Key Guy Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 From The Daily Nation (Kenya) Online http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/561598/-/u4abqd/-/ Quote: Attempts to convert US President Barack Obama’s grand mother to Christianity flopped on Saturday at the 11th hour after family members opposed the move. Although Mama Sarah Obama had dressed up for the day, her son, Saidi Obama, and other family members were adamant that she would not attend a baptism ceremony organised by the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA). Changed her mind Mr Saidi said that they were opposed to the move to take Mama Sarah to church since she is a Muslim. “I was opposed to it because I believe she was not fully informed about what they were going to do to her. I personally asked her not to attend the function,” he said. On Saturday, SDA Pastor Tom Obuya arrived at Mama Sarah’s Nyang’oma Kogello home to take her to the Jomo Kenyatta Sports ground where the ceremony was to take place. However, he found she had changed her mind on instructions from Mr Saidi. Pastor Obuya said that the church had been reaching out to Mama Sarah for the past three weeks. (more online) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Key Guy Posted April 20, 2009 Author Share Posted April 20, 2009 Headline: Kenya Muslims fume at church move to convert Obama grandma http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News...how/4425214.cms Quote: NAIROBI: A Protestant church in Kenya is trying to convert US President Barack Obama's step-grandmother to Christianity against her will, aMuslim group said Monday, condemning the move as provocation. The Seventh Day Adventist church in the western town of Kisumu had invited 87-year-old Sarah Obama -- a Muslim -- to a function on Saturday, where she was allegedly to be baptised. According to relatives in her village of Kogelo, "Mama Sarah", as she is popularly known in the US president's paternal homeland, was surprised by the offer and declined to attend. "I regret the attempt by the Christian religion to force her to convert," Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa, the organising secretary of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, told AFP. "Why only her? Why not before Obama became president? Didn't they see her before he became president? We are ready to protect our religion," he said. Said Obama, a step-brother to the US president, said the church pastors had approached Sarah Obama with news that she could become a Christian. "Mama (Sarah) was born a Muslim and wishes to die a Muslim. The issue of conversion is neither here not there," he said. Khalifa denounced the move as a "provocation." "They don't have permission from Jesus to convert someone. I challenge them to quote a verse from the Bible allowing them to convert someone," he said. Sarah became a national celebrity when her grandson visited the country in 2006 and her modest homestead has become a tourist attraction since the former Illinois senator's November 2008 election triumph. The Kenyan government last month declared Kogelo a protected national heritage site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthAfrican Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Now most of us will wonder what the real story is. Having read the article, I think this situation will be adding fuel to the fire, and that we can expect a religious war to start up soon, if it's not handled properly. So sad to hear that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Oh boy that is not what I heard at all! I heard she had attended various evangelistic meetings in the last 1.5 years and and taken Bible studies and was waiting for a huge campaign (simultaneous campaigns) in her country to be baptized...sometime in March or April. It definately isn't a forced issue like they would like to say it is. wow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Shane Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 I am sure the Muslims in the area are distorting the real story. However this is not unique to Muslims. Many Catholic members do the same thing in Latin America when a family member wants to become Adventist. They are successful all too often. They intimidate and threaten the new believer in order to prevent them from becoming baptizzed. We need to pray for Mama Sarah. It may be good to bring this before the local church body when public prayer requests are being requested. Quote Pastoral Family Counselor... Find me at www.PostumCafe.com Author of Peculiar Christianity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthAfrican Posted April 23, 2009 Share Posted April 23, 2009 Yes, we should pray for her. The matter is in God's hands now, all we can do is to pray. We need to pray and trust the Lord, not devise and do our own works and meddle in that situation, otherwise we'll only make things worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Key Guy Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 From USA Today http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-05-04-obama-muslim-adventists_N.htm Quote: Seventh-day Adventist leaders say there was no attempt to convert President Obama's grandmother, a Muslim, during a recent evangelistic event in Kenya. Muslim groups complained when church leaders invited Sarah Obama, 87, to the April 18 close of a three-week crusade in Kisumu, Kenya. An Adventist pastor, Tom Obuya, later told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper that "Mama Sarah had assured us that she was converting, and we were ready to baptize her." Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa, secretary of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, said Muslims would not "sit and watch one of their own being coerced" to convert to Christianity. Sarah Obama, who has become a local celebrity because of her grandson's White House win, is the third wife of Barack Obama's paternal grandfather. After a recent meeting with Sarah Obama and local officials, a local church spokesman said there was never any attempt to baptize or convert her, and that reports of her conversion were "an exaggeration of the press." "The position of the leadership of ... the Seventh-day Adventist Church remains that Mama Sarah had only been invited to the meetings as a special guest ... and that there were no intentions to baptize her," spokesman Kenneth Maena said in a statement. "The church's stand is that baptism cannot be administered without the candidate's consent." Maena added that a Seventh-day Adventist church located near Obama's home, which had changed its name to Obama Seventh-day Adventist Church, has reverted back to its original name, Nyangoma Seventh-day Adventist Church. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 So ... we are to believe that the Obama Church did not try to convert Obama. Oh Mama ... This may start to get political and get banned from Club Adventist. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobRyan Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Having Muslim leaders try to save face when confronted with evidence that their own members sometimes choose of their own free will to become Christians - is really nothing new. Having a Christian church reach out to a Muslim with the Gospel invitation - is nothing new. Having a Muslim revisionist history presented in the form "such a such muslim was tricked into being baptized. But when they came home they immediately renounced it. However those stinky Christians still count them among the once saved always saved baptized members and so they did this just to get a number count or a claim to some notable Muslim member as now being a Christian even though it is renounced by them" - is not that unnusual. The SDA church is pretty consistent about the fact that a baptized member that walks out the door tomorrow is not "once baptized always baptized" or Once Saved Always Saved -- so SDAs have no incentive at all to get a "one day baptism" on the books. There is no "motive" in the SDA church for saying "such and such celebrity was once an SDA for two days" -- it simply does not have any meaning at all among SDAs. What is more likely to be "the lasting damage" here - is that SDAs are getting introduced to the President through the spin-doctoring of muslim hard liners who may have their own reasons for revisionist history. (Not at all unnlike "bagdad bob" in that regard). So when the time comes to legislate an NSL -- will this president be predisposed to promote human rights and religious liberty -- or to get back for a mythical forced baptismal attempt that happened only in the minds of muslim extremists? in Christ, Bob Quote John 8:32 - The Truth will make you free“The righteousness of Christ will not cover one cherished sin." COL 316. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Key Guy Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 I have to agree, Bob. The facts may take a back seat as politicians and religious extremists are so good at 'spin'. I was surprised to see this article in USA Today. This story may develop legs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Quote: The SDA church is pretty consistent about the fact that a baptized member that walks out the door tomorrow is not "once baptized always baptized" Quite the contrary. The Seventh day Adventist Church does not require ANYone to be rebaptized once you have been baptized and step out the door. They even discourage it at times. The Seventh day Adventist Church recongnizes the baptism of emersion from ANY non-SDA church. We DO believe in once baptized ALWAYS baptized. And once you are saved ... you are also always saved unless you choose otherwise. Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 The thing that concerned me was the way it was represented that the church were denying any attempt to "convert" this woman. Why would we ever deny that? Jesus did not say, "go and preach to all nations except those in muslim areas that might be a little unpopular with the local muslims..." The church could have simply stated: "We allow for all to have opportunity to come to a knowledge of Christ, each individual should have the free will choice to explore that option." Not: "Not guilty, we do not try to convert people". That is of course if it has been reported correctly. Twilight Quote The best wisdom is always second hand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Key Guy Posted May 5, 2009 Author Share Posted May 5, 2009 Why would we ever deny that? It insinuates 'sheep stealing', a stupid phrase if there ever was one. How else does the remnant hear the 3 angels' messages, followed by 'come out of her, My people'? To quote a phrase by Elwood Blues: "We're on a mission from God". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Do you mean that she was a Muslim Sheep and we desire her to be a Christian Sheep? Quote May we be one so that the world may be won. Christian from the cradle to the grave I believe in Hematology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobRyan Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 The thing that concerned me was the way it was represented that the church were denying any attempt to "convert" this woman. Why would we ever deny that? Agreed. In fact it is very confusing because depending on who is being quoted it either looks like she was going to watch a baptism - or she was going because she had completed Bible studies and wanted to BE baptized. Somewhat confusing and hard to explain why in either case SDAs would not love to say "yes we invite everyone to choose Christ all day long -- every day of the year". For some atheists and liberals in society it is "hate speech" to evangelize. Thankfully that has not yet caught on in the SDA church. in Christ, Bob Quote John 8:32 - The Truth will make you free“The righteousness of Christ will not cover one cherished sin." COL 316. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twilight Posted May 6, 2009 Share Posted May 6, 2009 I hope the leadership of the church have not done this, obviously. Twilight. Quote The best wisdom is always second hand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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