By Bob Allen
A Bible-prophecy broadcaster criticized Southern Baptist Convention President Fred Luter for retracting comments made in an interview on his radio show linking North Korea’s nuclear threat to America’s slide into immorality.
“Poor pastor Luter, he wilted under the heat of CNN’s cameras,” radio host Rick Wiles said April 4. “He recanted what he said on TruNews. He tucked his tail between his legs like a frightened puppy. He made Joel Osteen look like the winner of the tough-man contest.”
The night before, Luter, who serves as pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, went on Anderson Cooper’s CNN program to discuss comments he made on Wiles’ program March 27. There Luter seemed to agree with the Christian radio host that it might be no coincidence that saber-rattling by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was occurring at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing arguments over legalizing gay marriage.
“It could be a possibility,” Luter told Wiles. “I’m not that strong in prophecy, but I would not be surprised that there’s not a connection there, simply because of the fact we’ve seen it happen in Scripture before. I would not be surprised that at the time when we are debating same-sex marriage, at a time when we are debating whether or not we should have gays leading the Boy Scout movement, I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that we have a mad man in Asia who is saying some of the things that he’s saying.”
In his CNN interview, Luter told Cooper that he misspoke and that his comments were misunderstood.
“That was really his view on it,” Luter said about Wiles. “He saw that connection. I said, well man I’m not strong in prophecy, I don’t necessarily see that. It’s possible if you say it is, but I don’t see it. I don’t think there’s any connection about what the guy’s doing in North Korea and what’s happening here in America today, none at all.”
Wiles, who worked for both the Christian Broadcasting Network and Trinity Broadcasting Network before launching his own ministry as a “citizen reporter” in 1998, made it clear that he stands by his words.
“The United States of America is quickly approaching its day of reckoning,” Wiles said. “Since the 1962-63 Supreme Court rulings banning prayer and Bible reading in the public schools to the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing the murder of tens of millions of innocent babies to the upcoming court decision on homosexual marriage, the U.S.A. has been on a steady downhill slide as a nation. We are now in a rapid descent into darkness.”
Wiles said he believes God’s patience with the nation is nearing an end. “It isn’t God who is destroying America. He is trying to save this country,” Wiles said. “We are committing suicide as nation. God is withdrawing His hand of divine protection over this nation. He is stepping back, removing the spiritual dome that for hundreds of years shielded America. He will be silent as America’s enemies encircle this nation and see that our moral defense shield is down and we are vulnerable and ripe for destruction.”
Wiles lamented pastors who remain silent. “Where are the real men of God in this country?” he asked. “Have they all lost courage to speak for God when this nation is facing destruction?”
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