love as we demonstrate our love and our care for others – such as the surviving Partner and children, by helping them (parable of the Good Samaritan), and by sharing God’s Good News.
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Stephen, I appreciate your concern. Yet, I am a bit puzzled why my teaching should frustrate you so much! I am writing from a Bible perspective regarding moral issues. Not from a civil, or legal perspective. While all people should be accorded respect and treated fairly, that does not negate the plain teaching of God’s Word regarding those who transgress it. The second great command never calls for compromise of Truth.
I don’t find myself “between a rock and hard place” when it comes to redefining marriage! Marriage, as defined by God, is between a man and a woman. Period. Anything else is a corruption. Those who choose to violate God’s commands, live ungodly lives and flaunt their carnal desires, have become “enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil.3:17-19). And that’s the Truth!
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Ken — The reason you frustrate me is because I have so much Agape Love for you!!! (and others who share your views).
You are special, as God has given you talents (and responsibilities) to be a Teacher to us. And my question remains (looking to my Teachers of God’s Word) — How do we get out of this mess?
By mess, I don’t mean my individual actions nor the actions within the Church. The mess is secular, how we should interact with Others in the secular world.
I’ve asked you (and others): Wouldn’t Civil Unions (or something like it) get us out of this mess? Your response has been no — supporting civil unions in the secular world would “encourage” the sin of homosexuality.
If I was a Baker and a Gay person asked me to bake them a cake for their marriage reception, I’d do it! I’d give up being “right” about something (like Paul and Timothy did) and take every second afforded to me in interacting with them to witness the Good News of Salvation.
It’s not about me, it’s not about being right on a specific issue, nor my “rights” in a secular world — Its about something much bigger.
You just can’t teach and talk about things like this in a narrow, one dimensional view and have a blind eye to some of the hurtful consequences in the secular world (such as the female lesbian police officer’s family).
Frustrated.
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Ken — The New York Times has an article relevant to this discussion today at: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/opinion/sunday/its-not-gay-marriage-vs-the-church-anymore.html?_r=0
It piqued my interest in that the Author also cited Matthew 19 — but in a different light than you do.
Specific to Matt. 19 — Can we rank sin? Is homosexuality a “worst” sin in God’s eyes than say, divorce?
What about being consistent on Matthew 19? Should we allow practices of discrimination against divorced people (about 50% of people who get married) by not allowing their 2nd or 3rd wives/husbands (and their children of divorce) to claim things like health benefits afforded to “Families”?
Under current secular divorce law, are we not “encouraging” the sin of adultery which Matt. 19 is primarily talking about?
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Dear Ken,This another great article. Also, it will be a wonderful sermon outline! Thanks for that!Seriously, it is an edifying, useful and helpful essay. I appreciate it very much.Take care, brother. Larry From: ThePreachersWord To: larryrayhafley@yahoo.com Sent: Thursday, April 23, 2015 7:47 AM Subject: [New post] Am I Your Enemy? #yiv7433283776 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv7433283776 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv7433283776 a.yiv7433283776primaryactionlink:link, #yiv7433283776 a.yiv7433283776primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv7433283776 a.yiv7433283776primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv7433283776 a.yiv7433283776primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv7433283776 WordPress.com | ThePreachersWord posted: “”Killing Jews is Worship that Draws us Close to Allah.”These signs were ruled legal and free speech” by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl on Tuesday and will continue to be posted on NYC subways and buses. They have already been appearing on mini bu” | |
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Ken — I’d really like for you to do some blog posts on interacting with the unsaved. In Paul’s early mission work, Scripture doesn’t (at least to my knowledge) tell us much “How he interacted”. Paul freely admits he wasn’t the “BEST” teacher or communicator. One can come to a conclusion that it was the “Holy Spirit” that gave him success. I’ve never bought in to this simplistic perspective. Was Paul doing some unique things to “connect with people” that we should apply today? He sure wasn’t going around with a message of “I’m right and your wrong” — that would have turned off people.
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Ken, I was able to view and read the bonus post from 2015. Your answer to the questions asked is the only answer, it’s written in in God’s word and he that doesn’t follow that is living in sin. That is the truth! Thank you so much for the repost.
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