SOUTHERN BAPTIST "WRASTLIN": ED YOUNG TO PREACH PRO-WRESTLING SERMON SERIES FEATURING "WWE'S" THE "UNDERTAKER", RIC FLAIR

Controversial Fellowship Church in Grapevine outdoes itself with latest stunt

BY TERESA GUBBINS

QUOTE FROM: http://dallas.culturemap.com/news/city-life/09-06-18-fellowship-church-ed-young-wrestling/:

"A Grapevine megachurch known for outrageous stunts is outdoing itself with a new venture that involves wrestlers.

Fellowship Church, whose prior exploits have included such questionable bookings as caged lions and Oliver North, is launching a new series called "Wrastlin'." What a fun name for what is undoubtedly a deeply spiritual enterprise.

Fellowship Church pastor Ed Young says he grew up watching wrestling — which, not unlike some megachurches, is an entirely fake thing.

"Why wrestling? Because wrestling is all about entertainment!" Young says in a release that brims over with enthusiastic exclamation points. "I grew up loving it, and enjoying the entertainment of it. The church is in the entertainment business! People think that's bad, but it's good. We should entertain like no one else!"

Jesus himself was an entertainer, says Young. Forget that whole savior schtick.

"The word 'entertainment' simply means 'to capture and hold someone's attention for an extended period of time,'" he says. "That's what Jesus did, and that's what we're doing. Wrestling is one of the most used metaphors in the Christian life.""

Wrastlin: Part 1 - The Battle of the Brothers 

Ed Young & SPECIAL GUEST Sting

ED YOUNG: "Every day, whether we realize it or not, we are all facing a fight. We’re thrust into the ring and forced to engage in a wrestling match we cannot avoid. The great news is that we do not have to fight alone. In this message, Pastor Ed Young begins to look at the life of one of the most prominent fighters in all of Scripture, the Old Testament patriarch Jacob. And as we unpack Jacob’s battles with his own brother, we discover that victory in our lives has more to do with our trust in God

than it does our ability to fight."

SEE: https://fellowshipchurch.com/wrastlin

ED YOUNG TO PREACH PRO-WRESTLING SERMON SERIES FEATURING 

"WWE'S" THE "UNDERTAKER", RIC FLAIR

BY Michael Gryboski 

SEE: https://www.christianpost.com/news/ed-young-preach-pro-wrestling-sermon-series-wwe-undertaker-ric-flair-sting-ted-dibiase-227111/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

(PHOTO: COURTESY ED YOUNG)Ed Young, senior pastor of Fellowship Church of Grapevine, Texas (Left) and Mark Calaway, a World Wrestling Entertainment superstar commonly known by his stage name The Undertaker (Right).

Texas megachurch pastor Ed Young is going to have a professional wrestling themed sermon series in which he will interview notable wrestlers like The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Sting, and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase.

The senior pastor of Fellowship Church, a multi-site congregation based in Grapevine, Texas, recently announced that the four-week series will begin on Sunday, Sept. 9.

In a Thursday interview with The Christian Post, Young explained that he had considered centering a sermon series on wrestling for years given how often it appears in the Bible.

"One of the most used metaphors in scripture regarding the Christian life is that of a wrestler," said Young, citing as examples Ephesians 6:12 and Jacob wrestling with an angel, as described in Genesis 32:22-32.

"It's a staple in our culture so I thought wouldn't it be cool to interview some of the most popular wrestlers in the world, to have them at Fellowship, and then to speak out of the scripture regarding wrestling?" Young said.

Each of the four pro-wrestlers will be interviewed, with three of the interviews being live and a fourth being prerecorded. Young declined to comment which wrestler would have the taped interview.

Fellowship Church's main worship stage will also have a wrestling ring constructed on it, with one section opened up for the congregation to better see him and his interviewee.

Young explained that this was his way of using "word pictures" and enforcing the metaphor of wrestling with God, which he said would be the key theme of his sermon series.

"The whole series is wrestling with God and it's a match that everyone needs to lose," said Young, noting that he did not consider the series to be "Christianity 101."

"It's really probably Christianity 401. But we're using 101 techniques, a big overarching picture everyone can connect with."

The Big Four

The four pro-wrestlers Young will interview for his sermon series are notable names in the professional wrestling industry, both in World Wrestling Entertainment and other companies.

Flair, Sting, and DiBiase are all in the WWE Hall of Fame and many speculate that the Undertaker will eventually be inducted in the near future.

Young told CP that his church was able to get such famous pro-wrestlers for the series because they "just worked our rears off to do it."

"We called and called and called," said Young, "we're friends with one of the wrestlers who knows all these guys and he was able to put us in contact with these wrestlers."

What also helped, explained Young, was that another professional wrestler he declined to name was friends with a pastor friend of his, which helped Fellowship connect to the notable wrestlers.

Trading the Gospel for Entertainment?

Some have criticized Young for the focus on pro-wrestling. When the senior pastor announced the sermon series on Twitter, some were quick to denounce the idea.

"Trading the Gospel for entertainment. This is a true picture of the seeker sensitive garbage that's infiltrating our communities. Foolishness to the max," tweeted one critic.

For his part, Young told CP that he seeks to "teach the way Jesus taught," pointing out that with his parables Jesus "used word pictures," as "most of what He said were stories, things that the culture could connect with."

"We're a Bible-teaching church, but we try to teach, to communicate the way Jesus communicated, which would be using word pictures and illustrations that our culture can identify with and then obviously explaining from scripture the deeper meanings behind these metaphors," replied Young.

________________________________________________________

Every Man Has His Price: Fellowship Church and Wrasslin’

BY SETH DUNN

SEE: https://pulpitandpen.org/2018/09/03/every-man-has-his-price-fellowship-church-and-wrasslin/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

Over at his blog, Tim Challies has an interesting piece about the folly of the attractional church model mega-pastor Ed Young consistently uses to fill Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas.  This month, Young’s attractional strategy is manifesting in the form of WWE Superstars Rick Flair, Sting, the Undertaker, and Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.  His “Wrastlin” series is previewed in the video below:

Three of these men are WWE hall-of-famers and all have proven for decades that they can draw a crowd (or “draw money” to use a wrestling term).  Two of them have been outspoken about their Christian faith.  This is a fact not mentioned by Challies, whom I doubt knows much about pro wrestling and its celebrities.  I, however, came of age during the Monday Night Wars, so I thought I’d make mention of some important details that Challies left out.

First, pro wrestling is a great metaphor for the Christian religion.  In pro wrestling, the action feels spontaneous but in reality, the outcome is predetermined by the owner of the promotion; the winners and losers are picked out long before the wrestlers ever face off in the squared circle.  If that doesn’t scream Divine election, reprobation, and predestination then I don’t know what does.  I doubt Ed Young and his headliners will make mention of such a theological concern, however. Young’s event is clearly a money grab.  Why else would anyone bring in main event talent like the iconic Sting and Flair?

Second, Ted Dibiase should be held in contempt by the Christian community along with Ed Young.  Unlike the other wrestlers Young is bringing in, Dibiase is actually an active evangelist who regularly preaches through the organization he founded, Heart of David Ministry.  Sting (real name Steve Borden) is also a professed Christian, and it should be noted that he did not perform in WWE until the McMahons (its owners) cleaned up their Attitude Era act.  Not much is known about the personal life of the Undertaker (real name Mark Calaway), he rarely breaks character and did not even do so for Young’s preview video.  Ric Flair would bust Hell wide open if he died.  Flair has basically lived the life of his “Nature Boy” wrestling character, a profligate free-spending playboy.  Flair is famously hard-up for cash and would likely appear anywhere for a payday.  That a purported Christian minister like Dibiase would headline a church with a man who is so clearly lost is inexcusable.  The words of Dibiase’s “Million Dollar Man” alter ego ring true: “Every Man has his price.”  It could very well be the case that Dibiase and the many other wrestlers who have found paydays as preachers after their wrestling careers ended are kayfabe Christians who are no more genuine than their in-ring personas.  They are still in the business of making an appearance for a payday.

Finally, I want to say a word about what Challies seems to be missing: an appeal to Ed Young’s Texas Redneck target audience.  Challies refers his readers to the work of John MacArthur and Jared Wilson and the wisdom of James Montgomery Boice.  While these references may be helpful to the regular readers of Challies’ blog, I imagine people who come to church to see the Undertaker don’t have much concern for reformed thinkers.  Challies addresses the situation at Fellowship Church in an almost academic fashion, giving a critique of the “attractional model.”  This gives far too much charity to Ed Young.  Maybe he’s just a promoter looking for a payday and church has nothing to do with it.  If the Freebirds and Von Erich’s were still alive, I wouldn’t put it past Ed Young to have them wrestle in the church building.  He’s literally turned his church into a circus in the past so doing so wouldn’t be a stretch.

Listen wrestling fans, the lady who edits this blog was friends with Curt Henning and Rick Rude.  I was there when Goldberg beat Hogan for the belt.  I like Sting (I have a nWo Wolfpac shirt somewhere at my parents’ house) and I like the circus, too, but why in the world are you okay with Shotgun Saturday Night bleeding over into Sunday morning?  If you go to Ed Young’s church, Vince McMahon might as well be your pastor.  You are being a sold a show.  You are not being discipled and grown in Christ. You are Ed Young’s mark. Wise up and get into a genuine church that’s not just another show.  If you want help doing so, contact us at talkback@pulpitandpen.org.

And that’s the bottom line because Seth Dunn said so…

AT HAMAS LINKED "ISNA" CONFERENCE, LINDA SARSOUR WARNS MUSLIMS NOT TO "HUMANIZE" ISRAELIS

AT HAMAS LINKED "ISNA" CONFERENCE, 

LINDA SARSOUR WARNS MUSLIMS NOT TO "HUMANIZE" ISRAELIS 

BY ROBERT SEPNCER

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/09/at-hamas-linked-isna-conference-linda-sarsour-warns-muslims-not-to-humanize-israelis;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

The Left is busy dehumanizing all of those whom it hates, so this is no surprise. And a pro-Sharia Muslima such as Linda Sarsour will be eager to dehumanize the Jews, who are already amply dehumanized in the Qur’an. The Qur’an depicts the Jews as inveterately evil and bent on destroying the well-being of the Muslims. They are the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); they fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); they claim that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); they love to listen to lies (5:41); they disobey Allah and never observe his commands (5:13). They are disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more. They are under Allah’s curse (9:30), and Muslims should wage war against them and subjugate them under Islamic hegemony (9:29).

Sarsour was speaking at the annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America. “The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was established in July 1981 by U.S-based members of the Muslim Brotherhood with a background as leaders of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). As author and terrorism expert Steven Emerson puts it, ISNA “grew out of the Muslim Students Association, which also was founded by Brotherhood members.” Indeed, Muslim Brothers would dominate ISNA’s leadership throughout the Society’s early years. Striving “to advance the cause of Islam and serve Muslims in North America so as to enable them to adopt Islam as a complete way of life,” ISNA was highly dependent upon Saudi funding during its early years.” — from Discover the Networks

From the Investigative Project on Terrorism:


In its latest filing before the federal district court in Dallas on behalf of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and its affiliate organization, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) in the Hamas-terrorism financing case, the ACLU has made a noteworthy admission.

Rather than deny that there is copious evidence tying ISNA and NAIT to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the brief argues that such evidence is merely dated. In a curious footnote on page 7, the reply states:


Assuming the authenticity of documents’ dates, the most recent documents to mention either ISNA or NAIT are dated 1991, Gov. Exhs. 3-3 and 3-85, but the majority of the documents are older. Almost all of the numerous exhibits that purport to show financial transactions and that contain any mention of ISNA or NAIT are dated 1988 and 1989 (there are two dated 1990), almost a decade before the majority of the overt acts the government alleges in support of its conspiracy charges against the HLF defendants.


So ISNA and NAIT are not saying that the documents tying their organizations to Hamas are “inauthentic,” but that the problem with the evidence is just that it is old. Then, even more curiously, the reply goes on to argue something that the government has not even alleged:


Even if the “evidence” provided some basis for alleging criminality against petitioners, the government’s discussion of it shows the government utterly fails to grasp the singular weight and consequence that an official accusation of criminal conduct carries in our criminal justice system and in our society.


But, of course, the government has not charged ISNA or NAIT with criminal conduct, or the two groups would be indicted in their own right, rather than un-indicted co-conspirators who worked with the Holy Land for Relief and Development (HLF), the defendant and alleged Hamas-front. The reply brief then, as Shakespeare might write, “doth protest too much.”




“Linda Sarsour: Muslims should not ‘humanize’ Israelis,” by Gary Willig, Israel National News, September 9, 2018:


Left-wing activist Linda Sarsour said that American Muslims should not humanize Israelis during an Islamic conference, the Algemeiner reported.

Addressing the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention in Houston, Texas, Sarsour accused American Muslims who were not sufficiently active in supporting the Palestinian Arab cause of being “complicit in the occupation, of Palestinians, in the murder of Palestinian protesters.”

Sarsour warned against normalization or friendly relations with Israelis. “If you’re on the side of the oppressor, or you’re defending the oppressor, or you’re actually trying to humanize the oppressor, then that’s a problem sisters and brothers, and we got to be able to say: that is not the position of the Muslim American community.”

Sarsour, who was propelled into the national spotlight as a leader of the Women’s March following the election of US President Donald Trump, has been criticized for expressing support for anti-Semites and terrorists who murdered Israelis….