From a certain Jack Minor at WND:
Democrats at their nominating convention in Charlotte, N.C., earlier this month removed any reference to God in their platform, and it took three votes to restore Him. Even then, delegates booed the action.
Seems the trickle-down theory must work, as a Democratic candidate for state office in Colorado worked to exclude a member of the clergy from moderating a local debate because his supporters were “uncomfortable” with a church leader asking questions.
“Just hours before the debate, the campaign manager for the Democratic incumbent told me I would not be doing the debate because they said supporters were uncomfortable with having a member of the clergy moderate it,” pastor Steve Grant of Destiny Christian Center told WND.
The debate took place in Weld County in Colorado’s House District 50, and was between Democrat incumbent Dave Young and Skip Carlson. Instead, a local newspaper editor was given the job; Grant complains:
“[Young] never called me personally to discuss the issue, instead saying he talked to other people who supposedly knew me to make his decision,” Grant explained. “When I called him, he told me there were people he had talked with who were uncomfortable with having a member of the clergy moderate a debate. He also said there was a conflict of interest because Carlson had suggested I moderate the debate.
“The campaign’s attitude shows utter contempt for the First Amendment. They deify journalists as being objective and impartial compared to clergy, who work with all types of people. The right to freedom of religion is clearly listed before the freedom of the press, showing what the founders considered to be more important.”
Minor – whose byline includes the detail that he “has been acknowledged for his research ability in several books” – doesn’t bother to tell us anything about Grant’s theology or teachings; we are expected to take at face value Grant’s claim to be “objective and impartial”, as well as Minor’s heavy implication that Young’s objection derives from a distaste for Christianity.
Perhaps it’s worth noting that one of two books heavily promoted on the church’s website suggests that Obama may be the the anti-Christ. The book, by Grant’s brother Stanley Grant, is entitled In Defense of a Nation, and includes the following (pages 105-106):
Verse 16 through verse 68 [of Deuteronomy] then detail the “curses which God will bring upon America as a result of it turning away from Him…
43 – The stranger that is within thee shall get up above the very high; and thou shalt come down very low
Progressives have hailed the election of Barack Obama as a national triumph. But according to God’s Word, it was a national tragedy. The stranger in Israel is the foreigner , and one without the birth certificate…. The verse certainly applied to both topics of illegal aliens in general, and a usurper in the Oval Office… His entire work would be to enslave the people of God…
Many get the feeling that America is but a stepping stone for Barack Obama’s ambitions. Is he THE “baraq o bamah” of scripture that usurps the throne in the Temple illegally? That remains to be seen…
I discussed the crank theory that Jesus named Satan as “baraq o bamah” here.
We can be confident that Steven Grant is at one with his brother’s view: both men are pastors at the same church, the church officially promotes the book, and the two men host a radio show, also called In Defense of a Nation. It’s true that the brothers don’t seem very keen on Republicans, either (“535 People Controlling America… Change Them All!”), but it’s clear from the above that Grant’s claim to impartially is absurd.
Steven Grant is also the author of an essay called “The Fourth Tea Party“:
Many American citizens treat the current “Tea Party Movement” as a recent innovation, or a novel idea that will disappear in the future. Others tie current thought patterns back to the Boston Tea Party that occurred in 1773. Actually, the thought patterns and mindset of the Tea Party movement finds its origins in a rebellion that occurred more than 3,000 years ago. Believe it or not, this movement was detailed in the Bible.
The “First Tea Party” was the revolt against Rehoboam, while the second was Jesus driving the money-lenders out of the temple:
I believe the current Tea Party movement is ordained by God. As you rise up with others to reclaim our nation, you too will have your place in history. It’s our turn now. Let’s go forward for God.
Grant describes himself as having “spent many years studying links between the United States and Bible Prophecy”; he also teaches that the House of Israel which rebelled against Rehoboam eventually “dispersed to the north and the west, settling in Western Europe”, thus meaning that the first European settlers in north America were “the descendents of the Israelite tribes”. This is not supported by historical evidence, and is suggestive of a fringe form of Christianity.
Incidentally, Jack Minor has not simply failed to research why Grant might be particularly controversial; he’s deliberately left information out of his article in order to mislead. Grant writes articles for a website called the Greeley Gazette, and he regularly calls on Grant to provide sound-bites.
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