Michael Bresciani
The offense not noticed at the Republican Convention
By Michael Bresciani
The main stream media made a big deal of Melania's speech at the RNC even after the entire matter was all but dismissed by Donald Trump. No heads are going to roll and the Dem's have already begun to use the word "liar" even though their candidate, Hillary Clinton, may have given the term more meaning in her lifetime than Daniel Webster could with the entire force of his almost unlimited etymological expertise.
NBC News has reported that staff writer Meredith McIver has since taken full responsibility for the plagiarism allegedly found in Melania's speech. Even after offering to resign her job Donald Trump has graciously asked her to stay.
But that's not the offense noted here.
Not so much as mentioning the continued onslaught of abortion with its record of 55 million aborted unborn babies is deeply offensive to many Americans.
But that's not the offense noted here.
Making no strong objection to the Supreme Court's dismissal of DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act) and replacing it with Obergefell was also blaringly absent from the convention floor. Obergefell is a supreme insult to God and godly people who hold scripture as the law above all laws, which makes the greenlighting of homo-marriage an offense of the highest order to both.
But that's not the offense noted here.
Before getting to the point it might be expedient to ask, why, the point is being made in the first place.
Our nation was without doubt founded on the Judeo Christian faith and while we tolerate the beliefs of others we have never been charged to promote or foster other religious views. Allowing invocations to be uttered by religious figures whose beliefs are not from our own heritage may seem innocuous, but if scrutinized more carefully it can be seen as a means of fostering those beliefs and legitimizing them, even though they may be heresy, cultish, or even worse – pure antichrist.
We have been taught to defend the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ not the beliefs of others as the apostle Paul said.
"The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel." (Phil 1: 16, 17)
It is not just the charge to defend the gospel, but the compelling reasons we are told to do so that make it an imperative for all those who name Christ as their Savior.
On Tuesday July 19, 2016 California lawyer Harmeet Dhillon provided the opening invocation for the RNC, she chanted in her native Punjabi and then translated it into English.
It was a Sikh prayer as Harmeet is a member of a religion based on the teachings of Indian Guru Nanak.
New or ancient, Sikhism takes its place alongside all religions that do not provide a Savior to deal with man's fallen state. Men are sinners and while they are also religious, this does little to deal with the universal malady known as sin.
We think there are three great religions and behind that erroneous notion there are dozens of "what we believe" concoctions ranging from heresy to quackery. A careful and thorough examination of the scriptures makes it clear that there are no great religions. There is only – one great Savior.
Exactly, what is the offense and why is it not only offensive but dangerous considering that it may cost a man or a woman their entire future? Let's look at it in three very distinct sections, keeping in mind that because America is so uniquely Christian from its foundations: this offense is amplified by the time and place in which it was given.
I will defend this gospel till my dying day and my prayer will be what C. S. Lewis said about his defense of the gospel.
"My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight"
Make no mistake; this writer will not fight against the great principles outlined in the RNC's stated platform and purposes. A safer and greater America is what we need. I am declaring that we will not achieve these goals by ignoring the God of our founding fathers.
We must be single minded, as were the founders. They would not begin any proceedings by breaking the first and greatest of all commandments. There is only one God. To wit:
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." (Ex 20: 3-5)
© Michael Bresciani
July 22, 2016
The main stream media made a big deal of Melania's speech at the RNC even after the entire matter was all but dismissed by Donald Trump. No heads are going to roll and the Dem's have already begun to use the word "liar" even though their candidate, Hillary Clinton, may have given the term more meaning in her lifetime than Daniel Webster could with the entire force of his almost unlimited etymological expertise.
NBC News has reported that staff writer Meredith McIver has since taken full responsibility for the plagiarism allegedly found in Melania's speech. Even after offering to resign her job Donald Trump has graciously asked her to stay.
But that's not the offense noted here.
Not so much as mentioning the continued onslaught of abortion with its record of 55 million aborted unborn babies is deeply offensive to many Americans.
But that's not the offense noted here.
Making no strong objection to the Supreme Court's dismissal of DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act) and replacing it with Obergefell was also blaringly absent from the convention floor. Obergefell is a supreme insult to God and godly people who hold scripture as the law above all laws, which makes the greenlighting of homo-marriage an offense of the highest order to both.
But that's not the offense noted here.
Before getting to the point it might be expedient to ask, why, the point is being made in the first place.
Our nation was without doubt founded on the Judeo Christian faith and while we tolerate the beliefs of others we have never been charged to promote or foster other religious views. Allowing invocations to be uttered by religious figures whose beliefs are not from our own heritage may seem innocuous, but if scrutinized more carefully it can be seen as a means of fostering those beliefs and legitimizing them, even though they may be heresy, cultish, or even worse – pure antichrist.
We have been taught to defend the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ not the beliefs of others as the apostle Paul said.
"The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel." (Phil 1: 16, 17)
It is not just the charge to defend the gospel, but the compelling reasons we are told to do so that make it an imperative for all those who name Christ as their Savior.
On Tuesday July 19, 2016 California lawyer Harmeet Dhillon provided the opening invocation for the RNC, she chanted in her native Punjabi and then translated it into English.
It was a Sikh prayer as Harmeet is a member of a religion based on the teachings of Indian Guru Nanak.
New or ancient, Sikhism takes its place alongside all religions that do not provide a Savior to deal with man's fallen state. Men are sinners and while they are also religious, this does little to deal with the universal malady known as sin.
We think there are three great religions and behind that erroneous notion there are dozens of "what we believe" concoctions ranging from heresy to quackery. A careful and thorough examination of the scriptures makes it clear that there are no great religions. There is only – one great Savior.
Exactly, what is the offense and why is it not only offensive but dangerous considering that it may cost a man or a woman their entire future? Let's look at it in three very distinct sections, keeping in mind that because America is so uniquely Christian from its foundations: this offense is amplified by the time and place in which it was given.
-
1. This is not a case of my God is better than yours – it is about the clear proclamation of God himself. He says, there are no other gods besides him. Who would be more qualified to know this? That is what makes seeking other gods so idolatrous. Men are actually willing to worship a god that does not even exist.
"See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." (Dt 32: 39)
2. An invocation offered at the RNC by the representative of another religion is insulting to our founding fathers. They risked the lives and their fortunes to come to a new land where they would be free to practice their own Christian faith. They were not Islamists, Buddhists, Sikhs or adherents to any of a thousand religions.
In the beloved hymn "Faith of our Fathers" It is in the second stanza that we are called to "strive to win all nations unto thee," and to "be true to thee till death."
In the Sikh invocation, it is clear that we were not true to either of these admonitions.
Faith of our fathers, we will strive
to win all nations unto thee
and through the truth that comes from God
the world shall then be truly free
faith of our fathers, holy faith
we will be true to thee till death.
3. The Sikh invocation ignores the single most important factor of the Christian gospel. It leaves out, as do all non-Christian religions, the element of sacrifice. Christ was the sacrificial Lamb of God given for the sins of the world. Men adhere to religions that grade them on their overall behavior, but without a sacrifice for sin, religion is powerless. God does not grade – he gives grace.
It is the finished work of Christ on the cross that opens the door for salvation, all else is ineffective, substitutionary hyperbole in the name of religion. Christ alone is the door.
The Sikh invocation is a tacit invitation to climb up some other way. It is a deadly error.
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep" (Jn 10: 1, 2)
I will defend this gospel till my dying day and my prayer will be what C. S. Lewis said about his defense of the gospel.
"My prayer is that when I die, all of hell rejoices that I am out of the fight"
Make no mistake; this writer will not fight against the great principles outlined in the RNC's stated platform and purposes. A safer and greater America is what we need. I am declaring that we will not achieve these goals by ignoring the God of our founding fathers.
We must be single minded, as were the founders. They would not begin any proceedings by breaking the first and greatest of all commandments. There is only one God. To wit:
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." (Ex 20: 3-5)
© Michael Bresciani
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