Current Events

Current Events » Abortion

Question:

Answered on 03/14/06:

Now, does He want you to have one? No. But in a situation where there was incest and you ended up doing that, God forgives you. If you’re thinking about doing it, would He forgive you? Yes, of course He would. Who doesn’t sin without thinking about it first and he forgives every other sin. So, if somebody has an abortion, knowing that they’re going to have one and knowing that it’s wrong, will God forgive them? Of course He will if they ask Him and they receive the forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. But if you know in your heart you shouldn’t do it and you have the strength to have that baby then have that baby and put that baby up for adoption or something else, but do not think that God will send you to hell. If you have an abortion, do not think that God will condemn you for the rest of your life. You will not be outcast. You will not be a sinner. Would that be sin? Yes. Would that be taking the life of an innocent child? Yes. But is there forgiveness in Jesus Christ? Yes, there is. And is there hope? Yes, there is. But first get counseling before you do something like that and see if we can find a better way to take care of that baby if that baby is alive now.

Current Events » Books, TV & MOvies

Question:

Answered on 07/18/06:

However, even though I believe that the Bible will always prevail over these kinds of mockings and these kinds of money scams, which is what The DaVinci Code is, just to make money. I believe the Bible will always prevail over those things. But I don’t believe that I will support those kinds of things. Even though I know that the Bible is stronger and even though I know that my faith could withstand watching that movie and not be affected by it, I think that there are a lot people who are young Christians who could be affected negatively and start to question “did Jesus really tell us everything that we know in the Bible?” and “is the Bible authentic?” And the questions that are raised in The DaVinci Code are not worth subjecting little lambs to.

So, I don’t believe that people should go to it who are well-minded and strong-minded and well-intended Christians. But I don’t think that it would be a sin if somebody goes to the movie. I just think that it would be unwise to give our money to people who are supporting something that is contrary to the Word of God.

We have to speak intelligently to the world and to what the world is watching and to what the world is viewing. There are ways to accomplish that without having to go to the movie. I feel like I’ve presented a good explanation on our website at changinglives.org to address this issue with The DaVinci Code so somebody can respond intelligently to their friends and relatives.

But I don’t think that most people are going to The DaVinci Code to pursue theological answers. They’re going for entertainment. And I don’t really think it’s going to be that big of an issue when it comes to “hey, did you see The DaVinci Code? Yeah. What’d you think about God? What do you think about the Bible now?” I don’t know that that’s the effect that movies have on culture. I think movies have less significant of an effect on people than that. I don’t believe it’s theologically deep enough to really inspire a lot of talk about it. Although if it opens somebody’s heart up to the gospel, let’s take advantage of it. Let’s have the right answers. Let’s know how to kindly and compassionately speak to those answers.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

When they get to when they’re 16, 17, 18 and 19 years old, obviously, they can make up for any movies that I didn’t let them watch. They can go to whatever movies they want to go to within reason. When your kids are under your charge and your stewardship, the parents should simply say, “I don’t feel comfortable with you watching this movie or taking you to this movie because it doesn’t guard and protect your heart from things that I think are unhealthy for you spiritually and emotionally.” That would be the way that I would explain that to a child.

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough experience with the Harry Potter movies to speak fully intelligently about it, but I know enough Christian people who have studied it and researched it and have found it to be very detrimental and would not encourage parents to let their kids go to those Harry Potter movies. What I would encourage you to do is to look up some websites – I know that John Hagee has some extensive research that he’s done about the Harry Potter movies. You can go to www.jhm.org and search in their catalog for materials relating to this. He’s just one person that I’ve heard and seen on TV that has shown an intelligent, studious effort at really understanding those movies and giving good answers for parents to protect their children from it.

It’s important for you to get good information about it. I can say to my kids, “because in my heart, I don’t feel it’s right” and they’ll accept that. But sometimes you need more information than that when you’re dealing with older children. If you look up christianmovies.com or google and go to “Christian Movies” or “Christian Critics of Movies” or something like that, then they’ll give you a breakdown of some real intelligent answers as to why you should or should not go to Harry Potter movies.

Current Events » Death Penalty

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

But when we have a justice system and is clearly understood by the citizens that are in that society and they know what the ramifications are and they know what the consequences of their actions are and they get the death penalty, they knew it in advance, they did it premeditated and this was not an accident and if they’re truly guilty and they’re found guilty in the court of law and they’re given the time to be found guilty and proven that they are guilty without reasonable doubt, then it should be executed. And it is not murder, it is not killing; it is justice.

And in America, we need justice to protect the innocent. But certainly, we need to preach the gospel to them first and give them an opportunity to be saved and then execute justice when it’s needed and when it’s appropriate. It’s not appropriate in every case. But in many cases it is because we’re protecting the innocent. Just like going to war and protecting the innocent by fighting for ht protection and defense of our country. Do we have to kill people? Yes, but God did it in the Bible to protect His people. And He will do it again to protect His people if He had to.

I know there are two sides to it. I am not saying that in every case that the death penalty is appropriate, but it is in many cases. And it doesn’t mean we should take vengeance. It’s not for vengeance. It’s for protection and justice, not vengeance to get back at somebody because we’re mad and we think it will heal us by getting rid of them. No, that’s not the reason for the death penalty. It’s to protect the innocent.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

So, the answer to your question simply is by all means you can be a Christian and believe in the death penalty. They are separate issues. Do I find that many Christians believe in the death penalty? Yes, a lot of Christians do because they want justice. They want the innocent to be protected. That really is the key, we want the innocent to be protected, the guilty are not our responsibility to give them all of the freedoms and all the rights that people who are innocent have. Our justice system should be protecting the innocent, not be protecting the guilty. We should be prosecuting the guilty to the full extent of the law and extend mercy only when there are circumstances that require mercy. We extend mercury spiritually by getting into those prisons, winning those men and women to the Lord and then letting justice take its course.

Current Events » Natural Disasters

Question:

Answered on 03/20/06:

However, it is not the judgment of God that has contaminated the earth; it is not the judgment of God that brings tornadoes, hurricanes, and these kinds of things. It is the fallen nature of this earth that was affected by Adam's sin. Is this God judging the earth or is this God judging the world? Is this God judging the southern most region of America? I want to reference Luke 13. It says there was present at that season, some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices and Jesus answering said unto them, “Suppose you that these Galileans were sinners above all the other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no.” Let me read that from the Amplified. “He replied to them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners then all the other Galileans because they have suffered in this way?’ And Jesus said, “I tell you no.”

The answer is no. It is not because there is more sin in the southern part of the country that has caused those cities to be hurt by the hurricane. It is simply because there are natural disasters that have come into this world through Adam's sin. Not because some people are worse sinners than in other parts of the country. He said I tell you no in verse 3, no it is not because they are sinners, it is not because the Galileans were judged, it is not because God bright judgment on the Galileans, but he said unless you repent, the same kind of tragedy is going to happen in the end to every one of us without Jesus; we are going to experience great tragedy in our lives. There are worse things then hurricanes and disasters and that is hell itself without Jesus Christ.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

No, people are going to reap what they sow, right? The Scripture you bring up is a very good point, and it should be looked at as what an example that this is—that this city was not built properly. That the levies were not built properly. That the governments of Louisiana and of Mississippi did not prepare themselves properly for this disaster, this tragedy, and therefore they are now paying the price for the consequences of not preparing properly.

I think that the lesson that can be learned from that is that we as people should take that as our example and realize that if we don’t build our lives upon God’s Word, and if we don’t build our lives upon the rock of Jesus Christ, then there are going to be storms that will come and they will devastate us and will even devastate innocent people. There are a lot of innocent that have been devastated from the hurricane disaster. And in the same way, a lot of innocent Christians will be devastated if they don’t build their life upon hearing the Word of God and doing the Word of God.

And I think that that’s where the analogy needs to be drawn. Not that those people were wicked and that city was wicked and that’s why it was destroyed, but rather in a physical way, it gives us a picture of a spiritual principle and that is: let’s build our lives on God’s Word because there will come storms, there will come tragedies and we need to be built upon the rock so that when the storms come, it won’t destroy us and it won’t defeat us.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

There was a band of protection over the entire earth in the garden of Eden and in the book of Genesis. We understand that sin affected all of creation; the earth being a part of creation, sin was affected by that. All of creation is, according to Romans 8, longing for the manifestation of the Son of God. That is why God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth because sin has contaminated the earth. However, it is not the judgment of God that has contaminated the earth; it is not the judgment of God that brings tornadoes, hurricanes, and these kinds of things. It is the fallen nature of this earth that was affected by Adam's sin.

Let’s address the situation with the questions you are going to hear from people when they say to you, “Is this God judging the earth?” Or “is this God judging the world?” “Is this God judging the southernmost region of America?” I want to reference Luke 13. It says “there was present at that season, some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices and Jesus answering said unto them, ‘Suppose you that these Galileans were sinners above all the other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no.’” Let me read that from the Amplified. “He replied to them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other Galileans because they have suffered in this way?’ And Jesus said, “I tell you no.”

The answer is no. It is not because there is more sin in the southern part of the country that has caused those cities to be hurt by the hurricane. It is simply because there are natural disasters that have come into this world through Adam's sin. Not because some people are worse sinners than in other parts of the country. He said, “I tell you no” in verse 3. No it is not because they are sinners. It is not because the Galileans were judged. It is not because God brought judgment on the Galileans. But, He said unless you repent, the same kind of tragedy is going to happen in the end to every one of us. Without Jesus, we are going to experience great tragedy in our lives. The worst of all hurricanes and disasters is hell itself without Jesus Christ.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

He doesn’t deal with us that way. He doesn’t bring punishment for sin. He took the punishment of our sins, of our cities and put it on Jesus and nailed it to the cross. The only people that will truly receive punishment for their sin, their individual sin, are people who reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And on the day of judgment is when they will receive the punishment for their sin. That punishment is hell. The wages of sin is death. The Bible does not say the wages of sin is catastrophes and disasters and these kinds of things. God does not bring those things upon us. Those are natural reactions of this earth to what Adam did when he infected the earth with sin.

So it’s not your sin, my sin, the people’s sin of New Orleans that caused this hurricane because when you think about it, if God’s going to do that, then every city should be hit with disaster and tragedy. Why wasn’t Germany hit with tragedy and disaster when Hitler was committing so much sin and crimes against humanity? We have to realize we reap what we sow, but God is a God of mercy and not a God of punishment. The only punishment people will receive will be the punishment that comes from rejecting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That punishment will be spending eternity in hell.

Let me give you another chapter to read, in Luke 13:1-5. That’s where Jesus told the story of cities that had been destroyed by Pilate and where Pontius Pilate had mingled their blood and destroyed their city. He said, are they worse sinners than anybody else? Is that why this happened to them? He said no, that’s not why it happened to them. Unless you repent, if you don’t turn to Jesus, the same thing is going to happen to everybody who rejects Jesus Christ.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

My answer to them is a loving God offers the gospel of Jesus Christ to not only save people from sin, but to save people from hopelessness that comes from catastrophes like that. We have to turn the question around with people and say, “let’s look at how a loving God handles this and responds to this and what a loving God has to say about this. God wants you to know that it is not because you were bad that this happened, not because you sinned that this happened, not because he’s against you. There are natural disasters that happen in this earth. A loving God provides hope for eternal life and He provides a way of escape through the body of Christ and Christians giving and contributing and helping rescue these people. Look at the love of God that is being shown to all these people that are displaced from their homes and jobs. So many Christians are opening the doors of their churches and of their homes to receive all these people.” I think we need to focus on showing people that kind of loving.

And so, this is indirectly an act of Satan. It’s really an act of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had a perfect earth; they sinned and it disrupted the earth. Before Adam and Eve and man sinned in Genesis 5, the mist would come up out of the earth and water the earth. It never rained; there were no clouds in the sky, there was just a band of protection over the earth. But, Adam’s sin spun all the destruction and the catastrophes that are now in the earth into motion. Yes, you could say it was Satan, because he was the one that lured Adam and Even into the sin they committed. The reality is that it was Adam’s fault. It’s not our fault today. We don’t cause natural disasters and catastrophes. But, Adam’s sin did create that. Adam yielded his life to Satan. Satan was involved and Satan is still involved in trying to destroy people. “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy,” John 10:10.

Current Events » War

Question:

Answered on 04/07/06:

Rather, I think the position on war needs to be that every country has the obligation and duty to its citizens to protect the values and the sovereignty of their country in order to perpetuate the lifestyle and the values that country believes. In this case, America believes in freedom. America believes in being able to walk the streets of our nation without fear, without terror, without people being a threat to the everyday American citizen. And therefore, for that reason, we have to sometimes take the battle outside of our country to protect the sovereignty of our country inside our borders. And I think that’s really where the argument needs to be. And really even that argument is not totally convincing in the case of Iraq because in some way, Iraq is not a threat to us. Saddam Hussein is out of power. And now we’re just trying to clean up the mess, finish the business at hand so that we can hand over Iraq to the national government where they can protect and defend themselves. But the reality is that a Christian argument could be made that going to Iraq in the time and the conditions in which we went was not in the best interests of this nation and an argument could be made that it was in the best interest.

I don’t think that God is judging Saddam Hussein or Iraq or I don’t think that God is doing that through America. America is not the tool by which God brings judgment to the world. God will judge the world a whole lot more effectively and efficiently than using fickle America to judge the rest of the world, so I don’t think you could use that argument. I think instead, you just have to say, “America has a responsibility to protect the sovereignty of our nation and the to protect the citizens in our nation. And whatever the leaders in our country believe to be in the best interest of protecting those things, then that’s what we need to support. And we need to pray for those in authority that they’ll make the right decisions.

When Jesus talks about loving your enemies, He’s talking about those who are your enemies because of personal reasons; that somebody is an enemy of you because they’re personally mad at you for preaching the gospel or mad at you for taking a stand for righteousness. If you made an enemy because you’re obnoxious, if you made an enemy because you mishandled a situation, that’s not where they’re supposed to love you because He’s talking about us loving our enemies, people who mistreat us though we have done right and though we have done good. We love the people who persecute us and we love the people who have mistreated us for the sake of the gospel.

He’s not talking about if somebody came to my house to intrude into my house to harm my wife or children. That person is my enemy and I’m not to love them by turning the other cheek because that is not in the best interest of the gospel. What’s in the best interest is for me to be a steward of my responsibility and protect those who I’m responsible for. And therefore, I have to attack that intruder and not turn the other cheek. I’m going to turn the other cheek when I’m being persecuted for preaching the gospel, not when somebody is trying to harm the people I am responsible for.

So from a biblical perspective, Iraq and Saddam Hussein were not our enemy, but we were coming to the aid of others. He’s an enemy of the innocent and we’re helping to protect the innocent. And that’s what we started doing in the nation of Iraq.

Now, were there other motives? Were there other reasons? That’s not for me to be responsible to evaluate. But I know this, being of Iraqi descent, I’m happy for the Iraqi people who have the opportunity to be free and that the innocent people were protected and that somebody came to their aid. And throughout the Bible you see God coming to the aid of the innocent, the fatherless, the widows, those who cannot defend themselves. Throughout the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament, God sends people to protect the innocent. In that regard, I think that America acted as a Good Samaritan.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

But your question specifically is “are there times when God ordains war?” Well, yes, when it’s for the defense of people. In other words, we need to be able to defend ourselves. God had Israel go to war in the Bible when a nation was either attacking Israel or when God desired Israel to possess that particular land and so, there is a biblical precedence for war being biblical. However, that does not give us the right to just declare war on anybody and take possession of any land just because we want to take possession of it.

Was there biblical precedence for us to go into Iraq? Well, the precedence that we had was to free a people. Me, being a Iraqi, of Iraqi descent, I’m glad that America went in to free the Iraqi people, but I’m not necessarily in agreement with the way in which everything took place or the process in which everything took place. War is messy. Nobody is going to agree about everything. Viet Nam is an example of a war that we shouldn’t have been involved in because we didn’t go in there to win. We went in there for political reasons and I don’t see biblical precedence to go into a war just to participate. If you’re going to go into war, you should go to win.

But, having said that, there’s no exact Scripture that says, “here’s a case where war is okay and here’s a case where war is not.” But in Ecclesiastes chapter 3, He says, “there’s a time for war, and there’s a time for peace.” And so, yes, it’s biblical if everything is in order and if we’re going in for the right reasons for there to be war.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

Having said that, I believe that anointing in that office comes upon the person who is in that office. Now does that mean I believe everything he does is anointed and everything he does is right? Absolutely not. But, I believe he is doing the best he can to be led by God and led by principles of the Word of God. No politician has ever been fully led by God because he has so much pressure from outside influences. So, we need to pray for him. That’s what our role is; not to try and identify if he is good or is he not good, but to pray for him as the Scripture teaches in 1 Timothy 1 and 2.

As far as the war in Iraq, I believe it is God’s will for there to be freedom. Having my descendency from that part of the world and that country itself, I do believe it is good to set a country like that free. But I don’t believe the tactical way we have gone about it is necessarily the perfect way. We are in it and we need to finish it now, get the job done and get out of there. I believe history will show it was successful. History may show that there may have been other ways to bring about success in that situation, but history will show, I believe, it was successful to bring freedom to a country that was under tyranny.

Now, should we be going around all over the world doing that? No, but there were specific interests there that America had in order to do that. It is a global war against terrorism. I think that is proper and appropriate. Could we have gone against global terrorism with out going to Iraq? Yes, we could have still conducted a war against global terrorism without going to Iraq. We are in it now and we need to pray for our country, president, leaders and soldiers, get the victory and get out of there.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

The way to respond to what you’re talking about is the same way that we’re to respond, according to the book of Psalms, the same way we’ve always been supposed to respond and that is to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. That’s how we pray; pray for the peace of Jerusalem. It matters not to you as an American, it matters not to you as a Jewish believer, it matters not to you as a person, period, whether the Palestinians get the Gaza strip or whether they don’t because really, God is going to have his way in Israel. Our job is to pray for peace in Jerusalem. Our job is to preach the gospel and God is going to take care of the rest of those matters and the rest of that business. But the Bible clearly teaches us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and we should never stop praying for that. And we should always do what God’s Word says to do.

Remember, God’s Word is timeless, so no matter what’s going on in this world, we should not be praying in response to what’s going on in the world, we should be praying out of obedience to the Word of God and in accordance with what the Word of God tells us to pray for. And then, that will begin to make an impact on the things that happen in this world. Too often, Christians are looking at what happens in the world, and then praying accordingly. And no, we need to pray according to what the Scripture tells us to pray for and then what will happen is God will work through our prayers in this world and in this earth. Rather than us being reactionary, rather than us reacting, we need to be proactive and take it to the devil with our prayer, take it to the world with our prayer by praying what the Scripture tells us to pray for.

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

Current Events » General

Question:

Answered on 03/16/06:

Question:

You said a tree is known by its fruit. I want to know what kind of tree do you think America is?

Answered on 03/09/06:

I’m not saying that America did everything right. You know, I think there were some serious blights on our country that have hurt our country. One of them was slavery. One of them was taking the Bible out of the public school system. These are tragedies that have happened in our country, because they didn’t abide by the principles of the Word of God. But God did raise this country up to preach the gospel to the nations of the world, and 90-95% of all the money that goes to preaching the gospel around the world comes from America. That shows that that is good fruit. Now, is slavery good fruit? Absolutely not. Is abortion good fruit? Absolutely not. Are racism and crime good fruit? Absolutely not. But those are the fruits of not obeying the Bible. Those aren’t the fruits of obeying the Bible. The fruits of obeying the Bible are prosperity, abundance, blessing, wisdom, favor, the goodness and the power of God. So we have to redirect the people in our country back to God and back to following the Bible.

Every person has to be responsible to back up what they say. In other words, you might say, “I believe the Bible.” But are you tithing. You know? Are you holding unforgiveness toward somebody? In other words, we all have to be people who are accountable to honor what we say we believe. Our job is to forgive, even if they don’t change, it’s my responsibility to forgive because I can’t change people.