Giving Christians a Bad Name in Hawaii

From the Honolulu Star Bulletin - Born Again Christians in Ruckus

A mainland group of born-again Christians shouted a message of hellfire for homosexuals and others for five hours yesterday as University of Hawaii students shouted back.

The group called it "preaching," but their finger-pointing, name-calling and condemnation angered even Christians at the open-air Campus Center steps on the UH-Manoa campus.

"They started making personal attacks on people's culture," said Ann Clarke, 18. One of the "preachers" told a Korean student that he is going to hell for his Buddhist beliefs and told Hawaiians they are going to hell because they worship false gods and believe in witchcraft, she said.

Whoa! I am shocked! How dare this group come to the Aloha state and openly condemn students like that! They even have to audacity to call themselves Christians!

I've not heard of the BEMA ministries so I googled them.

I found the following on their About Us page:

We love people, and want to encourage everyone, everywhere to consider their heart and standing before God. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 "As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

This life can be very deceptive, in that one can think it goes on forever and ever. We try to bring the reality of life back into focus, and encourage all to consider where they will spend eternity: Heaven or Hell!

It is very disturbing that a mainland group like this would dare to come all the way to Hawaii, speak as Christians and judge the University of Hawaii students to be "Sodomites", "whores", "sinners" as well as condemning some to Hell . If Jesus was their in the midst, guess who he would be strongly rebuking... and you can bet it wouldn't be the students.

Message to the BEMA group, if you truly want to save souls, start by setting a good example and praying for them.

The people in Hawaii are fighting very hard to protect traditional marriage in Hawaii as same-sex marriage via a civil unions's bill lurks nearby. We don't need outsiders coming here to undo all our efforts by sullying our reputations as Christians or as conservatives.

EWTN and Hawaii's Cable Company

Yesterday, our local paper reported that Oceanic Cable, a Time Warner company, would be carrying Logos, a new Gay and Lesbian channel. Since for the 14 years I have been living here, continuously asking them to carry EWTN, I was a little perturbed by this news. I sent Oceanic Cable an email and received the following response today: (The emphasis added is mine)

Aloha!

Thank you for your recent inquiry. We have attempted to carry the EWTN
channel and have honestly tried to negotiate a deal with them. But EWTN
is unwilling to pay for the necessary equipment to process their signal
and transmit it to us. Nor did they want to air on the airtime we have
available.

I too am stymied as to why a Catholic channel would be unwilling to make
this investment to reach their congregation, especially considering the
Catholic Church is the wealthiest and largest church in the world.

The new channels that we do add, including the gay and lesbian Logo
network and other protestant religious channels have all made the
necessary investment in equipment necessary to create and broadcast
their channels to us. As to why EWTN refuses to do the things every
other channel has to do is beyond me. Only EWTN can answer these
questions.

Thank You for being an Oceanic Time Warner Cable Customer!

If you have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail us again
or contact our Customer Care Department at 643-2100. When replying to
this e-mail, please include this message as well as all previous
correspondence regarding this issue.


Thank you,
Nick S.
Oceanic Time Warner Cable
643-2100

Original Message Follows:
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Contact Us
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Comment: We are long time customers of both the cable and internet. For
many years we have been requesting the EWTN Channel Eternal Word
Television Network. For many years, Oceanic Cable has given us
different excuses why they cannot carry it. Today I find out that OC
will be carrying a new Gay and Lesbian Channel and frankly I am very
unhappy. The reason is not because I do not believe Gays shouldn't have
their own channel but because every other type of channel, including
Protestant channels, take preference over a leading and very popular
Catholic Channel.
Although, it would hurt my family somewhat, I am really considering
unsubscribing to both the cable and internet through OC.
I would appreciate a response.
Thank you,
Esther Gefroh

I did response briefly to their little comment about the Church being the wealthiest church...and that they probably wanted to relegate EWTN to some obscure time. More importantly, I emailed a copy to EWTN asking them to respond directly to Oceanic Cable.

Blessed Damien Update

As promised:
FATHER DAMIEN'S SAINTHOOD CAUSE MOVES AHEAD - Honolulu Advertiser



Today at morning Mass, Fr. Dave told us that on Friday, prior to the Mass for Fr. Bill Mattimore who recently passed away, Bishop Silva announced that a second miracle attributed to Fr. Damien, had been confirmed! No other details where given. If I find out anything I will let you know.

Please continue to pray to Blessed Damien and for his canonization.

Blessed Father Damien of Moloka'i, pray for us.