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"True Christians have no hope in world peace, as man knows peace, but true peace with God
through Jesus Christ, and true peace will rein on earth when He returns."
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The Interfaith Nonviolence Movement
Brian Culliton
In the midst of the war on terror lies another war that's been simmering for years. In the
wake of September 11th, however, this other war has begun to rage. Its name: Interfaith
Nonviolence; its goal: deception!
The idea of religious tolerance and world peace sounds grand I doubt many people would
disagree. But what does it entail? For the answers, I would like to turn to one of the
people who are spearheading the movement, a Catholic Jesuit priest named John Dear.
Dear served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the largest
interfaith peace organization in the United States. He spent a couple of years in NYC and
then accepted an invitation to pasture a group of small parishes in rural New Mexico in late
2002 where he remains today. Dear proudly boasts of his 75-plus arrests; he mentions it in
almost all his writings. He is most proud of the fact that he was imprisoned for eight
months for what he calls his "Plowshares disarmament action." Basically what Dear and three
other knuckleheads did was trespass onto the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro,
North Carolina, and hammer on an F-15 fighter jet. He called it justice; I call it stupidity
in the first degree!
Dear travels around the world giving speeches and pushing his agenda. In February, 2002,
just five months after the terrorist attacks, Dear appeared for a speaking engagement at
Le Moyne College, a Catholic Jesuit college in Syracuse, New York. The rally was held in
the school's chapel. My stepdaughter was a sophomore at Le Moyne during the time and was
required to attend his peace rally for her mandatory religion class. My stepdaughter didn't
want to go alone so she asked me to go with her. Before Dear even began speaking, the
atmosphere was teaming with anticipation. Personally I knew very little about John Dear
except that he was a peace activist. But most of the people in attendance (there were
probably about 200) were very excited.
The first thing Dear uttered when he approached the microphone was what he had experienced
at ground zero in NYC. To hear him talk, you would think that he was responsible for all
the humanitarian work accomplished in New York during the tragedy. Immediately after
presenting us with his September 11th resume, Dear proceeded with his anti-government battle
cry. Dear portrays our government as the biggest terrorists the world has ever known and
holds them responsible for the terrorist attacks on 9-11. Ten minutes into his speech and
my American blood is already beginning to boil, not only by his speech, but also by the
reactions of the people around me. I was astonished by the reactions of the crowd; these
people were reveling in this man's verbal destruction of our government, and Dear was
grinning like the Grinch on Christmas Eve.
This article also appears on our blog!
Now that the crowd is warmed up, it's time to bring in Jesus. Dear's perception of Jesus is
an interesting one. He rarely mentions the Lord's name without putting the word "nonviolent"
in front of it. He even renamed the Gospel of Christ, the gospel of nonviolence. It was
obvious by this time that he had a specific agenda and it had nothing to do with the true
Gospel message. It seems his perception of Jesus comes from a very unusual perspective, the
writings of the famous Hindu philosopher, Mahatma Gandhi.
Dear is obviously a disciple of Gandhi; he quotes from his writings more than anything else,
including the Bible or even Catholic tradition. It is also clear that Dear whole-heartedly
agrees with everything Gandhi ever said, from "all roads lead to heaven" to vegetarianism.
Given the fact that Dear referred to the Gospel of Christ as the "gospel of nonviolence" and
Gandhi as the "apostle of nonviolence," it should have at least caused some murmuring among
the crowd, but no; not a peep. Is it appropriate to stand up in a Catholic chapel and yell,
"hello, are they're any Christians in here?"
Dear's speech twisted the Muslim concept of jihad on the U.S. government. Not once did Dear
say anything negative about the terrorists who so brutally attacked innocent people, nor the
Palestinians who danced in the streets when they received the news. But referring to the U.S.
government he said, "Christian government leaders wage war and stockpile nuclear weapons in
the name of the nonviolent Jesus."
The climax of the rally was a call to civil disobedience in the name of justice and in the
name of God, a contradictory to say the least. Dear encouraged everyone there to get
involved in civil disobedience, even if it meant imprisonment. Dear didn't care one bit
about any of them, nor did he care about truth, only his precious active nonviolence agenda.
Much to my delight the traveling circus show was finally coming to an end. There was just
one more thing left to endure, the closing remarks from the president of Le Moyne College,
Rev. Charles J. Beirne. Little did I know, however, that I would have to endure something
else first - a standing ovation for Dear that lasted at least one minute. This reaction
tells me that many of the people in attendance that night were willing to break the law in
direct disobedience of the Gospel for Dear and his agenda. It also told me that not one of
those delighted people knew the Gospel of Christ - at all. I shouldn't fail to mention that
there were others in attendance that did not agree with Mr. Dear and his philosophy, and
many of them, I presume, were Catholic students. However, those who were elated eclipsed
those of us who were appalled by the rally.
When Dr. Beirne took center stage, he reiterated only one point that Dear had made during
his rally and that was the suggestion that we should all go home and take down our American
flags because there is just too much patriotism for such a brutal government as ours
(paraphrased) - never mind our country was at war. By now you probably know how I felt
about that comment and would have no trouble figuring out the first thing I did when I got
home that night. That's right; Old Glory was proudly raised to full staff for all to see
despite the ten degree snowy weather. My only regret was that my flag is not visible from
Dr. Beirne's bedroom window.
Dear may be a soldier riding one of the lead horses in this crusade of interfaith activism,
but right behind him are the Roman generals under the unassuming command of the chief
general, the Pope. The Vatican supports everything Dear rants about. At the top of the
Vatican agenda lays the elusive compilation of all religions with the central authority going
to the Vatican. Have you ever wondered why the Pope hasn't proclaimed Mary as co-redemptrix
even though the doctrine is taught and believed by Catholics everywhere? The reason is
because he is worried that doing so will cause many people who might be persuaded to come
into union with the Catholic Church to pull away. The Vatican would like the world to have
more time to get used to the idea of Mary as co-redemptrix, but the pressure is on them to
act soon. If they wait too long, their own faithful will start to get suspicious of the
doctrine; in fact, that's already beginning happen.
Prior to Vatican II, Catholics were at least given definitive guidelines regarding salvation.
What used to be clear for Catholics is now colored gray. It used to be stated: "There is no
salvation outside the Catholic Church." It is now stated: "There is no salvation outside
the Catholic Church, except…." - the exception is ignorance. The only way to successfully
change the definition was to make it look as though it never really changed. This is pretty
much the way all new doctrine is added. Intelligent people are supposed to believe that
there isn't really anything new, just better understood.
The ignorance clause was a necessary move by the Vatican in order to achieve their elusive
goal of world peace and dominance. The Vatican continually strives to bring together the
spiritual leaders of every faith, not in an effort to convince them that Christ is the way
to salvation, but to appease them and show "Christian" tolerance.
Within Christendom another effort is underway, its called Catholics and Evangelicals
Together (CET). I like to call CET "Operation Separation" because it's a clear-cut sign of
the separation between the true believers and the ones who are willing to compromise the
truth for unity. All this, however, must take place before the second coming of Christ.
Anyway, CET is another topic.
Modern spirituality is hot on the trail blazed by Mahatma Gandhi. The trail is crooked and
leads the blinded disciples of Interfaith Nonviolence right into the ditch of deception.
There is one group in particular that is hated by these blind leaders of the blind, and that
is Christian Fundamentalists.
In an article written by John Dear, he stated the following concerning fundamentalists,
"Nonviolence is at the core of every religion, regardless of what the world says, or what
religious bigotry, fundamentalism and misconceptions have bred." Clearly he is referring to
Christian fundamentalism. Why is foundational Christianity so despised by people like Dear?
The answer is because true Christianity is not all-inclusive.
In the true church of Christ there is no doctrine of salvation by ignorance.
"Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by
what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands-- that at that time you were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who
once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." (Eph 2:11-13)
In the true church of Christ there is only one way to Heaven.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
(John. 14:6)
True Christians have no hope in world peace, as man knows peace, but true peace with God
through Jesus Christ, and true peace will rein on earth when He returns.
"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." (Mat. 24:6)
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. (Psa. 130:5)
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John. 14:27)
In contrast to the word of God, John Dear says, "I believe we were created to live
nonviolently, to be at peace with one another and creation, and that it is possible for the
whole human race to live together nonviolently. Indeed, it is our only hope if we are to survive."
What is your hope? Where do you place your trust? Is it in Christ Jesus, or do you cleave
onto a false hope of world peace through active nonviolence? Satan is real and much of the
world has been handed over to him because of their rejection of God. Man is not going to
secure peace through active nonviolence, but you can have peace with God through His Son.
Seek God and ask Him for His Holy spirit to dwell in you and work through you so you too can
say, " He who is in me is stronger than he who is in the world." Seek God through His word.
His word is truth!
"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John. 16:33)
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