Governor Perry...telling it like it is?

From WND:

Texas incumbent Gov. Rick Perry says he agrees with the Christian belief that non-Christians will be condemned to hell, prompting a rival in this week's gubernatorial election to declare the Republican "doesn't think very differently from the Taliban."

Perry said in a report in the Dallas Morning News that he agreed with the Christian principle as stated by Cornerstone Church pastor John Hagee that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.

"If you live your life and don't confess your sins to God Almighty through the authority of Christ and his blood, I'm going to say this very plainly, you're going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket," Hagee said during a 90-minute service in San Antonio in which Perry was introduced to the megachurch's congregation.

Asked if he agreed with Hagee, Perry told the Dallas paper, " In my faith, that's what it says, and I'm a believer of that."

"I don't know that there's any human being that has the ability to interpret what God and his final decision-making is going to be," Perry said later. "That's what the faith says. I understand, and my caveat there is that an all-knowing God certainly transcends my personal ability to make that judgment black and white.

[...]

"He doesn't think very differently from the Taliban, does he?" Kinky Friedman, an independent candidate for governor, told the Morning News.

"Being obsessed with who's going to heaven and who's going to hell is kind of a pathetic waste of time," he said.

Another independent, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, disagreed with Perry,opting for a multi-path religious belief.

"There are many ways to heaven. We're all sinners, and we're all God's children," she told the Morning News.

Chris Bell, a Democrat, called himself a Christian, too. But he said God is the only one who came make such decisions.

"I'm a Christian," he told the paper. "Rick Perry certainly is entitled to his beliefs, but when you're in public office, you need to respect people of all faiths and denominations."

Perry said the acceptance of Christ is what his faith teaches, and he could not abandon that any more than anyone can pick which of the Ten Commandments to follow.

A couple of thoughts on this. As a side note, I think John Hagee is a great Pastor. I've been a 'fan' of him for a long time--since eighth grade actually, but that's not really the issue. The bigger issue is whether or not Perry was right in what he said, and from where I stand, he certainly was.

Christianity dictates that through Christ and Christ alone will we reach heaven. What was he supposed to say? Naturally he's gotten beaten up for this. But those who are attacking him have it all wrong.

Mr. Friedman clearly does not see the bigger picture if he thinks Perry's statements somehow equate him with the Taliban. Perry has his beliefs, but he, unlike Taliban leaders, is not advocating that Texas become a Christian-only state where all must follow Christian religious rules and regulations. He is not outlawing other religions, is he then?

As for Ms. Strayhorns comments--if one is a Christian, than that individual cannot advocate the sort of "multi-pathed" way to heaven that she speaks of. Christianity is clear on that--it is not through a cow, through Buddha or through Muhammad that we can reach heaven, but through Christ. That is just the way it is.

Kudos to Mr. Perry for sticking to his beliefs and not 'cutting and running' from a question that could potentially have political consequences.

Christian boy murdered

Another horrible atrocity in Iraq. This time against a young Christian boy. From WND:

A website in Assyria is confirming that a 14-year-old Christian boy who was working a 12-hour shift maintaining an electric generator has been murdered by Muslim insurgents.

The Assyrian International News Agency said the tragedy was reported by an Assyrian language web page at http://www.ankawa.com./

The youth was identified as Ayad Tariq, who lived in Baqouba, Iraq, and was at work on Oct. 21 when a group of "disguised Muslim insurgents" went into the power plant shortly after his shift began at 6 a.m.

The website reported the insurgents asked him for his identification and, according to other witnesses who hid and stayed alive to report on the attack, questioned his identification card's reference to him as a "Christian."

Are you truly a "Christian sinner," they asked.

"Yes, I am Christian but I am not a sinner," he replied.

The insurgents then called him a "dirty Christian sinner," grabbed his limbs and held them while beheading him, the witnesses reported.

[...]

Current estimates are that there are about 2.5 million Assyrian Christians in Iraq.

Kenneth Scott LaTourette wrote in "A History of Christianity" that the Assyrian Christians became the first nation to accept Christianity, and one of the largest missionary-sending peoples in Christian history.

"The Assyrian Christians are one of the last remaining Christian communities in the Middle East," said Rev. Ken Joseph Jr., of the Assyrian Christians organization.

Tens of thousands of Assyrian Christians have fled their traditional homelands in recent months, officials confirmed.

Now I suppose there are two ways to look at this. The first is to say, "My God, that poor boy was the same age as my little brother." With that in mind, I suppose I could say that this is just horrific. Then I could ask, "Is this what we're fighting for? A people that would behead a 14 year-old boy because of his views? Isn't this enough? There's no way that people like that are deserving of any more of the blood of our soldiers. There is no hope for a nation that would routinely allow this to happen. This can no longer be our find.

Indeed this was my first reaction--how can we allow our troops to fight and die any longer for people like this, but looking at things through those lenses is reactionary. We cannot allow that actions of the terrorists--which is what these folks were, cold blooded, murdering terrorist monsters--to dictate our continuation of this mission. Yes, I know, that sounded like something straight out of a Bush speech, but it is the exact and definite truth. It is the simple fact.

Instead of seeing the abusers as the ones for which we are fighting, we have to identify with the abused. If we pull out, atrocities like this one will worsen in severity and frequency, neither of which is an acceptable outcome of a pullout by US authorities. For this brave young man, we must continue the fight. We cannot allow the terrorists to dictate our action. In the face of tragedy such as this, we cannot simply turn our tails and flee. To the contrary, in the face of such tragedy is exactly when we must strengthen our resolve. This should be a rallying point for Christians, whose brothers are being persecuted, and Americans, who should be highly concerned with the proliferation of one of the greatest American rights--freedom to worship as we please.

In Sean Hannity's TV interview with Bush last night, he asked the President if this was a war between good and evil. Mr. Bush said he thought it was. And it is. We cannot allow evil to triumph over good. It is just that simple.

Satanists in India

Scary stuff from The Washington Times:

CALCUTTA -- Satan-worshipping groups in the Christian-majority Indian state
of Mizoram are waging an anti-Christian campaign by burning Bibles, vandalizing
churches and defiling cemeteries.

One such group entered a church after midnight on July 24 and burned Bibles, urinated on the pulpit and tore up pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus.

"It appears they sacrificed an animal on the pulpit and splattered its blood on the altar and chair of the worship leader," said the Rev. B. Sangthanga, the head pastor of the church in the Kolasib district of the northeastern Indian state.

"Last year, some young men of our village confessed to worshipping Satan. Our investigation has found that the same group is behind this attack on the church."

Mr. Sangthanga said the acts of vandalism "carry signatures of the Mizo Satan followers. ... Now their attack on our church proves that the number of Satanists is growing across the state with village youths joining them."

[...]

Some of them conduct midnight gatherings at isolated cemeteries, where they are reported to dance naked, slash their wrists in ritual blood offerings and chant nvocations to Satan. They sometimes write graffiti in their blood, leaving messages such as "dog si nataS" -- the reverse of "Satan is god."

Mizoram church leaders blame high unemployment and "bad Western influences"
for the growth of the groups.

"When, three years ago, a girl-only [satanic group] was caught by village elders while performing some bizarre rituals, the girls, who were all high-school dropouts, admitted that [they had been] influenced by the Hollywood movie 'The Craft,'" said a church leader in the Aizawl district.