A CRACK IN FUNDIE UNITY??

RE: Granny's post below. Our government panders to the fundies and in the march toward imperialism, fundie support is vital. They donate huge amounts of money to the campaigns of allied representatives and their millions of voters are very important to assure re-elections. In many tyrannical governments of the past, a state religion has been of great use in controlling the masses. The fundies are important to the goals of our present government. As they gain power, they WILL control us - or we die or become enslaved ( a la Old Testament Law).

RE: A Crack in Fundie Unity
I believe in "know thine enemy" and I subscribe to or check fundie websites to see what they're up to. It is bad for my blood pressure but I read them anyway.

Pastor Chuck Baldwin is a fundie of the first water and I disagree with most of what he publishes, but once in a great while he utters a sentence or two that I do agree with. Yesterday I was amazed to find that I agreed with most of his post and was even more amazed to see a crack in fundie unity !! Is this reason for hope? ( Granny, have your smelling salts available. This is unbelievable. )
WARNING: Readers who don't like long articles; this one is a bit long!

Excerpts from his article: ( red asteriks are mine, to accent the statement)

By Pastor Chuck Baldwin
September 6, 2006NewsWithViews.com
Today I'm going to do something I rarely do: I'm going to publicly respond to another commentator's writing. Specifically, I feel I must respond to a recent column written by my friend and mentor, Dr. Jerry Falwell. One can read Dr. Falwell's article here.......

[deleted: paragraphs about what great bosom buds he and Falwell are; the usual anti- abortion and anti-homosexual rants]

....Furthermore, to call George W. Bush a fiscal conservative is a misnomer, to say the least. ***President Bush has increased federal spending and federal deficits to levels never seen before. His spending habits rival those of the most liberal Democrats. In nearly six years as President,*** George Bush has not vetoed a single spending bill. Not one.To say that a Republican must be a social and fiscal conservative in order to obtain the evangelical vote just isn't true.

George W. Bush has proven that Evangelicals are willing to support Republican administrations (and candidates) no matter how liberal they behave. ***All that seems to be necessary for Republicans to obtain the evangelical vote is for them to *profess Christianity and *talk conservative. On the whole, Evangelicals seem to care little about whether a Republican actually governs as a conservative. (And don't think for a minute that Republican candidates don't recognize that fact.)

Then, my friend Dr. Jerry Falwell made a statement that astounds me. He said, "We also seek after a leader who will unite government with the private sector and religious institutions in mending the America family, which is being torn to shreds." Is it now a litmus test among evangelical voters ***that government and religious institutions be "united?"[ It is if you are trying to establish a Theocracy]

I can't help but wonder what America's Founding Fathers or my Baptist forebears would say to that. Jerry Falwell and I are both Baptists. ...Our Baptist predecessors were among the most outspoken and ardent proponents of the Bill of Rights, which, under the First Amendment, guarantees religious freedom. You see, it was the **unholy marriage between state governments and Christian denominations that produced widespread religious persecution of Baptists by Anglicans and others in the early colonies. It was the Baptist minister John Leland (who himself had been subjected to religious and state persecution) who convinced James Madison, *the architect of the U.S. Constitution, to include the article* keeping government from being entangled with religious institutions.

Endorsing the concept that** government and religious institutions unite signifies a major shift from historic Baptist belief, not to mention American history. Furthermore, has it not been the ubiquitous interference from government in the internal affairs of the family that has helped to create the forces that are tearing the American family apart? Absolutely!* Uniting religious institutions with government would only serve to encourage further government meddling.

The next statement my friend Jerry Falwell made that leaves me incredulous is when he said, "And we will not accept a candidate who is soft on the war on terror, whether here at home (the Patriot Act, domestic surveillance, etc.) or in Iraq, or wherever." Do I understand Jerry correctly? Is he saying he supports the misnamed Patriot Act, a law that all but *eviscerates the Fourth Amendment and does serious injury to several others, a law that was first proposed by Bill Clinton and Al Gore? Is he saying he supports domestic surveillance, which many fear *does more to create an American police state than fight terrorists? Does he mean he supports warrantless searches and seizures and warrantless eavesdropping?I had always believed that Christian conservatives were among our country's most ardent defenders of liberty and constitutional government.

All that I knew and understood from my schooling at Thomas Road Baptist Church and the Thomas Road Bible Institute, plus all of my involvement and effort in Jerry's Moral Majority, convinced me that if we Christian conservatives believed anything, we believed in freedom and constitutional government. Am I now to understand that we are supposed to*** support a Big Brother philosophy to government and must*** willingly surrender constitutionally protected liberties?

As to the war in Iraq, do we Christians really desire that our young men and women continue to die in another non-declared, no-win war? Is it wrong to wonder whether this never-ending "war on terror" really serves the cause of national security or rather the ***commercial interests of globalists? Do Evangelicals really have a litmus test whereby any future president must be determined to continue and perhaps expand constant interventionist policies, nation-building, and preemptive invasions of foreign countries? Must we be equally determined to ***turn the United States into an Orwellian nightmare until life in America looks like one giant airport terminal? None of this reflects historic Christian conservatism as I ever understood it!

Lastly, Jerry addresses the issues of illegal immigration and energy independence. Concerning illegal immigration he said, "We must get tough on illegal immigration and begin enforcing present laws throughout our nation." I certainly agree with this statement. However, the problem with that statement is that President Bush has been the biggest culprit facilitating the invasion by illegal aliens into our country.In fact, Bush has done everything he can to encourage illegal immigration! From his "guest worker" (amnesty) program to his signing the ***Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) agreement with Mexico and Canada to his ***committing the United States to the North American Union (which all but erases the borders between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada) to his determination to ***build a huge NAFTA superhighway from Mexico to Canada, President Bush has put out the welcome mat for illegal aliens. To understand the significance of Bush's policies in this matter, understand that nearly half of all illegal aliens currently residing in the United States came into this country since Bush was elected in 2000.

The truth is, because evangelical Christians have given President Bush a pass on illegal immigration, by the time 2008 rolls around, it will be all but impossible to fix the problem. How can we talk seriously about fixing the illegal alien problem in 2008 when we have not been willing to do anything about it since the problem began in earnest back in 2000?

...For the record, however, I believe evangelical Christians for too long have been*** unduly wedded to the Republican Party. In my opinion, this has seriously ***hampered and compromised their ability to stand courageously and independently for critical principles affecting our liberty and national autonomy.Instead of playing politics and trying to figure out who can win, Christian ***conservatives need to circle the wagons around truth and constitutional government...............

© 2006 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved
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Would you believe THIS - from a FUNDIE???
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For more information on SPP and NAFTA Superhighway mentioned in above article, go to: http://archives-texts.blogspot.com/2006/09/human-events-article-north-american.html#links Plan to eliminate borders between Mexico, the US and Canada to allow free movement of people, transport and commerce, to create a North American state or NAU, as part of establishing the One World Order.