Local pastor calls for Iran regime change

Today I attended the 11 am service at Living Word Christian Center, a megachurch in Brooklyn Park. The facility is the finest I’ve seen, and the production is state of the art. You may have seen their show, "The Winner’s Way" on TV. Before the service I browsed the bookstore and bought a copy of "Revelation Revealed" by Hilton Sutton, TH.D. They also have a café, and a gymnasium, home to Maranatha Christian Academy.

I was impressed by the diversity of the congregation. A significant number of attendees, I want to say 10 percent, were African American. About 300 people were recognized at today’s service, and those were just the new members. The music and lighting reminded me of the Letterman and Leno shows, and the camera-on-a-crane reminded me of network award shows. Over the stage were three mega-monitors with slick cuts and fades between the different camera angles, and lyrics for all the songs.

Anyway, Pastor Mac Hammond listed five countries as past and present sponsors of terrorism: Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Syria. Of the five, he called Iran the "decisive point of conflict" in the war against "Islamo fascism" and recommended aerial bombing and destabilization of the governmental infrastructure to bring about "regime change." He said he believed that in this case it is more important to "overcome all evil" than to love one’s enemies. Based on comments made by the president of Iran, Hammond feels we need to kill their leaders before they kill us.

His calls to arms were met by various affirmations like "amen" and "hallelujah" from the congregation. To me it was surreal. Heaven help us.