Still Another Letter to Leadership of the W. PA Conference of the United Methodist Church!

July 25, 2018

To: Bishop Cynthia Moore Koikoi and Cabinet members of W. Pennsylvania Annual Conference: Sung Chung, Dawn Hand, Bradford L. Lauster, J. Patrick Lenox, Patricia M. Nelson, Eric Park, James N. Pond, Jodie Barron Smith, Dennis Swineford, Robert F. Zilhaver

Lots of news and a myriad of comments via social media about the United Methodist Church dealing with a thing called, “A Way Forward.” Of course it can be seriously debated as to whether it is really a way forward or a way backward!

The plan at the forefront as presented by denominational leadership is nothing less than an effort to have universal acceptance of same-sex intimacy/marriage as being morally acceptable without objection. The promotion of this objective was obvious in the Order of Elders meetings held in recent months. The first statement in a visual presentation was this: “We are all children of God.” That is blatantly false! John in his letter divides the human race into two categories – children of God and children of the Devil. Paul in a confrontation with one person called that individual a child of the Devil. Most importantly Jesus in a dispute with a group of persons said they were of their father, the Devil! Most would agree that you cannot be a child of God and a child of the Devil at the same time – that would produce quite a hybrid, wouldn’t you say?

At the conference web site the following statement is made: “Led by a resident Bishop, the Conference is governed both by the denomination's Book of Discipline and actions agreed on by clergy and lay representatives of its local churches who meet each in an Annual Conference session.” We elders took vows at ordination which included obedience to the Discipline. It is obvious that a number of elders throughout the USA have made liars of themselves in regard to such vows regarding the doctrine and discipline of the UMC! At least one bishop has done same-sex weddings and a former “leader” of the W. PA Conference now supports the sodomite/lesbian agenda! And we now have a practicing lesbian who was illegally elected to the office of bishop and nothing is being done about that violation!

And now for the question: if any of you superintendents discover that a pastor in your district has done a same-sex wedding in his/her church, what will you do? According to the Discipline, this would require action to be taken because not only has God’s Word been violated but also the UMC Discipline! Your decisive action in following the Discipline would also assume support of the bishop in dealing with the issue.

Still contending (Jude 3,4)

Clayton D. Harriger, retired elder and member of W. PA Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church

NOTE: For those reading this blog, statements were made about references in Scripture related to some people being "children of the devil." The references are 1 John 3, Acts 13:10, and John 8.

No Respect for the Man Who Disgraces the Office!

"However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die." --- 2 Samuel 12:14

It happened a long time ago to a man who held a very powerful position – he was king over a nation that had been proving itself to be superior over all other kingdoms at that point in time.

But one night unbridled lust invaded the life of king David of Israel and he committed adultery with the result that the woman, Bathsheba, became pregnant. To make matters even worse, David conspired to have Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed in battle.

Things seemed to go alright for a while until one day God sent a prophet to confront the king about what he had done. David confessed that he had sinned and sought God’s mercy and forgiveness, which was graciously granted to him.

But he had disgraced the office of his kingship and was undeserving of respect which was evident by a harsh rebuke from God through the prophet, Nathan. Note again the words, “However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.” --- 2 Samuel 12:14.

In this year of 2009 we are saddled with a president who has disgraced the high office of the presidency of the United States in numerous ways. There are those who attempt to defend the president and declare that we must support him and show respect for him.

But how can you respect this man when:

• he has lied repeatedly, not keeping promises which at the time they were made, he adamantly insisted he would make good on them when he became president! God does have a few explicit things to say about lying, does He not?
  
  
• he has led us down the road of uncontrolled spending and plunged our republic into an abyss of indebtedness from which it will never recover. China holds about one trillion dollars of that debt and if that country ever says, “Pay up, right now!”, what do you suppose will happen?
  
  
• he demonstrated the epitome of disgrace on his recent foreign junket when he bowed to King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia. In effect the president of the United States was saying by that act that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and the Muslim faith to which the king is an ardent devotee are superior to the United States. This is nothing short of an image of the surrender of our national sovereignty!
  
  
• he has placed a blanket seal of approval (and it’s not the Good Housekeeping one) on the mass destruction of unborn children at all stages of their development from a few weeks (embryonic stem cell research) to full term. Not only is his support given to such mass murder and destruction in our nation, but by his signature we now support the destruction of the unborn in foreign nations as well.
  

However such happenings should come as no real surprise since the blessing of Almighty God is being withdrawn and being replaced with increased chastising actions and calamities in an attempt to awaken the nation to awareness that full repentance must be the top priority on the nation’s agenda. If it does not become that top priority, then we can expect our future to turn out the same as that of ancient cultures whose ruins we can now explore and observe – ancient Babylon being one of the more infamous examples!

And a PS on this -- if you are among the many who say we should respect the president, then you show me how to respect Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong, each of whom was responsible for millions of deaths of innocent victims, then I will apply your logic and start respecting B. Hussein Obama!

"And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me," says the LORD. “Everyone take heed to his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanderers. Everyone will deceive his neighbor, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.” --- Jeremiah 9:3-5

"And it shall be, when you show this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?' then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me,' says the LORD; 'they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one walks according to the imagination of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.’” --- Jeremiah 16:10-12

Lying Does Pay Off!

They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. --- 2 Peter 2:13a,14

Lying thrives in a culture such as ours. It is a practice involving persons of all ages -- from the very young who are just getting started in school to those in the sunset years who already have one foot in the grave and the other one is getting to be very shaky!

Lying happens due to a variety of motives:

• to avoid acceptance of the truth and the accountability that goes along with acceptance of the truth
  
• to avoid taking responsibility for bad decisions made and actions following those decisions
  
• to assassinate a person's character
  
• to seek revenge against a person for some alleged "wrong" done by that person
  
• to increase one's financial holdings
  
• to gain a prominent and powerful position for oneself
  

Lying always does immeasurable damage wherever it takes place.

It is strictly prohibited by God as listed in the code of the 10 commandments. The statement is simple, requiring no further explanation: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16)

One area where the greatest devastation takes place is within that group of persons professing to be Christian in faith and followers of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

We are not as free to be "liberal" in our interpretations of the Scriptures as we would like to think! For instance:

• God has revealed that there was an Adam and there was an Eve -- our first "parents" and through whom the human race had its origin. But there are those (pastors, professors, church leaders, theologians, and laity) who say there never were such persons in existence -- God says He made them. But certain humans lie and say that Adam and Eve never really existed! That's more than a tad of a slap in God's face, wouldn't you say?
  
  
• God says the world got so wicked at one point that He destroyed all living things, human and animal, except for those on board an ark. The "spot & blemish" bunch (identified previously) scattered among professing Christians lie and say the event reported as a universal flood judgment never really happened!
  
  
• God has revealed that He brought the Israelites out of Egypt and at one point opened up that vast body of water known as the Red Sea, making the crossing possible for them. And then God permitted the waters to return to their natural condition, drowning the Egyptian military in the process as it zealously pursued the Israelites. The "spot & blemish" crowd lies and says it never happened!
  
  
• God has explicitly revealed the boundaries of how we humans are to experience our sexuality. That experience is limited to a male and female who have entered into the covenant of marriage. All other types of sexual activity which are mentioned in God's revelation are forbidden and labeled as sin or in some cases, worse than that, as being abominations! But the "spot & blemish" crowd lies and says that some forms of sexual behavior are good, and even preferable -- and worse, they claim that God gives His approval to such so that even in the church which professes to be Christian, just about any kind of sexual shenanigans are acceptable! God has yet to make His response to this updated standard of morality!
  
  
• God has revealed that with a love which defies human understanding He gave His Son, Jesus, to be a substitutionary sacrifice for all the sins committed by all the members of the human race. Further, that Jesus is the only way of salvation and entrance into God's Heaven. Christianity, unfortunately, is plagued by the "spot & blemish" crowd which says that there are other ways to get to Heaven through the many other faiths which presently exist in today's world, and we who are Christian should not be so dogmatic upon insisting that Jesus is exclusively the way to salvation and ultimately to Heaven!
  
  
• God has said there is a Hell and a lot of people are going to end up in that place. The "spot & blemish" crowd lies and says that there is no Hell! With unregenerate and warped minds they try to reason that God could never be a "God of love" if even one human ended up in Hell!
  
  
• God says there is a Devil on the loose along with a host of demons in league with him. The "spot & blemish" crowd lies and says there is no Devil and there are no demons!
  
  
• God says there will be a series of devastating judgments visited upon this earth in the future. The "spot & blemish" crowd lies and says there will be no such events because -- now by this time you can guess it -- yes, that's what they say -- "God is a God of love and compassion -- why He would never bring those terrible things associated with judgement upon anyone!"
  

So what we have at times is a major conflict -- with God saying one thing and the "spot & blemish" crowd within the ranks of Christianity saying the opposite -- God says He did it and they say He didn't, etc!

It comes down to this -- who is to be believed? Always keep in mind that lying does pay off, and if you go along with the lie/s, the future will not be pleasant. God has the last word on that matter, not the "spot & blemish" crowd -----

And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." --- Revelation 21:6-8