This is a recent letters I wrote to my U.S. elected officials…I encourage all Christians to be united in praying and speaking out for the persecuted church of China.
HERE IS WHAT I WROTE:
March 18, 2010
Honorable Sutton, Brown and Voinivich;
I am writing to you to ask you to intervene if at all possible. It is my understanding that Chinese government continues to persecute those who desire to worship without fear, but in freedom. There are more than 50,000 members of the Linfen Church network in China that are suffering, Today after an unprecedented attack on one of their many branch churches.
In September 2009, Chinese authorities raided a branch of the Linfen Church in Fushan, demolishing buildings and injuring more than 100 church members. Weeks later, church leaders were arrested and sentenced to prison. Now the Chinese government plans to demolish the network’s flagship Church, the Jindengtang (Golden Lamp) Church building in Shanxi province. The church, which was recently constructed to house the Linfen network’s growing congregation, can seat as many as 5,000 people.
Can you help prevent the Chinese government from destroying the Golden Lamp Church building!
Our second amendment often cause controversy and debate in our Nation…but it gives us freedom of religion which all respect as a given Right to all people. The Chinese people are being denied this right and live in fear and now the Chinese government is destroying worship centers and imprisoning Christian leaders. This greatly disturbs me and should you as well.
Will you CALL OR WRITE to Chinese government officials. Remind them that Christians are NOT a threat to their country, but are in fact loyal Citizens who love their country and pray for their leaders.
Land Resources Bureau of Yaodu District, Linfen City
As my elected official will you please contact Chinese officials and speak out on behalf of the Linfen Christians who are being persecuted for their beliefs.
I got this idea form Group Publishing. This sort of holiday greeting got my attention. I hope it gets yours as well. WE live in a work that is difficult to understand and in many ways anything associated with Christ evokes a response of either acceptance or rejection to both extremes. So in the world today people are easily offended.
In response to this Group Publishing met with their attorney, and on his advice this is what they wrote:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only “AMERICA” in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.
This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
While we understand this type of pressure is what many of us experience…the CVC team wants to extend a real Christmas Greeting to you!
May you, and the people of your church, experience the true joy of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Have a blessed Christmas celebration!
Christmas means so many things to so many people. Some of Christmas is cultural and religious dependent. Some of Christmas is dependent upon your family traditions. Some of Christmas is historic. And the true Christmas story is Biblical. Christmas is rejected by some and embraced by others. Christmas sometimes evokes all kinds of responses. But overall Christmas is a time of love, caring, generosity, sharing, traditions, ideals, beliefs, family, and the sacred all mixed together.
Luke 2:11 “Today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, was born for you in the City of David.”
To me Christmas is about Christ. I can remember reading the Christmas story. Remember learning about the birth of Chrsit and that the Savior of the Lord was born on earth to Save us.
I also remember the traditions of singing Christmas carols, Christmas school plays, Christmas Church Services, Christmas Trees, Christmas Lights, Christmas Cookies and so much more. Christmas brings back very fond memories of peace, joy, love and faith.
I realize that Christmas may not be as pleasant for everyone depending upon the situation. But the good news of Christmas is intended for all.
Joy to the World the Lord has come!
Have a Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year.
Memorial Day in America is a time to remember those who have given their lives for this nation in the U.S. Forces. I realize it is also a time to visit the gravesides of loved one and to have parades and so forth. But the deeper meaning is that someone gave their life for a cause. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than to lay down their life for another.” Jesus gave His life for us…teaching us that FREEDOM ISN’T FREE.
Jesus paid a debt we could never pay. Jesus laid down His life as a ransom for our soul. We are free because of the FREEDOM He bought with His blood. This Freedom is eternal. This does not down play the sacrifice of all the men and women who gave their lives for our freedoms as American’s…they are an example of freedom for each of us.
May we never forget that Freedom comes at a cost…when peace is lost in one area or culture it threatens peace everywhere. Only through the precious blood of Jesus can we experience the true peace of freedom.
I took the time to write Rick Warren’s media personnel about his comments on Larry King Live. Here was there response. This is information I thought you needed to know in order to follow up on things. I still think Rick Warren should have been more vocal on this topic. “To whom much is given, much is required.” Rick Warren is a leader with great influence. God’s truths need to be clearly stated in a loving way. It is still my opinion that he was not a forward as he could have and should have been.
Thank you for taking the time to express your concerns, thoughts, prayers, and questions regarding Pastor Warren’s stance on Proposition 8 and marriage. We hope that the following information will clarify the issue.
Pastor Warren has responded to media interpretations of the April 6 appearance on CNN “Larry King Live” by reconfirming that he remains committed to the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, for life — without exception — a position shared by most fellow Evangelical pastors. He has further stressed that for 5,000 years, every culture and every religion has maintained this worldview.
The letter of apology Pastor Warren referenced sending to gay leaders whom he knew personally was not with respect to his statements or position on Proposition 8 nor the biblical worldview on marriage. Rather, he apologized for his comments in an earlier Beliefnet interview expressing his concern about expanding or redefining the definition of marriage beyond a husband-wife relationship, during which he unintentionally and regrettably gave the impression that consensual adult same sex relationships were equivalent to incest or pedophilia.
Miss California Carrie Prejean did not win the Miss USA crown because she answered a polticially motivated question to the dislike of the judge who is a gay activitst. The question of whether or not gay marriage should be legal, is a legitimate question, but it should not be held against her if she answers it to a judges dislike. I have watched the pageants before, but I confess I did not watch this one. But I have watched the interviews and this invent. It seems clear that this question alone lost her the pageant. Was this right or wrong? What does this say about our culture? What does this say about her and all Christians in America?
Miss California answered the question by her convictions. She clearly believes that the country and family she was raised in does not support gay marriage. She said everyone has their choice or opinion and that she did not mean to offend, but that she believes in marriage being between a man and a woman. She later said it was Biblical and she does not regret her answer. I applaud her for that. Way to go.
It is ashame that this happened. It was wrong, clearly wrong. However, I believe this is a good thing. It is showing just how divisive this issue is to our culture and it shows who is causing the division…not Miss California, but those who do not care about anything but their own agenda, not the good of society! Hopefully, good citizens and Christians will rise up for the good of our culture and fight to preserve the sacredness or tradition of marriage for the good of society, not to be mean toward gay people. That is what she did by answering this question this way. She stood up for what is right! Praise the Lord! Her loss was wrong, but her statement was a victory.
She clearly suffered persecution and discrimination as a result of her answer. Yes, you read that correctly. She was discriminated against because she held to her moral and religious convictions. I do believe that is our first amendment right!? Where is the ACLU when you need them? Where are the alarmists? Where is the media? The truth is the liberally minded people or people categorized as lef in our culture and the media will never be seen calling this discrimination, but that is what it is! If someone lost the Miss USA pagaent because they answered in support of gay marriage, could you imagine the response? Why does it only go their way on their one way street? But it is the truth, she suffered discrimination and our constitution was violated at the Miss USA pageant. Perhaps we should have a recount? (My attempt at humor…sorry!)
The response of the audience shows that a majority still agree with her answer; however, there is a growing minority sympathic to the homosexual agenda to redefine marriage. What this tells us about our culture is that the traditions and values that have made our culture and nation great will be pushed and pushed until there are no traditions or values left…yes we will have new ones, but not the ones of our forefathers or from those who worked hard to make this nation great.
America is on a path of destruction and the coming moral collapse of our culture is right before us. We are beyond the crossroads in my opinion. The Miss USA pageant paints a picture of what America will become – an anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-Christian society that will allow the Persecution of those who hold to Biblical and traditional values. We all witnessed it during the Miss USA pageant…this is only the beginning I do beleive. Discrimination against Christians or traditional values will not be called discrimination by those on the left or with this type of agenda. You see those who have this agenda don’t truly want equality, they want it their way and they will do anything and everything to promote their agenda and force it upon our culture.
Thank you Miss California for your courage to speak the truth. It cost you something you work for all your life. Great will be your reward in Heaven. But the price was worth it for the whole world to see that you would not compromise the truth. That was refreshing and bold. I wish you the best of life and God’s blessings always!
Thank you for viewing our website. May it be an equipping resource to our membership and a source of information to our special guests who visit our website. May you come to discover that Broadman is a special place to worship and a great family church. So if you are looking for a church home that loves God, loves one another, exalts Christ, preaches the truth, is multi-generational, and is alive and thriving -- then welcome to Broadman! We truly are a church that makes a difference for Jesus Christ in a person's life and in our community. We hope you will come experience the Broadman difference soon! --- Pastor Chris McCombs
