PRESIDENT JAMES EARL CARTER JR., SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER PART III

 I have saved the worse for the last. The bulk of this, our last look at the former Sunday school teacher at a church in Plains, GA, is taken from Jewish sources concerning the attitude and actions of the former president concerning Israel and the Jews. 

From "The Jerusalem Post"

"The self-proclaimed champion of human rights, Carter was comfortable with Middle Eastern dictators like Sadat, Hafez al-Assad, and the shah of Iran, but endlessly critical of Israel’s democratically elected leaders, beginning with Menachem Begin.

"No sooner were the Camp David Accords signed in 1979 than Carter embarked on a 40-year smear campaign against Israel. Carter insisted that Israel was violating UN Resolution 242 by not withdrawing to the pre-Six Day War boundaries and failing to create a Palestinian state.

"From a mere misreading of 242, Carter descended into a dark obsession with Israel, casting it as the source of all Middle Eastern instability and a world-leading violator of human rights. His 2004 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, though based on half-truths and outright lies, effectively legitimized Israel’s delegitimization."

FROM "THE JEWISH PRESS"

"The story of Carter’s attitude towards Israel goes deeper. He was not simply a modern-day anti-Zionist—an ignorant idealogue who wrongly believed that Israeli counter-terrorism policies harmed the “human rights” of the Palestinian people. Carter was, in fact, a traditional, old-fashioned Christian antisemite. 

"We know this because his many post-presidential activities included teaching Sunday school. In 2007, Simon & Schuster released a 13-disc CD boxed set of recorded sermons that Carter gave at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Ga., called “Sunday Mornings in Plains.”

"The sermons contain a slew of chillingly pre-modern antisemitic prejudices. For example, he claimed that Judaism teaches Jews to feel superior to non-Jews, that Jewish religious practices are a sleazy “trick” to enhance personal wealth, and that current Israeli policy towards Palestinians is based upon these “Jewish” values and practices.

"In the sermons recorded between 1998 and 2003, Carter attacked Israel by retreading antisemitic tropes dating back to the gospels and patristic writings of the early church. These anti-Judaic beliefs were formulated not in the 1960s or 1970s but between the first and fifth centuries C.E., ensuring well over a millennium of institutional, lethal Christian antisemitism."

AND THIS FROM "THE TIMES OF ISRAEL"

"Carter, who cancelled a planned visit to Gaza on this trip, said Saturday he “deplored” criminal acts by members of Hamas, but said he was looking to support moderate members of the group, which he said wasn’t a terrorist organization."

Enough said.

 

PRESIDENT JAMES EARL CARTER JR. SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER PART II

 The saga of the Sunday School teacher in Plains, GA, doesn't end with his favorite song, "Imagine." No, the story sours as it goes along. Had James E. Carter not been the 39th president of the United States, one might wonder in what Bible-believing church would he have been allowed to get near a Sunday school lectern. His song preference was bad enough but he had such serious doctrinal issues that he would have been considered a heretic. Let's examine a few:

1. President Carter, the president from 1977-1981, gave his stamp of approval early on for same sex marriage  (which biblically is no marriage at all). He "justified" his belief, saying, "Jesus would approve if the love was honest and sincere." One might wonder if he ever heard or read Matthew 19:4-6? For the biblicist, God defines marriage, not James Earle Carter Jr. nor the Supreme Court.

2. When abortion became an issue, Carter was not silent about his belief: "I'm personally against it but I'm not in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. What? That would be like saying, "I'm personally against slavery but if you want to own a slave, that's OK." Or, "I'm personally against murder but if you want to kill someone, I have no problem with that." 

3. Regarding Genesis 1-2, the Sunday school teacher believed it to be an allegorical account, not a literal, historical one. 

4. In a recorded interview, the former president said that it was not necessary to trust Christ to go to heaven because He was not the only way. (Jesus disagreed with that statement in John 14:6)

The saga of the Sunday teacher will continue next week with an examination of Carter's attitude toward Israel and the Jews.

PRESIDENT JAMES EARL CARTER JR. SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER

 Former President Carter was famous, after his one term in office, for building homes and being a Baptist Sunday School teacher. But now, one wonders what he was teaching his class. 

It has now come to light that his favorite song was "Imagine" by John Lennon, a song described as the "atheists' anthem,” and a "humanistic Marxist Hymn." Its lines are antithetical to the most basic of biblical teachings:

"Imagine there’s no heaven

It’s easy if you try.

No hell below us

Above us, only sky."

Then there are these lines which would make Karl Marx smile:

“Imagine no possessions… no need for greed or hunger”, “no religion”, and “imagine there’s no countries."

Heaven, gone. Hell, gone. Private property, gone. Nations, gone. It is said that "Imagine" is sung as often as the National Anthem. One reporter described the song as "a radical challenge to militarism, nationalism, capitalism."

A duet sang "Imagine" at the former president's funeral service. Who chose that song? The former president did, specifying his desire in his instructions concerning the service. The performance was not a one and done; he chose it for his wife's service in 2023. One reporter wrote, "The rendition received a standing ovation, a powerful moment that underscored the emotional depth of the service and the enduring impact of Carter's vision for global harmony."

A standing ovation for the atheists' national anthem? A standing ovation for a Marxist melody? There were five U. S. former presidents and their wives in front and center seating among the assembled. Did all five stand and applaud? Then there were the assembled government leaders past and present, Democrat and Republican, all standing and applauding.

Carter was a globalist; no wonder he liked the song. He declared that world peace would only come about when the decisions of the U.N. Security Council were strictly enforced. We see his globalist dream in his description of himself as “a citizen of a troubled world” and he said his hope was for an “international community” that would “negotiate global standards” to achieve global peace. The global standards? I John 5:19 describes the origin of "global standards." 

As a secondary note, the National Cathedral is of the Episcopal persuasion, the song was prearranged and included in the program. The "church" leaders knew of its inclusion well in advance, yet they made no objections.

 President Carter didn't live long enough to see his dreams come true. Those perverted dreams will be fulfilled under the one world rule of the Man of Sin, the antichrist. So, in one sense, we could say that a Baptist Sunday school teacher spent his life and career longing for the coming of the antichrist. 

 

THIS IS INAPPROPRIATE!

 A police officer stands before the press and the people. The network television cameras from CBS, NBC, ABC are running; they are on the scene. There has been a school shooting leaving panic and grief in its wake. First responders are carrying out one body after another, They also carry wounded students and teachers from the building and put them into ambulances. Mothers are crying. Fathers stand stunned. We hear them say things like, "This wasn't supposed to happen here!" 

The school board will cancel all classes tomorrow. Grief counselors will attend next Monday when classes resume. The words, "Thoughts and prayers" flow freely. A church is spreading the news of a candlelight vigil tomorrow night at 7 PM in the church parking lot.

The police officer in a very authoritative voice begins to speak to the shocked and grieving mass of people and press huddled and hugging one another. 

His first words, after a brief update of the number of dead and injured, are those concerning the perpetrator who killed and wounded all those people. That would be a difficult task for anyone but he does it. It's his job to face parents and press. His feelings don't count.

Then he says, "This is unacceptable!" It's those word that strike a hollow cord. "This must stop?" Really? Does he himself believe, really believe, that what he just said is going to make anyone else gain the sense to know that it's wrong to go around school halls, libraries, and cafeterias shooting teachers and students?

The truth is that nobody thinks policeman's command will stop the next one or the one after that or the one after that from happening. The truth is: "The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" The truth continues from Jeremiah who wrote: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil."

In Jeremiah's day, there came a point where Israel swam down the River of No Return. The society had passed the point where a change of mind was impossible because of their persistence in rebellion against God.

 The Israelites were so saturated in evil that it was impossible for them to change. They could no more change then than the dark Ethiopian could change the color of his skin or the leopard his spots. This a classic example of loss of freedom of the will through persistent sinning. Sin becomes so natural that Jeremiah is speaking of the force of habit, yet not denying freedom of choice they once had until they sinned it away.

The story is told of a Christian back in the days of the Roman gladiators fighting to the death in the Colosseum. He denounced it fully. But one day, he decided to go the arena only to get the experience of what it was like among the frenzied fans, getting on the inside.

He went but he kept his eyes closed and soaked in the emotional atmosphere. He left exhilarated and came back the next day. As he sat down, he kept one eye open. Returning the next day, he kept both eyes wide open and shouted with the thousands. 

Psalm 1:1: "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!