Pastor Easley,

A friend heard on the radio about your change of plans for your October 22, 2023 sermon and the title I heard was a concern. I tried to remain optimistic, but Sunday I downloaded the video and was outright disgusted. I am willing to engage you, your leadership, your congregation, or anyone on what was said. You stated “you believe God spoke the truth” but as I will document, you didn’t.

I started to write an article and use the Scripture in detail, not partial verses or misquotes that are used out of context. However, I felt an anger in me and gave consideration to Ephesians 4

Since I take the Bible seriously, which I honestly question if we share, I did not want to sin in my anger. However, having the habit of not just using the phrase but the context, I considered “speak the truth with his neighbor”. This is my attempt to do just that.

What I wrote Monday was getting too complex, so I took only the issue of what the Bible defines as a Jew and Israel and wrote an article just on that which was published today.

The article is online at: http://Kozlowski.org/2023-10-25+1 and duplicated below.

Please feel free to share it, but be warned, it uses the Scripture in depth.

You made several statements about the country of Israel and the Jews. Some of them are:

"Unprovoked attack on a peaceful nation"

"What have the Jews done to anyone ever?"

"What did the Jews do to Hitler?"

"What have the Jews done to Hamas or Hezbollah?"

“Our two nations share commonality when it comes to religion, democracy, freedom”

"In the words of these terrorists 'are wiped off the face of the earth'"

I politely suggest all these statement are bogus and come from naivety or from a Zionist shill.

We could go over each, but unless you are willing to engage me, or simply research for yourself, it would not be useful.

However, allow me to give you one quote from a Jewish source that is not unique:

‘The only way that we can get a peaceful resolution is if these people are annihilated because they are monsters and they are evil, and you cannot peacefully coexist on planet Earth with them’ - Senior contributing editor of Jewish News Service Caroline Glick comments on Israel-Hamas conflict.

Perhaps you are familiar with the concept of projection?

I did start to detail the issues with your five points, but stopped at the first two, again because of my disgust. I would be happy to seriously engage anyone on all of them. The first two are as follows:

1: “God loves Israel” Deu 7:6 – Jer 31:2-3

It is reading in a lot of meaning that is simply not there to use Deuteronomy 7:6 alone to claim the descendants of Abraham are all loved. Consider verse 4 stating “Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.” Then verse 9 states “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face.” The Lord is clear in He loves those who love Him, but is not stating in any way that if you are a descendant of Abraham you will automatically love Him. Remember Romans 9:8 “but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

Clipping out part of Jeremiah 31 misses the meaning of the passage. Verse 10 “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'” The “nations” or “gôy” or “ethnos” includes those who are not descendants of Abraham. It is the Lord who scattered and gathers. In other words, it is the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and He is gathering His elect.

Or verse 1 “At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.” Who are the clans or families? Are they the descendants of Abraham? What was the promise made to Abraham? Genesis 17:7 “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

We don’t have to guess what this means, as Galatians 3 makes it clear in verse 16 “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ.” Galatians makes it clear the promise is to Jesus specifically, not all the descendants of Abraham.

2: “God blesses those who bless Israel” Gen 12:3

When it is stated “bless Israel” and Genesis 12:3 is used, it is a direct misquote: Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you”. To state that being a blessing to the country of Israel will return as a blessing to us is Scripture twisting, which is a polite way to say it is a lie. So if you state that you believe God spoke the truth, then speak the truth about what God said!

Then it is stated that “our God is a promise keeping God”. What was the promise? Genesis 12:7 “Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land.” This is again what Galatians 3:18 refers to “but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.” Who again does verse 16 state is the offspring? The Lord Jesus Christ. The land of Canaan, the world and all of creation belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. After all, Colossians 1:16 states “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

Then there is the icing on the cake.

You mention 1933 and if the church had spoken up. You gave some details about the Barmen Declaration, that there were 18000 pastors, only 3000 in the Confessing Church, and 3000 submitted to Hitler, plus 12000 stayed silent. In general you got that right. However, have you ever read the Barmen Declaration? If you have you would have found the people it was challenging is you and has nothing to do with the country of Israel. What I find more than ironic is that on October 9th I did an article and video “Barmen Declaration viewed in 2023 - Where do you stand?” You can find it at http://kozlowski.org/2023-10-09, but it might be uncomfortable. It seems like you pointed to the documents to get weight to your stand, but like the Scripture you have used, it states the opposite to what you proclaim.

As someone who takes the Bible seriously, I read it in order to mature as a follower of Christ. In the process, a lot of what I have done in the past and believed has been refined. It is my hope you will take my words as an act of love, keeping in mind Proverbs 27:5 “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”

In my maturing I have taken some stands and willing to engage others on as an act of love to refine us both. As my other article states, I am not the reference, the Lord is. So I set the challenge before you or anyone else: Are you willing to have a public dialog with me or a formal debate on the thesis “The Bible is true and the institutional church is a fraud”? Do you believe what you do and where you stand are based on obedience to Christ and can demonstrate that publically? Do you see that my stand is far more consistent with the Barmen Declaration then yours?

Keep in mind I represent no institution, so I have no risk. My paycheck is not dependent on this, but is yours? The gauntlet is thrown down before you. Can you demonstrate to yourself, your congregation, and the Lord that what you do and the institution you lead is called for by the Lord? Please start by showing one verse where the Lord calls for the institutional church.

This is not light duty, but I hope you see somehow it is an act of love!

Respectfully,

John Kozlowski