CHRISTIANS ARE RISING UP AGAINST GREED, FEAR & BUSH

by NoFear Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004 at 2:01 PM

Good-hearted Christians are rising up against Bush's compassionless regime of fear, greed, and arrogant imperialism. They're reclaiming "the radical message of Christ‘s love--the perfect love that casts out fear." They're putting faith into action and urging others to join them in voting for change on November 2.

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Christians across America are writing, speaking up, calling in to talk radio, creating websites, praying and working to end the failing Bush regime.

You won't hear much about it on FOX, CBS, or NBC; Big Media's owners enthusiastically support Bush, while Bush's FCC enthusiastically works to give Big Media everything it wants--and while Kerry and Edwards actively *oppose* media consolidation.

So, to break the news that Big Media won't: Bush is losing good-hearted Christian voters right and left.

Thoughts from some of these Christians follow; more perspectives can be found at www.sojo.net, www.RepublicansForKerry.org, and elsewhere. One particularly good article, "Confessing Christ in a World of Violence," is at http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=action.election&item=confession_signers

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! And please join me in voting against fear.
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From www.BushRelativesForKerry.com :

"I'm voting for John Kerry because I'm a Christian. I know that my second cousin, George Bush, claims that he is the anointed leader of the American people and that God told him to run for office. I believe he may even believe that. I don't.

My Christian faith leads me to a concern for the poor and the marginalized, yet Bush's actions in office have repeatedly cut funding for health care, aid to failing schools, jobs programs, after school programs, Head Start, and many more services that provide real help and hope to those living in poverty. Under the Bush administration, over a million additional people have dropped below the poverty line. 1.2 million more have gone into "deep poverty," which is one-half the $18,810 for a family of four that defines "poverty."

My Christian faith leads me to a concern for the health and welfare of all of God's people, yet 45 million people in this country have no health insurance. The Bush administration, working hard to protect the interests of large, rich insurance companies, has done nothing to address the real health care crisis.

My Christian faith tells me the peacemakers are the blessed ones, yet George Bush wants to resurrect the Crusades, one of the most shameful experiences in Christian history. I fail to understand how lying to the people of the United States about any of the many justifications they have used for going to war in Iraq can be considered in any way, shape, or form a remotely Christian activity. Yes, Jesus once said, "I come not to bring peace, but a sword." He was talking about liberating his OWN people from within, not invading an oil-rich country out of purely selfish motives, then claiming it was for the liberation of others. The only true liberation comes when the oppressed claim it for themselves. This is something George Bush and his Imperialist cabal will never understand.

My Christian faith moves toward greater inclusiveness and acceptance, George Bush moves toward punishment, division, and exclusion. My Christian faith seeks to bring people into the circle of decision-making, George Bush seeks to keep them out. My Christian faith seeks to afford equal rights and responsibilities to all, George Bush seeks to reserve more rights for the privileged few.

My Christian faith is not looking for a new Messiah named George Bush.

I am, however, looking for a leader. I believe that leader's name is John Kerry."

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A recent posting at www.congress.org, titled "Citizen's Lament, Christian's Lament." (This posting is no longer available at congress.org) :

"I love America and the principles it stands on. This President and the ugly men around him do not represent that America. I repudiate them. I detest what these men are causing the America I love to do.

I choose instead to be led by principles of respect, understanding, compassion and love. Those principles I believe to emanate from God. I no longer recognize God in American government, on average.

The silver lining in the Bush regime is that it is SO bad, that it has forced me to reexamine my duty as an American, and my priorities as a Christian. On both counts, Bush and his team do not speak for me.

I am an American because I believe in the principles in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I had faith in America as it grew progressively more respectful, understanding, compassionate, more a steward, in spite of its lapses. Bush has reversed it all, set it back at least 50 years, returning us to the era of McCarthy, headed in the WRONG direction.

I am a Christian because Christ's message and example resonate with me. I don't know how He could have said any more plainly that "love is the way". Love grows from compassion, which grows from understanding, which grows from respect. The Bush team respects no one, so how can it represent Christianity? It doesn't seek dialogue, facts, other perspectives, doesn't seek to understand, develops no compassion. Christ's methods in the Mideast would have been so different, and would have been successful.

So, the Bush team represents neither the America I know, nor the Christianity I know. Who, then, are they?

As clearly as I can see, they are weak men and women, motivated variously by pride, greed, power-lust, and into whom Satan's agenda has been planted. Satan's agenda is to sow distrust, fear and hate, using deceit and divide-and-conquer.

Their enemies, those OTHER weak men who kill innocents and ALSO spread hate, are ALSO on Satan's agenda. Those men kill by suicide bombs and beheadings, instead of smart bombs and depleted uranium. They kill up close and personal, instead of from a distance, by thousands.

That is how Satan works: divide God's children, infect the leadership of BOTH sides, then infect the rest.

So, for me, it is time to stand and be counted. I stand for America's principles. I stand for Christ's principles. Someone standing before me waving a flag, or waving a cross, may not even believe in those principles. They may just be waving something.

You can recognize them by their fruit. It isn't hard, just open your eyes and see."

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From an October 25, 2004 article at www.CommonDreams.org, titled "No Longer a Christian" (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1025-25.htm)

"I was told in Sunday school the word "Christian" means to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the “christian ” media are words of war, violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I will spell christian with a small c rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know as the Christ. I hear church goers call in to radio programs and explain that it was a mistake not to kill every living thing in Fallujah. They quote chapter and verse from the old testament about smiting the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the terrorists on our soil rather than across the globe causes the voices to be raised as they justify the latest prison scandal or other accounts of the horrors of war . The words they speak are words of destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear and arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in the righteousness of our nation's killing. There are reminders to pray for our “christian” president who is doing the work of the Lord: Right to Life, Second Amendmendment, sanctity of marriage, welfare reform, war, kill, evil liberals. . . so much to fight, so much to destroy.

Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was born poor to an unmarried woman. He was not born into a family of privilege. He was a radical. He said, “It was said an eye for and eye and a tooth of a tooth, but now I say love your enemies and bless those who curse you.” He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Mattew 5: 3-9) He said, “All those who are called by my name will enter the kingdom of heaven." He said, "People will know true believers if they have the fruit of the spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control.“

...This is a stark contrast to the call of the religious christian right, who vote for war and weapons, and suggest towns and villages be leveled to bring freedom and peace to the people. They proudly boast this country’s superiority, suggesting God has blessed our nation. Today, as I listened to a popular christian news network, I was reminded that in the last days, even God’s elect will be deceived, (II Timothy 3:13).

...Jesus explained that he has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:17) I wonder if the innocent moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas who were the victims of US military weapons (the never reported collateral damages we are protected from in the “liberal” nightly news) felt the love of Jesus with the shock and awe. I wonder if the surviving family members now understand His radical love and that they no longer have any need for weapons or defense.

...I cringe as many christians vote for policies that deny help to the poor in our own county, who vote to support the war and military strength, assuring the latest weapons are developed and that the heavens will be dominated by the military of the United States. We develop electromagnetic weapons to shatter skulls , split the earth (http://www.raven1.net/emr13.htm) and silently destroy a body as a thief in the night. Studies are even now searching for the frequencies to override the freewill. These unbelievable technologies are a reality and DNA specific weapons can or soon will target a specific nationality (http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/981116/1998111619.html ).

...Who will show the face of Christ to the world? Who will speak His radical message?

...Churches today have signed onto the government plan and have agreed to look the other way in exchange for tax free privileges.

...So I am no longer a christian but just a person who continues trying to follow the example of Christ. I’ll let him call me what he wants when I see him face to face. Until then, I will pray that someday people like me will be able to reclaim the meaning of Christ’s identity, and the world will see the effects of the radical message of Christ‘s love--the perfect love that casts out fear."