1887- SIKH YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Let’s talk about the temple shooting- but first a verse from the prophet.

‘I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and see my glory- I will set a sign among them and send those that escape to the nations’ Isaiah 66:18-19

Over the next few weeks I will try and post some of the verses from Isaiah that I have been reading- the ones I think have special importance.

This one is a familiar one I have been praying for years- it speaks of the greater purpose of God.

He wants ALL NATIONS and cultures to come into the kingdom of God.

The purpose of the church is not to fight and be a stumbling block to the nations- but to be a sign of peace- a witness to Christ’s kingdom- and those ‘that escape’ those that come ‘out of Babylon’ and into the new kingdom- they are the ones who will ‘go tell it to the nations’.

Okay- now the shooting.

As most of you know- the day before yesterday we had a shooting at a religious temple.

The religion is Sikh [pronounced Sick- or Seek] they are not Muslim- but they look Muslim- so these past few years they have been the target of hate.

The guy who shot and killed about 7 or so people was killed by the cops at the scene.

Now- as I watched the media coverage- they used this type of language.

‘He comes from a White Supremacist group’

‘They hates Jews and Blacks’

‘Stupid and uneducated’

‘Domestic Terror’

‘He was not nice- he was crazy’

On and on.

Now- once again- I in no way want to make light of this terrible tragedy.

This type of hate crime- if it turns out to be one- is obviously terrible.

The point I make is you would never- ever- hear the media describe a radical Muslim shooting with these terms.

As a matter of fact- the president himself refused to describe the Hassan shooting as terror [the shooting that took place here on the military base in Texas- Hassan was a radical Muslim- and also a major in the U.S. military]

They made a huge point that if Hassan acted alone- then it was not terror.

Yet- the president- and the FBI have been saying this temple shooting is indeed domestic terror.

As far as we know- this shooter at the temple also acted alone.

Why the distinction?

A few weeks ago Brian Ross from ABC- along with his ‘partner in crime’ George Stephanopolous were the ones who jumped the gun and associated the Colorado shooting [the Batman movie] with the wrong person.

Ross reported- on air- that there was a Jim Holmes from the same city who had a Tea party web page.

So?

Could it be that maybe another person with that very strange name- you know- about as strange as John Smith- might be the web site guy?

Sure enough- they ‘outed’ the wrong guy.

So- Ross was one of the first to come out and use this language about the temple shooting.

He couldn’t seem to wait- to say ‘see- I told you these Tea party- I mean right wing groups- are the real threat’.

Yeah Ross- you tell em!

Now- as someone who holds to the theological belief that the above verse speaks about- I have made efforts to have Muslim friends.

I have Jewish friends as well.

I try not to only have associations with other Christians- because I think we all need to talk to [not at] each other- and that Gods purpose is for the church to be a blessing to all nations and cultures.

So- that’s my position.

Also- we need to be honest about the real threats that face our world today.

As a student of history and religion I have come across a few recurring things.

One of the themes I see every so often is ‘look- we all [Jews, Christians- Muslims] have radical terrorists in our ranks- and we should not condemn the other group’.

Realistically- the very real threat that exists is within the extreme elements of Islam.

Everyone knows this- it’s no secret.

Now- do I want to offend my Muslim friends?

No.

But- the truth is- are there real- huge scale threats of radical terrorism coming from the Jewish people?

Of course not [they usually point to a single incident in the history of the Jewish people- during the restoration of their nation in the 20^th century- and this one incident has become the mantra for those who say ‘see- the Jews have terrorists too!’]

What about the far right wing hate groups?

A little more of a threat- yes- but a global threat- one that has the potential to destabilize nations- no.

That’s the whole point.

During the broadcast of the temple shooting- you also had the other news of the Syrian uprising.

These are the various nations in the Arab world and North Africa [Tunisia- Egypt- Libya] that have been going thru the Arab Spring uprisings now for a couple of years.

One of the major players in the overthrowing of the leaders of these nations is Al Qaeda.

Now- there are also innocent Arabs/Muslims who are being caught up in the fire fight- but you also have a very real presence of Al Qaeda in these rebellions.

The leaders themselves- who we have demonized to no end- have been saying this.

Gadhaffi, Mubarak- Assad- they have all said that the ones ‘rebelling’ have Al Qaeda in their ranks.

We [the western world] have for the most part played that down- heaven forbid that we should go against the ‘democratic spring’ that is sweeping the world!

The fact is- during the same news broadcast that is so quick to associate a single- isolated shooter- as an act of terror.

The same news media that refuse to use this type of language when a person [Major Hassan] who did indeed identify himself with radical Islam- a worldwide movement that is responsible for many worldwide terror acts- the media refer to his shooting- at an actual military base here in the U.S. [Fort Hood].

As ‘work place violence’.

The double standard is so big- you have to be blind to not see it.

Yes- right wing hate groups are dangerous- but they pose absolutely no threat on a global level.

Do they pose a Tim McVeigh [Oklahoma city bombing of the fed building] type threat? 

Yes.

But not a real global threat- one that would in fact meet the criterion of being terrorism on a global scale- no.

 We need to be honest about these things- the media have once again dropped the ball by associating what seems to be an isolated act- with terror.

They showed video of the hard right rock group that this shooter played in- with no disclaimer that the other members of the group do not condone the actions of the shooter.

They used quotes from bystanders who said ‘they are uneducated idiots’- referring to this movement that does indeed have racist elements in it.

But I have heard the same racist stuff from Farrakhan- many times.

Yet the media would never- ever use this language about him.

As a matter of fact- Obama attended the million man march before he was president [I think he was the senator from Illinois at the time- the march was held by Farrakhan].

So- if hate speech is wrong- then it’s wrong all the way around.

If we condemn White hate groups- which we should- then we need to condemn Black hate groups too.

The New Black Panther party are a bunch of racists.

The leader of this group was photographed behind Obama during the 2008 campaign.

He was holding up his hand- in a Black Power display- and he was walking right behind the president.

They were in Selma at the time.

The media never covered this- or showed this picture.

That’s what you call a double standard- that’s what you call ‘media bias’.

See?

NOTE- do you think a Romney type person- who was running for president- if he attended a David Duke rally- and had Duke march behind him on the campaign trail- would have escaped Scrutiny?

 Not on your life baby.           

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

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