A Blog I Came Across.

I did not write this blog. It was posted on MySpace by a West Chester University student. He titled it: Repent America: The Christian Hate Group. Obviously I don’t agree with this guy’s point of view, as I was one of the ‘protestors’. I was able to witness to him last year when we visited his campus, and again a few weeks ago. In his blog, he twisted a lot of what we said, and wrote things we didn’t say. He calls himself a Christian, yet he rejects the Bible. You’ll see this through out his blog.

But the Lord is at work in his heart.

Stephanie

So, it started out as a typical day at WCU. I left my dorm on my way to my first class, and no more thn fifty feet away from the residence hall was a 6′ tall by 12′ wide ish poster of an aborted baby, with the word “Abortion” written on it. Now, being the most pro-life individual you will ever meet, I was very offended by this poster; mainly because I do not deserve to be subject to such visuals on my way to class, and neither does anyone, whatever their opinion on abortion. But, I figured that they were just a few over the top pro-life advocates. Another fifty feet away was another poster with a different baby pic of equal crudity; except this one had a man standing next to it with a megaphone. He was not talking to, but yelling at everyone that passed him. Much of what he was saying involved whatever version of the Bible he was given, but the it was laced with obsenities. “Oh yeah girl, you just walk away! you probably have an STD!” or “Yo dude, you are going to hell because you fornicate 16 times a week!” He was making many very offensive, blatently wrong accusations on whoever passed him. I then realized that this was a “Christian” group, not just a pro-life group. So, in order for me to get the facts, I approached a nice-looking member of the group and inquired about what was going on. She stated that they were a group of Christians called “Repent America” and their goal was to help America come to Christ. After further conversation, I was told that they truly feel that Jesus told them to spread God’s word as loudly as possible, because eventually, people will hear it. I thanked her for her time, and kept walking. Not another fifty feet later, I entered the Quad, which is a large field surrounded by university buildings. On this patch of grass were about five other “repent America” abortion signs. However, next to all the abortion signs, was a banner running about ten ish feet, saying “Homosexuality is sin” in big, capital letters. Surrounding it were other smaller posters stating locations in the Bible where statements are made about homosexuality. The members of “Repent America” that were holding the anti-gay signs were much more rude to passers by than the anti-abortion ones were. I also noticed that as the adults were busy yelling at students, they had their 5-11 year old children holding the signs of mangled aborted children. Although I was sickened by such actions, I had to go to class.

After class, I arrived back at the quad to find the LBGTQA (Lesbian, Bi, Gay, Trans, Questioning association) of WCU along with UT (University Theater) standing in front of the posters, starting a peaceful counter protest. The posters sported sayings, including “Preach love, not hate”, “God loves us all”, “Jesus is embarassed by Fundamentalists like you!”, and even “homosexuals mean less abortions.” I went over to see what was going on up close. I found different of groups of students having conversations with different cult members. The immense lack of disrespect that was shown to the students was appauling. People were being called racial names (ex. “Yeah, Jew boy, you’re never going to heaven!” or “Islam is obviously the cause of all bad things in this country”). By this time, I was pretty infuriated, so I went to the library, got two pieces of paper and made two mini posters; one said “Not All Christians Are Like This!”, and the other said “I’m Pro-life… I’m a Christian… and this Pisses Me Off!” If you look at my one picture, you can see me holding this poster. I walked outside and joined my friends on the protest against the hate group. I started by walking around with my signs… got a few people to laugh, and had a good number of people very thankful that I put those things on my posters, because they felt that way too. I got into one conversation with a cult member where I was informed that God is selective and not all-forgiving, even after repentence. I then relieved the duties of one of my friends, and had my turn at holding a bed sheet 2 inches infront of the “Homosexuality is sin” sign. We weren’t allowed to touch their posters by law, but there is no law against blocking them. I stayed there for about two hours, holding my signs. While there, I saw my incredibly gay roommate come up the side hill waving a giant rainbow flag. He and I in unison started singing “Do you hear the people sing?” from Les Miserables. It was a proud moment. On my post, I was approached by one of the group members who informed me that the sign I was covering was not at all offensive. I then called out to the crowd, asking who was offended by the banner. A minimum of 20 people, the ones that heard me, raised their hands and screamed. We then kept talking, and I was called a “Wimpy Christian” because I live my life through example and not by shoving my beliefs down others’ throats. I then asked him what the goal of the anti-gay sign was. He said that it was to help homosexuals find salvation in heaven. I then did my best to explain to him how bogus this was. It went very close to this:
me- “If that is truly your goal, then this sign is having the absolute reverse effect. You are, in essence, forcing the largest group of homosexuals in this university to read this banner. Most of the LBGTQA is not Christian. When they read this banner, I guarentee you that not a single one said to their friends ‘Oh, how sweet of them to help us find salvation in heaven… wasn’t that nice of them?’ No, when they read this sign, they do not read ‘homosexuality is sin’, they do not read ‘we want to help you’, they read ‘we don’t like you’. And they turn their backs on your group and what you represent… and because you claim to be Christians, they then turn their backs on Christianity!”
him- “I’m sure that at least one realizes our intentions.”
me- “maybe one realized it, but the 99 others have been turned off to Christianity forever. There are much less judgemental and hateful ways of getting messages across.”
him- “If we have saved one, we have succeeded”
it ended with him walking away and me saying “Well then I’d like to thank you for condemning 99 people to hell. How very Christian of you!”

At 6:15 the hate group finally took down their posters. As we were applauding the taking down of the anti-gay poster, one of the cult members called out “you know. God won by all of you being here!” we simply replied with “We weren’t protesting God, we were protesting you!” They then started singing a religious song, so we started singing “Jesus Loves Me.”

That night I went online to their website to find out that they have two pending law suits against them from the burrow of West Chester. Also, I found out that, while doing a demonstration in Washington, D.C., the leader was arrested and placed in a mental institution for being potentially mentally unstable.

The End. That was a major eye opener for me. I now realize how many different and how many sick people there are in the world. I would like to end this blog with my own personal prayer. Thank you for reading it.

God, please have mercy on the souls of the members of “Repent America” for they are your creatures and you love them, just as you love the born child, the unborn child, the pro-life humans, the pro-choice humans, the heterosexuals, the homosexuals, and all in between. Let all of us as humans realize that we are all sinners, and to not throw stones upon our brothers. Give us the strength to disagree without passing judgement. Give us the ability to love one another for who we are, not discriminate against eachother for what we do. Help us learn the unconditional love that you posess. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and forever, amen.

Pathetic, Lazy Christians

Lately this subject has really been on my heart. I’ve visited several youth groups this past year, and they’re all the same: Full of lazy, pathetic, bored Christians. The adults and the teens alike. They don’t know what to do with their time, and they waste it away in front of the TV, video games and a million other thing that don’t matter. They go to youth conventions, and youth groups and get all excited about what God is doing in their lives, yet they don’t do anything to help their lost neighbor.

Most of them would never dream of being the ‘radical Christian’ who stands on the corner, proclaiming the love of Jesus Christ to a lost generation. I’ve talked to these people. They say “Well, it might be good for you, but it’s not for me.”

Now, I understand that everybody has their different talents, and ways of doing things. Not everybody is a preacher. But when it comes down to it, most of these people in the churches aren’t doing ANYTHING. They’re happy living in their cushy little Christian world, with their nice books by Rick Warren, and Max Lucado, and voting for the lesser of two evils every few years. They don’t want to face the real issues, and stand up for the injustice going on in our country; The murder of the innocent pre-born, the fact that Homosexuality and Evolution are being pushed more than ever on the children in the public school system… And that’s just some of it. They’re against it, but they’re not doing anything about it.

The youth comes to their youth group on Wednesday morning, or Sunday morning, yawning, falling asleep in their seats. None of them did their home work for the week (which is usually no more than reading 1 page of a book) and all they do is talk during the lessons. They don’t really care about it. Deep down they know what’s right, but they don’t really care.  They care more about the latest gossip, and what Britney and Paris are up to than the Bible, and probably half of them are tired because they were up until all hours partying the night before!

Youth leaders in the churches need to wake up and see the problem before the kids grow up, go to college, and become the next pathetic, luke-warm Christians of this world. They need to get them out on the streets, witnessing to the lost, defending their faith and standing up for what’s right.

There’s nothing wrong with breaking out of your comfort zone every once in a while.

Don’t be afraid of looking like a radical. Yes, people will laugh at you, you might not be as popular as the next guy, but who cares!? Jesus DIED for us. I don’t think it gets much more radical than that. If America’s churches don’t wake up and face reality and start OBEYING  our Lord, when they die, God might just ask them why they wasted their life away, focusing only on themselves and what they want.

Wake up and start doing something for the Lord, and when you die, Jesus will say “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Aids Ride 2006 Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

As one of the “protesters” (as your paper called us) that showed up at Chandler Park last Friday, I wanted to clarify some things mentioned in the article that appeared in your newspaper on Saturday August 5, 2006 entitled AIDS bicycle fund-raiser winds through area. The article quoted a self-declared Christian who referred to us as “…taking the message of Jesus and twisting it to use it for their own political gain.” I assume that this person was referring to our opposition, not only to homosexuality in general, but also to the political agenda of many homosexuals. Please understand that our opposition, and the opposition of any true Christian, is based on God’s Word, the Bible, and not on our own opinions. Speaking of some of the difficult writings of the Apostle Paul, 2nd Pet 3:16 states “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [Greek: twist or torture], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” The question is: who is it that is twisting God’s Word? Is it us, or is it the homosexuals and their sympathizers? Our message to the riders in the AIDS ride was that homosexuality is a sin. Period… just as thievery, fornication and drunkeness are sins. We want to see cures for AIDS and many other diseases as much as anyone else does, but we also understand that, although not exclusively a homosexual disease, AIDS was originally mostly spread through homosexual acts. Though it is true that Jesus never addressed the sin of homosexuality directly, he did imply clearly in Mark 10:6-8 that marriage is only between a man and a woman. And in other passages, the Bible is very clear on this issue: Sodom was destroyed because of this sin (Genesis 18:20 – 19:28); Leviticus 18:22 says: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination”; the first chapter of Romans states that this sin is vile, unseemly, and against nature; and 1st Corinthians 6:9 & 10 states that it is a sin. It is one thing for a person to say that they don’t believe the Bible, but it’s another thing for a person to try to change what the Bible plainly states. The Bible says that “unlearned and unstable” people twist these scriptures, and not for gain, but to their own destruction. As 2nd Corinthians 4:2 states, we “…have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully…” Our agenda is not political, but our goal is to uncompromisingly glorify the one holy and righteous God, and His only Son Jesus Christ.

Stephanie Charpentier
Wisconsin Frontline Ministries
P.O. Box 82
Oxford WI 53952