Author Topic: Freedom of Religion  (Read 7960 times)

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Richard Myers

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Freedom of Religion
« on: January 23, 2015, 10:24:48 AM »
In the world today we find much violence. One source of the trouble is persecution of religious belief. Surprisingly, one of the greatest adversaries of religious freedom is religion itself. Not all who profess to love and serve God do so in love. Some countries have strict laws enforcing freedom of religion.Some have laws restricting religious liberty. Recently the Catholic Church's leader announced that he did not think it right to kill in the name of God, but he approved of violence if one's faith was spoken ill of. The principles involved in this important subject will become more important as we near the end.

In the time of the Reformers, some were afraid of the influence on the church of those in error, and hence special pain was taken to make iron rules that the common people should not read and interpret the Scriptures for themselves. Thus the church came to exercise tyranny over dissenters. . .

We should never let the impression prevail that only a privileged few have a knowledge of the Scriptures and that others must refer to these—one or another of their favorite ministers—as authority for their doctrines. People should be educated to search the Scriptures for themselves, to dare to think for themselves, taking the Bible as their guidebook, their standard of faith. Although heresy may lift its head boldly, and insult the truth by perverted ideas and false interpretations and misapplication of Scripture, there should be no suppression of religious freedom by reformers.

The church should ever bear in mind that they are never to ascribe to fallible mortals the unerring wisdom of the one living God. . . . We want all souls to have a pure gospel and to feel the necessity of searching the Scriptures for themselves, to know what saith the Lord, and bind themselves to the great heart of Infinite Love.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Freedom of Religion
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2015, 10:27:43 AM »
In the West African nation of Niger, there was rioting and killing in the name of God by those of the Muslim religion. Churches were burned and Christians killed. 


Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Freedom of Religion
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2015, 12:09:48 PM »
Christian school girls taken by Muslim men, forced to give up their faith or be killed. 

Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Freedom of Religion
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2015, 12:15:21 PM »
"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." Matthew 5:11, 12. 

The truth remains the truth. So it was then, so it is today, and will be until the second coming. Why then do we not see it where we live? 

The apostle Paul declares that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Why is it, then, that persecution seems in a great degree to slumber? The only reason is, that the church has conformed to the world's standard, and therefore awakens no opposition. The religion which is current in our day is not of the pure and holy character that marked the Christian faith in the days of Christ and His apostles. It is only because of the spirit of compromise with sin, because the great truths of the Word of God are so indifferently regarded, because there is so little vital godliness in the church, that Christianity is apparently so popular with the world. Let there be a revival of faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled.--The Great Controversy, p. 48.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Freedom of Religion
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2015, 01:09:22 PM »
In the Bible we find God leading His people against wicked nations. Israel was commanded to kill men, women, children, and animals. Why would God command such a thing?

The following video is portrays graphic details that will be disturbing to watch. We share it so that all may understand that it is not some made up story of what is happening world-wide. The Bible reveals what is happening today. It is not something new, and it is not restricted to Islam. The Bible reveals that freedom of religion has been, now is, and will be under attack. Persecution may slumber where you live, but when the church is faithful to her Savior, then persecution will awaken. Today is the day of salvation. Prepare for what is coming upon the church.

Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Freedom of Religion
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2015, 07:17:01 PM »
Will not post the video of the Jordanian pilot (Muslim) who was burned alive by ISIS, but we want to point out that this is done in the name of Allah, the god of Islam. While there are many in Islam who are of a good character, we see a problem with the teaching of Islam in wanting to force the will to serve God according to their belief. While God wants us to stand firm on what we believe, He does not want us to force others to accept what we believe. Each person is to have the freedom to choose who and how they worship.  The state is not to be the enforcer of religious law. God wants us to choose to love and serve Him because He is worthy to be worshiped, not because we fear Him.

Today, the world heard that what ISIS and some others in Islam are doing, killing those who refuse to worship according to their belief, is not the first religion to murder in the name of God.  The president of the United States stated "remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.”  Was there a time when professing Christians denied liberty of conscience to fellow Christians or to those of other faiths? Was there a using of the state to punish those who did not follow church dogma? If so, is there danger that this could happen again in the Christian faith?
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Freedom of Religion
« Reply #6 on: February 06, 2015, 07:31:40 AM »
The Roman Catholic pope has been invited by Republican Speaker of the House to address the Congress of the United States. This has never happened in the past. The United States has a wall of separation between church and state. The Roman Church does not. The pope has threatened those who speak ill against his church, has called for the nations of the world to legislate national Sunday laws, and has called for the United States to remove her borders so that Catholics from South America can flood in legally.

It is an interesting situation where the President of the United States has reminded America that the Roman Church is guilty of doing what ISIS is doing today, and yet the two hold so very much in common when it comes to wanting the United States to be changed from her strong position of morality in the world. There does not appear to be many who are standing in the gap. This appears to be the end of America as a Protestant nation. One has asked how this can be? How can the pope be invited to speak before Congress? Over 30% of Congress is Roman Catholic. Most of the U.S. Supreme Court justices are Roman Catholic. This has not happened over night. There have been well laid plans to subvert the nation from speaking as a lamb to speaking as the dragon.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Freedom of Religion
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2015, 11:26:42 AM »
CNN aired an interview yesterday to discuss the president's comments on the Roman Catholic Inquisition and Crusades. Let's put the interview in the context of the real issue involved and think about who it was that was being interviewed.

It is interesting how CNN turned the issue to condemning those who are true to their faith which would include the Christians who were martyred for their faith in the inquisition. CNN chose "moderates" as if they are the truth bearers. Nothing could be further from the truth. CNN represents the world, and as such, we see the devil bringing reproach upon those he is determined to destroy, those who are faithful in serving God. For a moment, instead of looking at who they interviewed, it is very revealing to see who they did not interview. They were all "moderates", those who do not adhere to the foundation of their faiths, as it is written. But, there was something even more revealing about how CNN stacked the deck to achieve their desired result. Someone was missing from the discussion. When discussing the Inquisition, it would not be a fair discussion unless the ones who are faithful had a say in the discussion. There was the Catholic priest, the Jewish Rabbi, and the Muslim Imam, but where was the Protestant pastor?

This discussion did not take place in Iran, or Italy, or Israel. American were being interviewed. America was founded and has been blessed as a Protestant nation, not a Catholic, Jewish, or Muslim nation. The reason why these three faiths could be represented in America is because as a Protestant nation, they were allowed freedom to come and worship according to their beliefs. Why was their no Protestant representative involved in the discussion? It did not suit the work being done. But, even if CNN had invited a Protestant pastor, it would have been one who was a "moderate" who would have repeated the very same talking points as the other three. Most professing Protestant pastors are just that, professing Protestants, or worse, anti-Protestant pastors. Moderates do not "protest" in favor of the Bible, they are not "orthodox".  ISIS is comprised of orthodox Muslims. They follow what is written in the Koran. The moderate Imam being interviewed does not.

This leads us back to the real issue involved in what the president stated, what was the belief system of those who persecuted the faithful (fundamentalist) Christians in what is known as the dark ages when the Bible was removed from the world? If CNN and the world want to know the truth, they must understand what the Koran teaches, what the Old Testament teaches, what the popes teach, and what the Bible teaches. They cannot judge ISIS until they know what the Koran says about murdering the infidels. They cannot judge Roman Catholics until they know what the popes teach, and they cannot judge Jews until they know what the Old Testament teaches. ISIS and Boko Haram are following the Koran, they are fundamentalist Muslims. Their religion is Islam. What was the religion of those who burned Christians at the stake for over a thousand years? It was not Christianity from the Bible, but the religion of the popes. Christianity from the Bible teaches that we love those who are our enemies. It teaches that we follow the Bible, not the dictates of man.

Some members of these faiths do not follow their "books".  Let's take a look. There are moderate Muslims who say they do not follow the Koran precisely. Then, they are not truly Muslim. Muslims hold the Koran to be holy.  Jews profess to follow the Old Testament, but many do not do so. They have other books that they follow instead of following the Old Testament. Traditions of the fathers are in reality their guide. Then they are not really following the God of the Old Testament who gave them their Bible. These are being called "moderate", not orthodox followers of their religion.

How about the Roman Catholic religion? Whom does it follow? Is it a Christian religion? A Christian religion professes to follow the Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In America there has historically been a resistance to the papal religion, not the church members, but the religion itself. When John Kennedy was running for the office of president, many did not think he could be elected because he was a Roman Catholic. Why the concern? Because a Roman Catholic holds the pope to be his guide, whereas the Protestants in America hold the Bible to be their guide and the Constitution of the United States to be the law of the land. There was an understanding that Catholics would follow their pope rather than the Bible and the Constitution, that the wall of separation between church and state would be broken down if a Roman were elected.

But, what we find happening is that many American Roman Catholics have not been faithful to their religion. They do not follow the pope and their religious teachings. A prime example is the seen in the practice of two leaders in the Democratic Party, Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry. Both support the party's platform which supports homosexuality, abortion, and birth control. How are we to judge what a religion is? Do we look at what church members do, or what the religion teaches? It depends on what we are judging. If we want to talk about the religion, we need to go to the articles of their faith. With Judaism, it is the Old Testament. With Islam, it is the Koran, with Roman Catholics, it is the teaching of the papacy, with Protestantism it is the whole Bible. If the individual professes to belong to one of these religions, then do they walk within the dictates of the religion? If not, then are they really being faithful to their religion?

Religions often change. Look at the Protestant religion. Luther would not recognize the Lutheran Church of today. As denominations apostatized from Bible religion, new denominations formed, just as Luther left the church of his fathers, so it has been ever since. When Israel put to death their Messiah, the faithful left that apostate religion and began the Christian Church. There are true believers still in Israel, but the leaders are not following their Bible, the Old Testament. So, how is it with Islam? Have those who are faithful to the Koran formed new sects of the religion? If so who are truly following their faith as the "prophet" gave it?

Roman Catholicism places the teaching of the popes higher than Scripture. The Protestant religion came about when many left the Roman Church to follow the Bible. They "protested" that the popes had changed their religion from following God to following the dictates of fallible man. True Christianity follows the Bible, not man. CNN cares not what the Bible says, they are opposed to Bible religion, they are of the world. So, they chose "moderates" from other religions to discuss the matter of what the president had revealed about the Inquisition and the Crusades. They did not interview those who follow the Bible and protest the following of popes instead of Scripture. It was those who refused to follow the papal dictates, refused to give up their Bibles, that were burned alive by the Roman Catholic religion. So it is today, Muslims are burning alive those who do not follow the dictates of their religion. When the president brought up the Inquisition, he opened the door to looking at what different religions teach.

What is the issue that is involved? It is the freedom to worship God. A religion that does not allow that freedom does not belong in America. While America allows the freedom to worship, it does not allow those religions to persecute other religions as was done by the Roman Catholic Church with the Inquisition and ISIS today. The lesson to be drawn from the president's remarks is very important. Who is it today that stands against freedom of religion? What religions have in their fundamental beliefs a teaching that would use the state to punish those who do not follow their church dogma in relation to how we worship God? While it may appear that they would not burn Christians at the stake, what does their religion teach? Will they turn to the state to enforce a religious teaching on how we are to worship God?

Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.