Volume 19 Issue 5 - May 2004 RIOT IN RIFLE “But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.” (Acts 17:5-7) In C. S. Lewis’ classic series, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” the brilliant author presents our Lord Jesus Christ as Aslan the mighty Lion. In one scene, Lucy, a young girl, has wandered for a long time in this new world of Narnia and becomes parched with thirst. To her relief, she beholds a crystal clear river that promises to quench her dehydrated throat. Suddenly, at the river of living water, she comes face to face with the mighty Aslan. Torn between her raging thirst and the dreaded sight of Aslan she pleads for Him to go away, so that she might drink of the this life-giving water in safety. Aslan refuses her request and tells her that He will not go away. She then tries to negotiate with Him and demand that He not gobble her up. Aslan with a roar simply tells her that He will not make any such promise. In fact, He informs her that He has gobbled up many a nation and civilizations in times past. In a huff, Lucy attempts to storm off in search of another river. At which point, Aslan solemnly warns her that there is no other river. C. S. Lewis through this fictional series attempted to demonstrate that Aslan (the Lord Jesus Christ) was not and is not a tame lion. When He roars, the nations tremble. When He judges the thrones of men, they are dispossessed. He sets up kingdoms and He knocks them down. He raises up the poor and needy from the dung heap and causes them to reign in life and sends the rich away empty handed. He kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up (1 Samuel 2:6). He forms the light, and creates darkness. He makes peace, and creates calamity. Yes, it is the Lord that does all these things (Isaiah 45:7). And though the Lion of the Tribe of Judah is most certainly loving, compassionate, patient, and longsuffering, He will not always strive with individuals and nations. God’s Spirit can grieve to the point of anger and release great wrath upon the sons of men. As we continue our Walk Across America Prophetic Tour, we are, through this living parable, crying out God’s plea and warning to our nation. America must know that our Lord is not a tame lion and that His patience with our idolatry, perversions, and bloodshed in the womb is not infinite. Regardless of how much the Church in America tries to remove His claws, fangs, and turn Him into a stuffed cuddly lion for our spiritual amusement, the true Lion of the Bible will not allow this mischaracterization of Him to persist forever. The response to our message has covered the spectrum. There have been a couple of death threats, one man spit at Flip, Shekinah was hit with a cup of soda thrown from a passing vehicle, we were mooned, three of us were arrested and let go, one man fell down on a public sidewalk and cried out to God, we have led several to the Lord, we have challenged the churches, and have prayed for many. Thus far we have handed out close to 4000 set of tracts. Plus the media in the smaller towns and cities have been taking our picture and interviewing us along the way. This has increased our platform and helped to multiply the Lord’s message to the masses. There is one recent incident on the march that dramatically revealed the wretched state of affairs in the USA. The town is called Rifle, CO. We had walked down Interstate 70 going east through Colorado. We exited in Rifle, turned left, and started to walk down the main street. Over to our right, we noticed a group of about 50 Middle School aged children apparently on a field trip. They saw the horse, donkey, and the entire procession and their interest in the curious sight was aroused. Flip led our team over to say hello and to explain the living parable to the children. He lovingly shared about the broken set of the Ten Commandments, the baby casket, the horse called Judgment, and as he began to speak of our donkey named Mercy, he asked them one question. The question was simply this, “What animal did Jesus ride when He came to Jerusalem?” As soon as he mentioned the name of Jesus, the 3 teachers there acted as if we were a terrorist organization that was threatening to blow the children up. They freaked out. As they tried to shield the children from the Gospel, Flip asked the group, “How many of you love the Lord Jesus Christ?” About a third of the children raised their hands and declared their love for the Savior publicly. Suddenly, a rather large man appeared and attempted to stop the public witness. He told us to move on and we refused stating that this was a public sidewalk and we were in a public forum. He then cursed in front of the children and ran over to Flip in a threatening manner. To his astonishment, Flip didn’t flinch. He told Flip not to make him violent. Flip responded by stating the obvious, we were not making him violent, but his own evil heart had made him violent. At that, he stepped back on the sidewalk to call the police on us. Curtis Fenison approached him and gently rebuked him for his wickedness of seeking to rob the children of God’s love and concern for them. The man thrusted his rather large tummy at Curtis and slammed him into a car. He assaulted him. At this point, I addressed the children and shared with them that this is what men do who do not possess the love of Christ. They become mean bullies. The man came over to me outraged that I would dare say such a thing. Thankfully, (or so we thought) the police arrived to quell the growing confrontation. The two officers took statements from the teachers, the violent man, and us. The Sergeant’s assessment went something like this. Though the man cussed in front of the children, threatened us, and assaulted Curtis, his words and actions are protected by the Constitution of the United States. He went on to express that the State owned the children and while the children are in the care of teachers, we were not allowed to say anything to the children if the teacher doesn’t want them to hear it. We were the ones that violated the Constitution, even though it was a public sidewalk and we were in a public forum. After the Sergeant explained his distorted version of the Constitution, he asked Flip what it would take to resolve this situation. Flip responded by stating that if the man who assaulted Curtis would simply apologize, we would graciously receive it and move on. We would not press charges. At first, he was willing to ask the man and then changed his mind. He did however apologize for the city of Rifle. What takes place after this incident is beyond belief. After being detained for about an hour, we pressed on to walk through the rest of Rifle. We started up Main Street and brother Curtis blew the shofar. Unbeknownst to us, the same teachers and students were about three blocks ahead of us eating lunch at a gazebo across the street from their Middle School. Suddenly, we notice these children running in terror across the street right in the midst of traffic. The teachers in their mad zeal to protect the children from the truth of the Gospel and the love of a Savior demanded the children run across the street to find refuge in their humanistic temple. Cars were slamming on their brakes and there was not a single soul directing traffic to ensure the safety of these poor, misguided children being led astray by this corrupt, anti-Christ system. The scene was shocking. We were stunned. Flip rebuked the teachers for endangering the children. The teacher told Flip in no uncertain terms that the kids were running from him. Since this riot in Rifle, to deflect their incredible folly, the adults in charge decided to check our website and concluded that we were a Christian terrorist organization that shoots abortionists and blows up abortion mills. Next week in their local paper this will be the story to sanitize their irresponsibility. They that have turned the world upside down came to Rifle, Co. Reminiscent of the New Testament account in Acts 17:5-7; the city of Rifle is in an uproar. Through this account modern American Christianity must be reminded that everywhere the early church went the sign that the Gospel hit its mark was revival or riots, Christ or chaos. The people either beat their breasts and cried, “What must we do to be saved” or “Kill the Christians.” This is our heritage and legacy and all those who live godly will experience these reactions (2 Timothy 3:12). Brothers and sisters, we must take ownership for this wretched state of affairs in America. To a large degree, our silence and inactivity has created the incredible aversion to the public witness of the Gospel. Our silent consent has enabled the enemies of the cross and the powers of darkness to savage our nation. It is under our new and improved seeker-friendly brand of American Christianity that evil has flourished and prospered. Brethren this ought not to be. Everything, no matter how perverse is out of the closet in America and is parading its sin like Sodom (Isaiah 3:9). The Church, however, seems content to be forced into the closet as long as we still have the freedom to sing songs to Jesus in the safety of our church buildings. The salt must come out of the shaker and the light of the world out from under the bushel. We must work to preserve and protect our nation from the prospect of the harsh judgments of God already threatening and overdue. We must give God a reason to show mercy in Jesus’ Holy Name! WACO UPDATE, Pastor Ronnie Holmes
RACHEL’S PARK TESTIMONY, Pastor Ronnie Holmes
Rusty, Liz, and the Thomas Nation P.O. Box 3126, Waco, TX 76707 Voice: (254) 836-1037 Fax: (254) 836-4092 Cell: (254) 715-3134 E-mail: elijahmin@ifriendly.com
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