Pastor Manning is back in the headlines with a video clip entitled "Pastor James Manning on Burning the Quran on 9/11". It was a shock to behold.
James David Manning is a new man. He's shed a few pounds and gives the impression of being fit, healthy and energized. His face is smooth, toned and polished. His haircut wasn't done by the local barber, that's for sure. He appears to be wearing a fine new suit of clothes. He looks ten years younger.
The stage where he records his sermons is completely renovated. The draperies that formerly served as the background have been replaced by a dark gray screen (or wall) and garnished with a $2500 floor globe. He has two new monitors behind his shoulders - where once there were none. He has a new microphone and a new chair. (Can't tell about the desk just yet, but really, unless it was of sentimental value. . .). There's a new camera with zoom feature and apparently a cameraman. The icing on the cake is a colorful crawler on the screen.
So it seems the pastor has recovered from the exhausting work of the tenth amendment trial and that his ministry has since entered a new era of prosperity. Revived and revitalized, Manning calls on Americans to recognize "the Muslim threat".
Manning opened his remarks by citing the great Qur'an burning we've been hearing so much about in the news. Manning defends Terry Jones' first-amendment right to burn 200 books (mail ordered?) but cautions the Floridian pastor that such an act might incite trouble from the Muslims.
According to Manning, "all religions want world domination" and therefore Muslims want world domination. He said that Jesus said to go out and baptise and bring the gospel to all world, implying that Christianity was an exception to the world domination statement. Manning stated that the idea of a one-world religion is a near-impossible one to accomplish. However, if such must be the order of things he thinks it should be Christianity.
As God's representative, the pastor was compelled to refer us to The Bible to increase our knowledge regarding "Islam, Muslims and all Arabic-tongue people". He said that God said that they were "wild" people from their beginning, with the birth of Ishmael, and would remain so until Jesus returns to straighten them out. He told us that Muslims kill each other more frequently than any other people on earth. (In fact, an adulteress will be stoned next week in Iran, he reported.) Manning cited (and had beamed on the crawler), Genesis 16: 10-14 to explain why these people are the way the are. In order to get a clearer understanding of who's who and what's what, we tell the whole story, beginning at Verse 1 from the King James Version:
Hagar and Ishmael
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.
When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, "You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me."
6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.
7 The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?"
"I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered.
9 Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." 10 The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count."
11 The angel of the LORD also said to her:
"You are now with child
and you will have a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
for the LORD has heard of your misery.
12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
his hand will be against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
toward all his brothers."
13 She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." 14 That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
The pastor was off the mark when he said that God said. It was an angel speaking, not God. As for the pastor's inference that this included "all" Muslims, that is not what the text states. Like most pastors, he exaggerated and pontificated beyond reason. Since Manning's technician did not put up any other biblical text references, it will be assumed that the part about "all Islam, Muslims and Arabic-tongued people" are and always will be "wild" is a lie. Ishmael was the only one pronounced 'wild" in the story. Ishmael's conduct was certainly no surprise given that his mother was forced to have sex with her employer's husband, mistreated for being miserably pregnant, forced to leave, then ordered to return by an angel who prophesied her child would be nothing but trouble.
(As an aside, Christians need to make up their bible-believing minds about whether or not the sins of the fathers are passed on, forgiven when Jesus arrived, or ongoing curses.)
Also, Manning made a point of identifying Ishmael as a "bastard". Rather amusing accusation given the circumstances of the pregnancy and seen in the light of present day socio-familial arrangements. The law no longer permits slave pregnancies, however one can buy a baby, a womb or a cup of sperm at reasonable prices. (Attorney's Fees Not Included.) These days when a wife brings another woman to the marital bed it's for fun and games. (See the Friends episode, the one where Ross' first wife arranges a menage-a-trois.)
Manning tries to convince his audience that the United States of America is under threat by Muslims. With a coward's bluster, he plants an idea in the minds of his own community, saying "some people have suggested" that pigs blood be collected and thrown at mosques in America. He explicitly pointed to the nine-eleven anniversary and the site of the "mosque at ground zero". No mosque will be built AT ground zero. The proposed construction is a Muslim-American community center to be located on the grounds of the old Burlington Coat Factory, 45-51 Park Place. It includes a prayer room, just like any other religious community might include in their community center building plans.
