Religious Freedom

Ecumenical Universalism is not the same as Religious Freedom

Posted on December 4, 2017Leave a comment

Full disclosure: I was not personally present at the event I’m writing an opinion about…

What took place on Saturday morning in Twin Falls appeared to have been more of an ecumenical attempt of universalism that amalgamated pieces of many beliefs into essentially a castrated god of nothingness.

To speak up for religious freedom does not mean we put our gods aside and pretend we are worshipping the same god. When that happens you are not at a religious freedom rally, you are at an ecumenical worship service where every god but the God of the Bible is worshipped.

Religious honesty is needed today.

We can sit down at the table and dialog of our differences without compromising our convictions and setting truth outside the door.

Where I am an advocate of religious freedom for all, I in no way support or participate in universalism disguised as religious freedom.

As a pastor of a biblical ordered church, I do not support any event that is not intellectually honest or biblically true as a valid voice for true religious leaders.

I will be brief in my response to what was called a religious freedom rally at the Twin Falls City Park on Saturday, December 2, 2017.

Granted, again, I was not present…

Prayer cannot be mutually given to whatever god you want to say you are praying to. For example: if a Muslim man is praying to his god, Allah, the Mormon man cannot at the same time say amen or agree with his neighbor on whose God is being prayed to. If a Christian man is praying in the name of Jesus, the Mormon and Muslim must inquire if he means the Jesus of their books.

If a religious freedom rally is what you want with people of differing religions and you begin with prayer you have at that moment acted against your conscience by putting your religious freedom upon the alter of universalism. You have ceased being who you say you are and stopped believing what you profess to believe.

I’ll stand for religious freedom all day long. But I will not put my conscience aside to pray with someone to their god in hopes that my God will understand. In a day where religious integrity is needed most, religious leaders should be articulating with greater clarity.

This pastor preaches a Triune Godhead. No honest Muslim would ever join me in a prayer to this God. No honest Mormon would submit himself the the authority of this God. To do so, both would be required to repent of their worship of their current gods, unless they are secretly ecumenical universalist, like many other false professors calling themselves Christians.

Religious freedom is not what is celebrated at an ecumenical, amalgamated gathering, of confused religious leaders.

I suport religious freedom. I denounouce any other kind of false representations of misleading wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Posted on June 29, 2016Leave a comment

From the Circuit Rider’s Library

Sermon Title: Religious Freedom
Sermon Text: Matthew 22:15-22

This sermon was preached on July 4, 1976 in Rifle, Colorado at the Rifle Southern Baptist Chapel. It was the bicentennial of the nation. There was unrest in the nation and unrest in the church across the nation regarding the inerrancy of Scripture. Following are from his hand written notes from his Lord’s Day sermon, July 4, 1976.

I was 9 and 1/2 years old.

The Circuit Rider took to the pulpit reading a portion of the U.S. Bill of Rights, Amendment #1 followed by reading from the Baptist Faith and Message Sec. 17.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” (Bill of Rights, Amendment #1)

“God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has Left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.” (Baptist Faith and Message, Section 17)

Two great liberties that have challenged the devotion, love, loyalty of freedom loving people:

Political Liberty
Soul or Religious Liberty

they go together

No genuine religious liberty without political liberty – no political liberty without religious freedom.

Desire for freedom has been the battle cry of men through the years…

Magna Cart grew out of oppressive circumstances
Reformation…
American Revolution…
Racial unrest…

“We want freedom! We want freedom!”

the Battle for Freedom
the Battle for religious freedom played a [primary] role in the colonization of the United States.
the idea of religious liberty is not just a Baptist idea
-it is a God given right!Church and state united in 325 under Constantine and not separated until —
* 1663 in Providence colony by a Baptist, Roger Williams
* in 1786 Virginia adopted a similar law
* in 1791 it was incorporated into the Bill of RightsThere are those in the world today who would destroy “this silly protestant idea.”
illustration: Herbert Hoover told a story after a dinner at a certain home concerning a priceless heirloom, a family treasured it very much, a vase handed down for many generations…
Little Girl – “Mother, you know that wonderful, beautiful vase that has been given to us, handed down from generation to generation?” the mother thought sh had finally realized it’s value… “Yes, I do!” “This generation just dropped it!”We stand in danger of dropping freedoms handed down to us.
What is Religious Freedom?
the average American understands freedom to mean “unrestrained”. Every individual must be left free under God to perform his duties and responsibilities according to the dictates of their own conscience.”We must obey God rather than men.”Bound only by the word of God.

Martin Luther brought before the council and was asked to recant:
“Every conscience is bound to the word of God. Unless convinced of error by clear argument of reason, I will not [recant], I cannot recant. Here I stand, I can do no other. God Help me!

Three attitudes toward religious liberty: 1. Destroy it. 2. Stamp it out. 3 Tolerate it.

No other country on earth enjoys the freedoms that we do.

Look at the difference between North and South America

Eisenhower – “Let people choose weather to live under communism…”
Freedom of Worship
Right along with freedom of choice is freedom to worship or not to worship.George W. Truett, at an address delivered from the East Steps of the National Capitol at Washington, D.C., on Sunday, May 16, 1920 (full speech HERE):
“Baptists have one consistent record concerning liberty throughout all their long and eventful history. They have never been a party to oppression of conscience. They have forever been the unwavering champions of liberty, both religious and civil. Their contention now, is, and has been, and, please God, must ever be, that it is the natural and fundamental and indefeasible right of every human being to worship God or not, according to the dictates of his conscience, and, as long as he does not infringe upon the rights of others, he is to be held accountable alone to God for all religious beliefs and practices. Our contention is not for mere toleration, but for absolute liberty. There is a wide difference between toleration and liberty. Toleration implies that somebody falsely claims the right to tolerate. Toleration is a concession, while liberty is a right. Toleration is a matter of expediency, while liberty is a matter of principle. Toleration is a gift from God. It is the consistent and insistent contention of our Baptist people, always and everywhere, that religion must be forever voluntary and uncoerced, and that it is not the prerogative of any power, whether civil or ecclesiastical, to compel men to conform to any religious creed or form of worship, or to pay taxes for the support of a religious organization to which they do not believe. God wants free worshipers and no other kind.”
Worship in Spirit and in Truth
The freedom to interpret God’s Word.
Everyone can have a Bible
This is not so everywhere
Present Day Enimies1) Totalitarian Religion (religion that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience.)
2) GovernmentWe must realize that the freedom we champion had its source in God. “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time.You shall know the truth

We need to face the fact that it can happen here [we can loose this freedom here]…
* if we forget what it cost.”
* If we quit fighting.”
* if we fail to exercise practical freedom.”

Romans 13:11-14

New York vs. North Carolina

Posted on April 1, 2016Leave a comment

If you haven’t read the Governor’s Executive Order from the State of New York regarding the prohibition of state funded or state sponsored travel to North Carolina yet, you should do yourself a favor and read it. You might even gather the family together to read it as an exercise in careful judgment on the importance of words and looking for the agenda pushing this.

This is about a lot of things; but one thing is sure, it is not a civil rights issue.

Just this week the governor of Georgia caved to the financial pressure and vetoed a similar law that North Carolina has. Corporate America put the financial threat of pulling out if Georgia passed a law to protect pastors from being forced to do the will of the growing opinion of the nation.

HERE is the entire executive order Governor Cuomo of New York issued March 28th, 2016.

Preface: I’m in favor of protecting the civil rights and liberties of all citizens of the land, all of us. The state of New York, the city of New York City specifically, has been influencing the nation (and the world for that matter) for a long time. This executive order was not a statement protecting the civil rights of anyone. It was a statement from one governor to all governors to not do what North Carolina is doing.

What has been happening slowly and methodically around the nation has suddenly shifted, abruptly.

The use of public bathrooms will cost private citizens millions (it be more like billions in bathroom renovations and legal cost) of dollars in the coming years. I get that people want to be viewed as normal, but that desire to be viewed as normal is a perversion of the natural order of God’s creation.

This executive order is not the voice of reason. It is more the voice of hate than the tone of North Carolina’s law to give protection of religious freedom. It positions itself as “the voice of reason” for the world to follow suit.

This is not a civil rights issue.

This executive order is a ban on publicly funded travel to North Carolina is in effect immediately and will continue until North Carolina changes or repeals it’s current law. It’s the kind of behavior that forced the hand of Georgia’s governor to veto their law to give clergy a way to not violate their conscience.

Idaho, watch this closely. Bills are introduced every year to change our laws to look more like New York’s and less like ours. Keep your eye on this and begin formulating your words to compassionately respond while you stand your ground.

Church, your duty is to be a pillar and buttress of truth. That doesn’t give us permission to be ugly and foolish in our defense. Our way, our path, our duty is to God. It’s not about forbidding someone from sinning, it’s about obeying God.

I don’t know of anyone who wants to keep other people from using the bathroom while they are away from the privacy of their own home. There is a fair and just concern about who’s using that public bathroom.

Public safety is the duty of the civil government. It is not the duty of civil government to validate your feelings. Governor Cuomo, your executive order was a breach of duty.

As a pastor, I’m bound to Scripture, period. I can’t and won’t stand in the way of anyone who wants to sin; I’ll warn them along the way to not do what they so desperately want to do that is in violation of and against the law of God, but at the end of the discussion I’m bound by duty to perform religious services that are defined by the Holy Bible.

The bible is clear on these matters. This church and this pastor will carefully navigate through the shifting. It will require a firm foundation to survive all before us. Does the bible address gender issues? Yes. Does the bible address marriage issues? Yes.

When the Bible speaks as clearly as it does, we obey regardless of public opinion.

Courageous Resolve

Posted on November 27, 2014Leave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving!

“Few promptings of heroism rank higher in human annals than the courageous resolve which let the little band to seek in the unknown Western World a new home where they might worship God according to the dictates of their conscience, and found a pure and regenerate society, unfettered by the surroundings of a degenerate past. Of the Pilgrims’ subsequent life and times in America, it has been said: “Theirs was among the most valued contribution of those formative times in our Colonial history.” ” (Hearnshaw’s History of the Pilgrim Fathers, p. 18)

Posts Tagged with Religious Freedom

Ecumenical Universalism is not the same as Religious Freedom