Pastor
to Southern Baptist Convention: Stop push for Muslim refugees, Christian organization also 'aligns itself
with godless, liberal groups to help build a mosque', 6/17/16
The Southern Baptist
Convention threw down a gauntlet at the feet of Republican nominee Donald Trump
and many conservatives, adopting a resolution encouraging churches and families
“to
welcome and adopt refugees into their churches and homes.”
But at least one senior pastor from within the
organization is telling the Southern Baptist Convention to stop meddling and
leave the issue up to citizens who are impacted by the influx of refugees.
Though Resolution 12 also called for the “strictest security measures
possible,” the measure specifically referred to the “85,000 refugees coming
into the United States in 2016 from four continents and the Caribbean” that are
expected.
The resolution did not
specifically refer to Islam or Muslims. However, Russell Moore, the head of the
Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Commission, has been a prominent
critic of Donald Trump and his proposed immigration policies.
It also comes only days after the terrorist
attack in Orlando linked to the Islamic State, an attack that caused
presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump to double down on his call for a
temporary ban on Muslim immigration.
In the few days since
the attack, 441 Syrian refugees have
been brought into the United States, with dozens admitted into the state of Florida itself. Meanwhile,
the Obama administration has been targeting
small towns with massive infusions of Muslim refugees.
The Ethics and Religious
Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention is
also supporting the building of a mosque in Bernards, New Jersey. The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge’s
application for a new mosque was denied by the local planning board.
The opposition of some
residents to Islamic Shariah law reportedly
played a role in the opposition, though the denial itself was made on technical
grounds. The Islamic Society
filed a lawsuit against the township. The Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission has joined almost 20
other faith and “civil rights” groups in supporting the lawsuit on the grounds of “religious freedom.”
The leadership of the
Southern Baptists is not without its critics. One of the most vocal is pastor
Carl Gallups of Hickory Hammock Baptist Church.
Gallups has a long history with the
organization, having served as the senior pastor of a Southern Baptist
Convention church on the Gulf Coast for 30 years. He has also been involved
with the missionary organizations and some of the universities in the
denomination.
“What has happened in the recent Orlando
nightclub Islamic terrorist massacre should be a further warning to the Ethics
and Religious Liberties Commission that they are treading on treacherous ground
by actually assisting in building more mosques in American cities,” Gallups
told WND.
“What should the Southern Baptist Convention
have done about this mosque in New Jersey? They should have stayed out of the
situation altogether! They should have left the matter up to the voice of the
local people and their elected and appointed public officials.”
Gallups charged the Southern Baptist Convention
with not following the example of the early Christians.
“Instead of the Ethics and Religious Liberties
Commission leading the Southern Baptist Convention to help build mosques to
fulfill some misguided interpretation of ‘religious liberty,’ they should be
modeling the New Testament church as found in the scriptures,” Gallups said.
“I think the ERLC would be hard pressed to find
anywhere in the scriptures, or elsewhere, where the early church was aligning
itself with government entities and ‘interfaith coalitions’ to assist in the
construction of more pagan temples, shrines and altars to Emperor worship in
the Roman Empire – in the name of ‘religious liberty.’ That would not have even
crossed their minds. There certainly is no scripture to support the idea.
Rather the scripture supports having nothing to do with ‘darkness,’ and being
‘separate’ from those who align themselves with systems that deny the Jesus
Christ of God’s salvation.”
Orlando was just the beginning – are you and
your family ready? “Be Thou Prepared” by Carl
Gallups, available now in the WND Superstore.
Gallups further alleges the Southern Baptist
Convention has refused to answer his specific questions about why they are
supporting this controversial policy. For example, Gallups asked if the SBC
would be willing to legally assist the creation of a “Satanic Temple” or a
pagan shrine, even if a local community had banned it, in the name of
“religious liberty.” He also argued the Southern Baptist Convention’s support
for more Muslim immigration and construction of mosques undermines its
missionary efforts.
“The Southern Baptist Convention spends millions
of dollars each year sending missionaries to Islamic nations to win Muslims
away from the faith of Islam and away from the Islamic brainwashing centers
called mosques,” said Gallups. That, after all, is the point of missionary
work. Yet we now align ourselves with some of the most liberal (and godless)
groups in America to “assist” in the building of a mosque in the United States?
I question the wisdom of this decision.”
Gallups also pointed to
the history of the ERLC in supporting mosque construction, notably the support
of then Executive Director Richard Land for building the “Ground Zero
mosque” in 2010.
“I find it very
suspicious that the ERLC, just a few years ago, under Richard Land attempted
the same ‘mosque building’ agenda,” Gallups said. “In that effort, Mr. Land and
the ERLC signed an agreement with a similar ‘Interfaith Coalition.’ However,
Mr. Land was forced to withdraw the ERLC endorsement because of the outrage of
SBC leadership across the nation. Mr. Land said that he
guessed he had gone ‘a bridge too far.’ Now only five years later, Dr. Russell Moore does the very same
thing – and he and his representatives are apparently refusing to budge on the
issue.”
Gallups urged the Southern Baptist Convention,
and all American Christians, to remember the vast history of Muslim aggression
against believers.
“Has the SBC forgotten the Ottoman Empire?” he
asked. “Have they forgotten the Barbary Wars, or 9/11? Has the SBC forgotten
that the FBI says that they are now tracking ISIS cells in all 50 states of the
U.S.? Are you not aware of the fact that several Islamic mosques in America
have been officially identified as nothing more than Islamic terrorist
recruiting centers?”
The pastor told WND Christians need to focus on
spreading their own faith and fighting back against cultural and moral collapse
rather than being drafted into the missionary efforts of non-Christians.
He called on Southern Baptists to express their
opposition to the Southern Baptist Convention’s support for mosque-building and
Muslim immigration.
“While I believe in treating every human being,
including the Muslims among us, with the utmost respect – and relish the
opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus with them – I do not support the
building of more mosques in America,” he said. “I would venture to guess that
the vast majority of SBC churches would not support it, either. Our SBC’s time,
attention and money needs to be spent and focused on how Christians are being
targeted by both Muslims and by secular, left-wing activists.”
Gallups has long argued
American Christians will be increasingly
targeted in the years ahead. He said they should be able to count on their own leaders to
defend them at a time like this.
“We are under assault,” he warned. “With
everything that is going on, the SBC is going to align itself with godless,
liberal groups to help build a mosque? This is insanity.”
Orlando was just the beginning – are you and
your family ready? “Be Thou Prepared” by Carl
Gallups, available now in the WND Superstore.
http://mobile.wnd.com/2016/06/pastor-to-southern-baptist-convention-stop-push-for-muslim-refugees/#!
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