BETWEEN THE LINES
DEFINITION OF IRONY? JIMMY CARTER THINKS JESUS FAILED
Exclusive: Joseph Farah critiques ex-president's recent Bible study
I was reading with interest a Religion News Service story about 92-year-old Jimmy Carter teaching a Bible study at Maranatha Baptist Church in his old hometown of Plains, Georgia.
I’m always interested in Bible studies. So, I was curious what the former president would have to say.
I know he doesn’t think much about Israel, which, the Bible tells us, is the apple of God’s eye (Deuteronomy 32:10 and Zechariah 2:8).
I know he’s beholden to oil sheikhs of Saudi Arabia for the peaceful and prosperous life he has led since leaving the White House.
I know he has drunk deeply of the “progressive” Kool-Aid since his deeply, embarrassingly failed presidency ended in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
And I know that he actually thinks his blundering presidency was actually successful.
So, to say the least, I really didn’t expect to learn much from the story.
Was I ever wrong!
To show you how out of touch with reality and the Bible Jimmy Carter is, according to this story, former President Malaise thinks, at least from one perspective, Jesus’ life was a failure.
The only other information we get from the story – which, to my knowledge, has not been repudiated by Carter –
is that the reason Jesus’ life was a failure was because, “His message was rejected by the religious authorities of his day and he was betrayed by disciples and crucified by the Romans.”
Excuse me for pointing out that Jesus’ very mission was to be “rejected by the religious authorities of his day, to be betrayed by some of his disciples and crucified by the Romans.”
That was the plan all along.
He knew it and willingly accepted His fate for expiating the sins of the world for those who would accept Him as Messiah, Lord, Son of God and Savior.
So, I am still left wondering how Jesus failed in any way, shape or form.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a man without merit, elevated to the presidency, who ran the country into the ground and humiliated himself after his presidency, would come to such a stunningly wrong conclusion about Jesus.
Something else struck me about this story.
Most of the Bible study wasn’t about Jesus. It wasn’t about God. It wasn’t really about the Bible. Instead, it was about Jimmy Carter.
It was about getting pictures with the 39th president.
It was about his anecdotes.
It was about his health.
It was about a plug for the socialized, “free of charge,” health-care system of Canada.
He was even publicly referred to by a church volunteer as “the other J.C.”
It was about his work at the Carter Center.
And, yes, it was even about his miserable presidency.
He concluded by saying that the acceptance of Jesus “is the key to a full and fruitful and happy and peaceful life.”
Actually, that was not a promise Jesus ever made. In fact, he warned following Him would lead to division between family members and persecution up to and including death.
In Luke 6:22, He said: “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.”
Jesus, in fact, came as a harbinger of what all the prophets from Creation forward pointed to – the ultimate restoration of the whole earth under His Kingship, the restitution of all things, as Peter called it, a Garden of Eden-style Earth under his wings.
But He did not promise following Him would lead to a full, fruitful, happy and peaceful existence before the Kingdom was restored.
Ahhh, but that Kingdom will be ruled by Jesus from Jerusalem. And you should know that Carter believes Jerusalem is not the eternal capital of Israel, but the unfairly occupied territory of his buddies – the Palestinian Muslims.
http://www.wnd.com/2017/08/definition-of-irony-jimmy-carter-thinks-jesus-failed/
My comments: I Pray that Carter's Ignorance is not Indicative of a general Ignorance within American Christianity.
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