Adventist Representative Bows to the Rev. Moon

By Alexander Carpenter

Here's a little moral dilemma for your Sabbath pondering.

Say you're an Adventist and the Congressional Representative from the 6th district of Maryland.

Several of your fellow Republicans invite you to help them crown the Rev. Sun Myung Moon the King of Peace. Oh, besides running the Unification church, Moon's also a billionaire and funding a big push to have churches take out the cross and replace it with a crown.

Do you go along or not?

If you're an Adventist and your name is Roscoe Bartlett, apparently you say :"yes, how low can I genuflect?"

Watch the Moonie propaganda video. Roscoe Bartlett is announced about 7:20 into the clip.

A political watch group says that the Bartlett camp changed their story about the event.

The non-partisan congressional paper The Hill reported that the event was for Moon to declare himself humanity’s “savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parent.”

Not to sound all traditionalist here at the Spectrum Blog, but aren't Adventists supposed to steer clear of false messiahs -  not hand them their robes?

What's going on here?

Comments

[Jonathan Scriven]

Those of us who know Roscoe aren't at all surprised by this. Although he is a Columbia Union College grad and a member of the Frederick SDA church, most Adventists in the DC area don't go out of their way to remind the general public that he is an Adventist.

[mb]

Moon has spent more than anyone funding the nation's lurch right and theocratic.

Some of that can be found here.

[Ron Corson]

It is such a sweet video. How all these people are just so working on peace and how the UN is to be taken over by Religious leaders (who I am sure will be even more successful then the current blowhards there). Though I had never known before that Moon took the lead in ending the Cold War. It all goes to show that blather about peace and truth will draw in many of the most unquestioning of people. Of course these symbols do nothing for peace and they offer no truth but they can affect those easily emotionally manipulated.(similar to those who sign on to petitions to stop the US from torturing people...yea that's right lets petition the least cruel nation cause no one else will listen to us!)

Oh yes and we can also see from this that if you give a party in Washington DC and give Peace metals to people lots of people will come and accept them even when the country is at war. Government representatives, don't you just love em.

[Glenn G Reynolds]

I am sure that neither Congressman Bartlett, nor most of the other attendees, were really complicit with "Rev" Moon's antics. They were interested in following where his spurious cult of Religion was taking him and his influence upon our government and country life. Remember what Rudyard Kipling said: ..." If you can trust your self, when all men doubt you...or being lied about, don't deal in lies..." or the scripture, which says, "judge not lest ye be judged". We all need to be observers some time without being painted with the values of those we are observing.

Glenn Reynolds

[Alexander]

Well, one can conjecture, but Bartlett's camp states that he came not to observe, but to accept an award from the Rev. Moon's foundation.

Members of Congress send underlings to observe - the Reps show up for political gain.

Actually yes, let us judge: How much does one observe while bowing and offering a robe to a man declaring himself the messiah?

I believe that the "judge not" has to do with the soul, not actions as an elected Christian official.

[mb]

There seems to be some rationalization going on here, I must ask why?

Please note a few things.

For ANY politician to not be aware of Moon, his beliefs and goals is really impossible to believe. The time for observing went out the window with the congressional investigation of his group done in 70s.

Keep in mind that when one lends their name to Moon, in any manner, you leave your credibility open to be abused by this deceptive organization from then on. Danny Davis broke off from the group two years ago and I saw them still telling people he was co-chair of one of Moon’s fronts as late as last January.

I invite you to listen to some audio of Michael Jenkins – he’s head of Moon’s organization in the USA – I say “organization” because it is not a "church", imo, it is political organization designed to gain control of the direction of world events for Moon and his followers. That is all it does. Moon not only believes he is here to save the world, fulfill Jesus’ failed mission, and save God from suffering, he says he is better than God. That means he interprets God’s desires, will.

You should find an audio link here with a small download file:

John Gorenfeld Says:
February 17th, 2006 at 11:14 am

It is Jenkins two days before the crowning event. He is talking to the organization in New York.

Listen to what he says. Now, I know Danny Davis, who carried Mrs. Moon’s crown (Bartlett carried her robes), says that Jesus is his “guy.” I doubt Roscoe would agree with what Jenkins says here either, however the point here is that any congressman who has been around the last 25 years should be well aware of who Moon is, there shouldn’t be any “observing” left to do. What this allowed Moon to do was keep a bigger hook on the minds of his followers, tell them Danny and Roscoe believe Moon is the Messiah. This is what the Moon organization does, it deceives.

Bartlett claims he was just helping an old man and he was there because of the Washington Times. Make no mistake; the Washington Times is Moon’s tool to manipulate our political climate. Moon brags about using it to “influence” the nation. His goal was to drive the nation right and he and his operatives have let it be known that part of his chores as the “Messiah” was to raise up the Christian “right” for power in America. He did that by funding people like LaHaye, Falwell, Viguerie and creating front groups like the American Freedom Coalition. The head of the AFC, Robert Grant, who Moon has called one of his “three musketeers,” said the AFC was designed to bring the Christian “right” together for political power. In its day, it was one of the two most powerful conservative organizations in the country.

Bartlett can blow all the smoke he wishes but what he was doing there was honoring Moon’s efforts on behalf of the Republican Party, and he got caught up in the Moon shuffle. The WT bought Moon a congressman to be in that place at that time. Roscoe got what he deserved – except that few are aware of any of this. It took Gorenfeld posting the video to the net to get any mainstream media coverage and that was TWO months after the event. The mainstream media has been grossly negligent in not reporting the influence Moon has had on our country’s political direction.

I do find it odd that you will hear conservatives go nuts because George Soros, a U.S. citizen, spent some $25 million in one election cycle on liberal causes when Moon has spent billions on the conservative movement, molding it, guiding it, propping it up – and playing a major role in bringing it into control of our government.

Many people like to laugh at Moon or act like he is of no count or that he needs to be “observed”, I guess, well you had two congressman carrying he and his co-messiah wife’s robes and crown while bowing to him..

What do see here:

By the mid-1980s, Moon’s Unification Church had carved out a niche as an acceptable part of the American right. In one speech to his followers, Moon boasted that “without knowing it, even President Reagan is being guided by Father (Moon).” Yet, Moon also made clear that his longer-range goal was the destruction of the U.S. Constitution and America’s democratic form of government. “History will make the position of Reverend Moon clear, and his enemies, the American population and government will bow down to him.” Moon said, speaking of himself in the third person. “That is Father’s tactic, the natural subjugation of the American government and population.”

Thanks to decades of the conservative movement and the Christian right in America “observing,” accepting, working with, and honoring Moon, he is now doing his “thing” on black minsters and countries all over the world with his personal United Nations, the Universal Peace Federation. Conservatives and the “Christian” right have been his tools to push our nation to an ever darker place and now he is bartering that “face” working on the planet.

People can make excuses and dance around that all they want, but if they look they will see that it is true.

Check out the Bush Family Album

[nancyj]

Bartlett seems to have forgotten the 2nd commandment. Moon claims to be God. No one should bow to him, even in respect for whatever position he thinks he holds. Bartlett should lose his church membership or, at the very least, face severe church discipline. We have serious problems in our country, many of which are tied to Moon, and we don't need in any way to aid and abet him in his work to gain power and control.

[Michael]

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a church that gets into the business of punishing its members. Even if it's mild.

[nancyj]

Michael, you may not be, but when you belong to an organization, you agree to live by certain standards. Defy those standards and you should no longer be able to identify yourself as a member of that organization. Should you be able to be a practicing Christian and deny Christ? Something's wrong with that picture.

Actually, the best thing Bartlett could do is say, "I no longer choose to live by the tenents of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, so I'm withdrawing."

As a church, do Adventists want to permit murder or theft among its members? So why blasphemy? Or bowing to another god? The church has the right to uphold its standards--bearing in mind that the Bible gives the process for dealing with open disregard of God's law, the purpose being to bring the person back into full fellowship with God, something that doesn't happen when other members turn a blind eye to the sin or excuse it in some way.

[Michael]

Bartlett should lose his church membership or, at the very least, face severe church discipline.

You name two possibilities. I take it from this that "severe discipline" is different from forcing withdrawal.

Of the first action you suggest I wonder if Mr Bartlett would simply lose his right to claim he is a member or if he will be kicked out of any SDA church building he enters. Will any tithe envelopes he submits be returned unopened?

In truth I can only conceive of dis-fellowship as a request on the part of the church for clarification of intent. If a member "in the books" such as Bartlett has asked for and accepted a public voice I believe the church organisation has every right to ask him to publicly address the apparent incompatibility of his values and beliefs in various contexts.

The church even has the right to publicly clarify its own tenets and address the question of church identity without asking a thing of Bartlett. This voice can come from an official statement or it can issue from any member who wishes to represent the church as she sees it.

Few who reject the church will fight to claim membership. When one who defies the church persists in claiming allegiance there is little the church can do. You ask if someone "should be able to be a practicing Christian and deny Christ." By "practicing" I can only assume you mean a self-proclaimed member of a Christian church. As I define Christianity its practice is not even possible concurrently with the denial of Christ.

Indeed -- one can claim membership and still speak against the church. You ask if this individual should be "able" to do so. I say yes. The person who for some hard to understand reason does persever in contradiction has every right to do so. Claiming the ability to remove that right is folly. No church or state or individual has even the power to change another's right of self-contradicting expression.

Does the church have a right to defend its image? To that as well I say yes. And how should it do so? Should it resort to litigation? Should it belittle and attack the character of the rebel? I refer back to my earlier comments regarding the church's voice and its many sources.

This brings me to your second suggestion: severe discipline. What exactly should the church do severely? Does the church have any right to exact a penalty? When the church becomes aware of such crimes as "murder or theft" does it assume prosecutorial authority? No. And it is not merely because the state is already taking care of it -- for then would not the church become liable for any execution of justice on which it disagreed with the state? There certainly have been churches and states that shared this power. I need not make the argument against this arrangement. I believe it's clear.

Nor should the church take any official punitive action against blasphemy because not only would the proof of this sin be hard to find, but the sin is its own consequence. One who chooses separation from G-d gets it. A fine or a slap on the wrist or a 'B' emblazoned on the lapel is pointless. And so I find myself still wondering exactly what severe action is possible.

If the church wants to defend its image it can speak lovingly and ask for cooperation. It would do well not to adopt the role of avenger.