thousands of christians show support for a satanist

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  • 8/20/2019 Thousands of Christians Show Support for a Satanist

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    Thousands of Christians Show Support for a Satanist’s Right to Pray in Public

    Author: Jeremy Schooler10/30/15

    That’s the scene this Halloween in Kitsap County and around the nation. Bremerton High School

     football Coach Joe Kennedy is fighting for his right to freely exercise his religion by taking a knee

    after the games and giving thanks to God. While Kennedy is a professing Christian, his fight has

    not been for the traditional and fundamental beliefs of Christian morals or the opportunity to

    share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead, this Christian says “I’m willing to take this as far as it

    goes to defend the rights of the Constitution, to the end.”  He also acknowledges that to do so

    “opens it up to everyone”. 

    Coach Kennedy even goes to the length of changing the invocation of his prayers to be inclusive

    to anyone of any faith that may desire to join him. Kennedy said that when he first started he

    used to “  pray directly to God ” . Then He had “ some kids wanted to come and they had different

    beliefs… so I did change… instead of saying God I said Lord… Then when I say in your name

    amen, I didn’t want to fill in the blanks for them if they wanted to pray along. I have a very

    diverse team. I didn’t want it to be a members only where only the righteous people could comeover there and pray with us” . All of that has drawn the critique of some Christians that question

    whether or not he is even praying a Christian prayer.

    This small and quickly growing battle has gained the support of many people from many

    different religions and has also seen much support from secular groups. What started out as a

    local battle in a relatively small community is quickly growing and gaining attention from

    around the nation. It has been especially fascinating to see the amount of support coming from

    the Christian community. While at this time, they are supporting one of their own, they are also

    supporting the right for all people of all faiths to do the same thing. They are effectually fighting

     for the right of a football coach of a completely opposing faith to offer a prayer to whateverhigher power they may acknowledge. So in essence, literally thousands of Christians are

    supporting the right of a Satanist’s right to pray in public after the game. 

    I wonder if the above will be the topic of a future article in the news. As of right now I believe the

    above is an accurate description of what is happening. I know that there are many who will be greatly

    offended by that statement. I hope that you will grant me the grace to read this through. I should note

    that everything in quotations above are direct quotes from Kennedy. And I do question whether or not

    the prayers of Coach Kennedy at the 50 yard line are even Christian prayers.

    Some things I would like to encourage the Christian reader to consider are is the possibility of an article

    like that something that is agreeable? Should we Christians support the right of a person of any faith to

    pray in public after the game? Is that right?

    I have been hesitant to say anything about this topic. I have heard from some that Joe Kennedy is a

    neat brother in Jesus. I have personally talked to Joe who also says he is a Christian. I feel for him and

    do pray for him. The entire scenario makes me wonder how I would handle it. Would I do anything

    differently?

    The reason I’m writing is to bring to the attention of my brothers and sisters in Jesus an agenda that I

    believe Satan is fully willing to encourage. It saddens me to say that I believe many have jumped on the

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    band wagon of supporting Joe Kennedy without fully considering the consequences. I also believe that

    many would likely be guilty of blatant hypocrisy if the scenario were different. The reason I believe this

    is because I think that if I were to ask a simple question using the same scenario but with different

    characters, many Christians if not most would be unlikely to show the same support that they have

    shown Coach Joe Kennedy.

    Here’s the question; What if this was a Muslim, a Hindu or even a Satanist that was coaching the team

    and leading these prayers after the game, would you support it? Please be honest with yourself when

    answering that. I had to be honest with myself and that’s what led me to write. My honest answer at

    first was no, I would not support it. As I continue to consider this, a more accurate statement is that I

    don’t respect it. Everyone has the right to believe whatever they want. I do agree with and support

    that right. And, by the way, that is first a God given right, and for a time it is also a right that has been

    supported by our government.

    And so that everyone understands that part, let’s make sure that everyone knows what the First

    Amendment does guarantee us. It simply prohibits making any law that specifically respects a certain

    religious establishment or that impedes the free exercise of religion. It does not guarantee a freedom

    to exercise your religion while you are at work for an employer that expects you to do a certain job in a

    certain way. Employers are allowed to choose to hire or fire anyone for whatever reason. However,over the years certain courtroom cases have ruled in certain ways that create what is called case law

    and have effectually changed the clear meaning of the Constitution. That is just about the limit of my

    knowledge of law, so I’ll leave that there. 

    Back to the topic of supporting and/or respecting, I’m not trying to be mean to a person of another

    faith. I truly do love and respect the person. However, I wouldn’t and don’t respect the religion itself

    nor a prayer that might influence any person with any other religion or belief system. I am a Christian

    and therefore I do not show respect to any other god or belief that is contrary to the God of the Bible. I

    believe the Bible is God’s Word. You see, I believe that when people are judged by God, they will be

    found guilty of sin and therefore imperfect and therefore incapable of entering the perfect and eternalpresence of God in Heaven and will therefore be separated from Him in a place called Hell that He

    made for the devil. I believe that is the true and eternal death that we all deserve. I believe that every

    single one of us have an ability to change that eternal destination by first humbling ourselves and

    agreeing with God that we have sinned against Him and that it was wrong to do so. I believe that the

    only way to be saved is by turning away from those sins and trusting by faith that Jesus Christ has fully

    paid the debt of death that we deserve. In a sentence, I believe that there is only one way, truth and

    life and His name is Jesus Christ. So therefore, when someone wants to influence others in a different

    way, I believe they are deceived and are perpetuating the deception that they believe. I am saddened

    for both parties involved and I do not want to see it continue to spread.

    So then I find myself at a point of conflict. Do I support this Christian Brother as he deals with this

    battle? Of course I do! Although, I don’t have to make a decision. I could just ignore it and not even

    consider it. However, I think the time is soon coming that we all are going to be forced to make very

    similar decisions. It seems best to me to consider it now in clarity rather than when the pressures of

    the circumstances of a battle are present.

    So, yes I do support Joe Kennedy. I’ll do what I can to support and encourage any fellow Christian. I

    even really appreciate the wisdom of the forefathers of this once great country to write the First

    Amendment the way they did. However I also acknowledge as John Adams said that “Our Constitution

    was written for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” 

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    Dear reader, might I suggest that we as a whole are no longer the moral and religious people that we

    once were? Our nation has fallen from being the once pious and largely Christian influenced

    community of states united for the reason of liberty and justice for all.

    It is important that we all recognize that when we support the Constitution or any of the founding

    documents, we are often supporting things that were never intended to be supported by those

    documents. A more important consideration is, are we supporting the work that God has called us to

    support? All too often I see people improperly and completely out of context quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 if

    My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn

     from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. This

    was a verse written specifically to the people of Israel in an entirely different dispensation. It is not

    applicable to America or anyone other than Israel. I believe it is a foolish thing for us to continue to act

    as if we will be able to stop the judgment that this society has coming. We have turned away from God

    Almighty towards worthless idols of various designs and there are consequences to such foolish

    decisions.

    What the people of this country really need is a saving faith in Jesus relationship with God. That won’t

    stop the consequences of this world’s ungodliness from coming. But it will guarantee the eternal

    destination of anyone that comes to God humbly!

    As I talked with Joe Kennedy yesterday, he of course voiced his agreement with this plain, simple and

    often misunderstood gospel message. However, he also expressed his opinion that “as true as that [the

    gospel] may be I’m not going to get the support of the entire nation which we’re part of which gives us

    the rights to do these things.” I ended the conversation by encouraging Joe with this last thought. This

    is all going to blow over here soon. There will be a new headline about something else next week. Joe, I

    encourage you to not let it end in the current status of not seeing Jesus in the headline but instead

    seeing Joe Kennedy and his rights in the headlines. “Whatever opportunity you have to make it so that

    those headlines put Jesus out there and not just Joe Kennedy, take advantage of those man.” Joe

    agreed by saying “see, that’s a good message”. I hope that was sincere and I hope that he doeseverything he can to follow through with that. That’s the end to which I am praying for and supporting

    Joe Kennedy.

    Although, a very serious concern of mine is that if Joe has been willing to change his prayers to be

    more inclusive of those of all faiths that join him on the field, I wonder what else he is willing to

    compromise? Time will tell us all what Joe’s priority is. Up until this point, the media coverage and

    public eye has not seen Joe giving the glory to Jesus. Though we all know that the media cannot always

    be trusted to share the full story. I really hope to see Joe standing on the platform that he has been

    given sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ who paid for sinners that come to Him alone for salvation. I’m

    not saying it’s not possible to see that happen, but I do have my doubts. The reason for those doubts is

    that there is not a single time in scripture or an example of one of the apostles or even Jesus praying in

    an all-inclusive way. Therefore, I do not think it is wise to do so.

    To you the reader, I hope that you will take this as an encouragement. Be about the work of the King

    Jesus. He has given a still standing commission to all of His people “Go into all the world and preach

    the gospel” Mark 16:15. Let us truly love our neighbors by doing what we can to share the truth of the

    gospel of Jesus Christ with them “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out

    of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” Romans 13:11