Letter to President Bush from Jim Vineyard

I thought I did so. Could you rephrase it since I am apparently not understanding the question you want answered?

 

Meet me in the thread in say two seconds.

 

Sorry, you lost me on "Replacement Theology"!

 

My Replacement Theology

The Church exists in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and so is a distinctive New Testament reality [New Geneva Bible, page 1864]. However, as a people of the promised New Covenant [Jeremiah 31:31-33] which was instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ [Matthew 26:28, 1 Corinthians 11:25, Hebrews 8:6-13], who, as the incarnate God, is the promised seed of Abraham [Galatians 3:16] and the promised Messiah [John 4:25,26], there is a continuity with Spiritual Israel, God’s covenant people of the Old Testament. The predominant teaching of the Church since Pentecost is that God has only one people and that the New Testament Church is the Israel of God, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The Baptist Faith and Message adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta, Georgia on June 14, 2000 writes of the Church in Section VI as follows: “The New Testament speaks also of the Church as the Body of Christ which includes all the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.”

Scripture passages that teach that God has only one people are:

Galatians 3:29, KJV
29. And if ye [be] Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Romans 2:28,29, KJV
28. For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29. But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.

Colossians 2:11, KJV
11. In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

John P.Newport in The Lion and The Lamb [page 196] says of these passages:

“If believers are the true sons of Abraham, the true circumcision, then we must conclude that the Church is the true spiritual Israel, even though the word itself may not be used of the Church. This I believe to be confirmed by the expression, ‘the Israel of God’ in Galatians 6:16”

Galatians 6:16, KJV
16. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace [be] on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

Jesus Christ told the Jewish doubters in John 8:56: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw [it], and was glad.

The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the church at Galatia, wrote:

Galatians 3:8-9, KJV
8. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, [saying], In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

The 11th chapter of Hebrews tells us that the Old Testament Saints considered themselves strangers and pilgrims on earth and vividly portrays their longing to see that city whose builder and maker is God. That city is the the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn [Hebrews 12:22-24], and.the chaste virgin bride of Jesus Christ [2 Corinthians 11:2].

[Note: John P.Newport was a Historic Premillennialist and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at Southwestern Baptist Seminary when The Lion and the Lamb was published.]

 

I agree with this letter wholeheartedly.

I feel disappointed and that Bush has abandoned his Christian agenda. Some of the things that bother me the most are,

1. The Gaza pull out
2. Bush's unwillingness to state that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.
3. His lack of outrage over Frist's retreat on stem cells.
4. His lack of clear support for Israel against the Islamic terrorists in Palestine.
5. His unwillingness to stand up to fundamentalism in Saudi Arabia
6. The Roberts appointment... Roberts looks to me to be another Souter.

I think if we don't send Bush a strong message of being disappointed about some of these policies, we are going to continue to be taken advantage of. By him and future Republican presidents.

I wonder now if he's really a true Christian or whether that was an act to get us out to the polls. I would've not voted for Kerry in the last election (no way!).. but I maybe wouldn't have voted for Bush either if I had known what I know today.

Just curious if other people are starting to feel abandoned and disappointed in Bush

 

Just curious if other people are starting to feel abandoned and disappointed in Bush

Yes, but I don't question his salvation. I don't think he could have reformed himself from alcoholism without the help of the Holy Spirit. I think he is very misguided by unprincipled "advisors". It would be nice if we could remind him by gathering all of the evangelicals in D.C. for a day or two -- aren't there something like 40 million of us? That would shock the nation...

 

Unfortunately, most of us have to work - unlike some groups who hold protests. And, whatever this president does, right or wrong, is STILL better than John Kerry, according to some here, and no matter how liberal the Republican candidate in the next election will be, it will STILL be better than Hillary, according to some here. Probably most of 40 million (or so) Evangelicals don't even follow anything this Administration does - assuming that whatever he does is fine because he's, according to him, a born-again Christian.

 

I am disappointed over President Bush because of(for starters, at least):

- way to much federal spending
- federal budget deficit
- trade deficit
- unsecured borders
- outsourcing of U.S. jobs
- failure to promote a sound energy policy based on U.S. security concerns such as www.setamericafree.org/blueprint.pdf

 

I don't believe you, Ken.

 

I would still vote for George W. Bush over John Kerry.

 

I would still vote for Michael Peroutka over Skully and Bonesy.