17.  Warnings

In conclusion, certain warnings need to be issued.  These warnings are given based upon the Biblical responsibilities detailed in Ezekiel 3:17-21.  "Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.  When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die;' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.  Yet if you have warned the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.  Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he shall die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.  However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself." 

WARNING TO THE WICKED THAT WOULD WAR AGAINST CHRISTIANS:   I am warning you that you will bring upon your own heads the very evil you plot for the Christian.  Take heed to the warning given in Proverbs 26:27, "He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him."  Go to the Book of Esther and read how Haman ended up being hung on the very gallows he had built for God's people.  Take heed. 

Remember also that the murder of over thirty million Christians in the various communist purges in Russia in the 20th century was easy because the people were not armed.  It will not be so easy in America. 

WARNING TO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT & GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO MAY ATTEMPT TO PERSECUTE CHRISTIANS TO PLEASE THE JEWS:  We read in Acts 12:1-3, "Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them.  And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.  And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.  Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread."  Herod learned the hard way that you cannot persecute God's people without suffering dire consequences.  A few verses later we read of his demise:  "...and he was eaten by worms and died," Acts 12:23. 

Jesus Christ is the Christian's savior.  He saves them not only from their sins, but from their enemies, as well.  Jesus provides for the Christian "Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us," Luke 1:71.  Jesus protects his people, just as a good shepherd protects his sheep, John 10:11-12. 

Should you attempt to do harm to the Christians, you will find yourself the loser, for to stretch out your hand against the Christian is to put yourself into a state of war with God himself.  Saul of Tarsus discovered this back in the first century.  Saul made it his job to persecute Christians.  "But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison," Acts 8:3.  Saul soon discovered that he was persecuting Jesus Christ himself.  ("Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?," Acts 9:4.) 

You are hereby warned that to so treat Christians as common criminals, to pass laws against, to enforce discriminatory laws against them, to persecute them in any way is to put yourself into a state of war against God.  It is a war you cannot win.  Read and heed the accompanying Proclamation of Warning appended to the end of this document. 

You are further warned not to assume that, just because a people are non-violent, peace-pursuing, and lawful, that they are pacifists.  The Scripture declares that the Christian who fails to provide for his own is worse than an unbeliever, I Timothy 5:8.  Protection from physical harm is an integral part of provision, and the true, Biblical Christian stands ready to protect both his own household and other Christians, using any and every means at his disposal. 

WARNING TO CHRISTIANS:  Be wise as serpents, Matthew 10:16.  Do not wear an evil icon label created by anti-Christ hate groups.  Do not fear; remember the admonition of Matthew 10:28 & John 7:13.  Heed the lesson of Luke 22:66 and obey the command of Mark 3:27. 

Remember the boasts of men such as Gus Hall (whose Jewish name is Hallberg), who at one time was one of the top Jewish Communists in the American Communist Party.  He said, "I dream of the hour when the last Congressman is strangled to death with the guts of the last preacher--and since the Christians seem to love to sing about blood, why not give them a little of it?  Slit the throats of their children and drag them over the mourner's bench and the pulpit and allow them to drown in their own blood; and then see whether they enjoy singing these hymns." ⁽³³⁾  

Heed the admonition found in Hebrews 10:35-39:  "Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.  For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come, and will not delay.  But my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.  But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." 

WARNING TO REPORTERS AND THE PUBLIC WHOM THEY TRY TO DECEIVE:   Not all reporters are actively trying to deceive the public.  However, many times reporters end up deceiving the public, because they willingly follow instructions issued by anti-Christ hate groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center or the ADL.  These organizations tell reporters to portray Christians who believe the Israel truth as evil people--individuals who should be ostracized by or even evicted from the community. 

To illustrate this, let us consider a speech to the National Press Club given by Morris Dees, the head of the so-called "Southern Poverty Law Center," given April 16, 1996.  (For a detailed analysis of this speech, request the document entitled "Framing Deceit."  Single copies are available without charge.  Order from the LaPorte Church of Christ, Post Office Box 766, LaPorte, Colorado, 80535.) 

The president of the National Press Club asks Mr. Dees the following question:  "Could you assess the role that the press is playing in exposing 'hate groups' and 'hate crimes,' and what should the press be doing?" 

Now before we consider the response of Mr. Dees, let us consider the question itself.  From the wording of the question, it is apparent that Dees is not simply guest speaker; rather, Dees is an instructor who was brought in to tell the members of the press whom to target.  Notice his instructions to this group. 

Mr. Dees:  "I think the press is playing a very valuable role.  The only thing that I would suggest is that we don't just find the John Trochmanns and the face cards of the militia movement, that we try to get those people who express the true views of this Christian Identity and other groups." 

The public naively thinks the goal of the press is to uncover and publish the truth, yet here we see them being instructed to target a specific group--those individuals who express the true views of Christian Identity.  Implied in the words of Dees is the fact that there are those who do not express the true views of Christian Identity; those are, of course, agent provocateurs. 

From time to time, members of the press testify to the dishonesty which now characterizes the media.  Perhaps no more candid admission of media bias can be found than that of John Swinton, the former chief of staff of the New York Times, called by his peers "the Dean of his profession."  Swinton was asked in 1953 to give a toast before the New York Press Club.  He responded with the following statement:  "There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press.  You know it and I know it.  There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print.  I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinions out of the paper I am connected with.  Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job.  If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours, my occupation would be gone.  The business of the journalist is to destroy truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify; to fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread.  You know it and I know it, and what folly is this toasting an independent press.  We are the jumping jacks:  they pull the strings, and we dance.  Our talents, our possibilities, and our lives are all the property of other men.  We are intellectual prostitutes." 

Jesus warned and exposed not only the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23 but also their partners in crime, the Scribes.  Take warning, modern-day scribe reporters!  If you aid and abet in the persecution of innocent Christians, and take part in perverting the label Identity into an evil icon, know that Almighty God will not hold you blameless. 

Christians, get this treatise into the hands of your local law enforcement agencies, and into the hands of your national and state representatives.  If you wish, you can mail it anonymously.  Also, we ask that you keep record of newspapers, law enforcement agencies, individuals, etc., who label Christian groups as "Identity." To apply such a label is, today, slandering and libelous.  Send your reports to Coalition of Christian Organizations, care of the Laporte Church of Christ, Post Office Box 766, LaPorte, Colorado, 80535.  Additionally, we ask for your recommendations concerning law firms which may be interested in filing libel and slander law suits concerning this matter.