From the Associated Press:
A billboard at a New Zealand church depicting a downcast Joseph lying beside Mary in bed and the heading "God is a hard act to follow" provoked more than the intended reconsideration of the meaning of Christmas.
The sign was defaced by a paint-wielding vandal just hours after it was erected Thursday outside the St. Matthew-in-the-City Anglican church in Auckland, and triggered passionate and sometimes angry debate on talk radio and the Internet.
Church vicar Archdeacon Glynn Cardy said the billboard was intended to challenge stereotypes about the way Jesus was conceived and get people talking about the Christmas story.
"This billboard is trying to lampoon and ridicule the very literal idea that God is a male and somehow this male God impregnated Mary," said Cardy, who described his church as having very liberal ideas about Christianity.
"We would question the Virgin Birth in any literal sense. We would question the maleness of God in any literal sense," he said.
On the billboard - painted to mimic the fresco style commonly used in church murals - Mary and Joseph are in bed side-by-side. Joseph is looking down. Mary, looking heavenward, appears sad. The caption reads: "Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow."
Auckland Catholic Diocese spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer said the billboard implied the Virgin Mary and Joseph had just had sex and was inappropriate, disrespectful and offensive to Christians.
"We would see a billboard like that being used by an anti-Christian group to actually poke fun at the divinity of Christ," Freer told National Radio.
JMC Ministries Response
Written by Jeremy Caverley
We were informed about this article from Stephen Baldwin and Kevin McCullough's Radio show BMX Radio that is broadcast live every Saturday nights from 9-11 p.m. eastern. I called in and luckily had the chance to share my opinion about this issue, and hear Stephen and Kevin's feed back. Thank you Stephen and Kevin for allowing me to share my thoughts on this issue. And also for taking a stand against what this "church" is doing and making a mockery of the our Saviors Birth.
Play to hear JMC Ministries live on air at BMX Radio
No where in the bible does it say that God had sex with Mary or even laid with her. This is clearly a church compromising themselves to the extent of Blaspheming God and Jesus' birth. This story can also be compared to another story we shared here on the Eternal Flame News just a few days ago. About a Church that performed tattooing on women during a church service in the pulpit in front of the entire church.
This just proves that some churches are compromising and self justifying themselves Just to draw in a crowd and fill seats. We as true followers of the gospel and Jesus Christ need to pray for these churches, church leaders, and the church members that they see the error of their ways and turn back to God and realize they are not only being deceived, but in the process are deceiving others.
This is what the bible says about false teaching, false prophets, and deceivers. Know the TRUTH and be set free this day!
What the Prophets of the Old testament said
Jeremiah 14:14
Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.
WHAT JESUS SAID
Matthew 7:15
[ A Tree and Its Fruit ] "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
Matthew 24:10-12
10At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,13but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.WHAT THE APOSTLES SAID
2 Peter 2:1
[ False Teachers and Their Destruction ] But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.
1 John 4:1
[ Test the Spirits ] Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Hebrews 10:26-29
26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
