Restoring Jesus in Ohio

A letter in the Plains Dealer:

“To the Editor:

A member of my church gave to me a copy of the Ohio Restoration Project.
This project is led by so-called Christians who have a plan for Ohio.
The project will target 2,000 pastors throughout the state to become
“patriot pastors.� These patriot pastors will be briefed on a specific
political agenda and asked to submit names of their parishioners in
order to increase a database to 300,000 names. These pastors will be
asked to place voter guides in their church pews.

Ken
Blackwell, Ohio’s secretary of state and a governor hopeful, is named
throughout the document. Blackwell will be featured on 30-second radio
ads promoting this group’s agenda and supporting the “Ohio for Jesus�
rally set for the spring of 2006. At the end of the document are the
words, “America has a mission to share a living savior with a dying
world.�

This is not America’s mission. This is frightening,
diabolical stuff for non-Christians and Christians alike. It is
blasphemous to claim that any earthly kingdom is God’s kingdom. The
theological foundations of this movement are vacuous. They are set on
the sands of opportunism, self-righteousness and greed.

It is
time for the citizens of Ohio to wake up. This group and those like it
will stop at nothing in making America a theocracy shaped by one very
limited interpretation of scripture.

The media must
investigate and show this movement for what it is. Courageous preachers
must help their congregations understand what is at stake. Silence is
not an option.

The Rev. Dr. John Lentz, Cleveland Heights. Lentz is pastor of Forest Hill Presbyterian Church.

(Source)

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Author: Rob Goodspeed