Caner 2001 Sermon at Prestonwood: The Worst Deception Yet

"And coming to America I had lived under the misconception that you hated me, as a Muslim. That really affected a lot of what I did in my younger years. I'm not really proud of the fact that I am part of, was part of Islamic Jihad. I'm not proud of the fact that it actually was my people who were involved in what took place in the horror [of 9/11]."

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I have maintained that the 11/20/01 sermon at FBC Jax is the most damning evidence against Caner, showing his intentions to deceive unsuspecting Christians over his background right after 9/11. But the Prestonwood Baptist Church sermon from late 2001 takes the cake. It was broadcast TODAY (4/26/10) on Focus on the Family, in their broadcast entitled "From Jihad to Jesus".

It only gets worse for Ergun Caner. The more we hear of his sermons, the more the lies and deceptions mount. The evidence is clear: he purposely misled Christians into thinking he was a trained terrorist, in the Islamic Jihad. The more guys like Tim Guthrie and Tim Rogers defend Caner, the worst it gets for Caner. Men that should be helping Caner see his need to confess and repent, are only making it worse for their friend.

Here are some of Caner's quotes from this whopper of a sermon preached by Caner shortly after 9/11 at Prestonwood Baptist Church:

"I was born in Sweden, raised in Turkey, came to America in 1978. When I came to America I came through Brooklyn, New York, of all places, which is where I learned English."

Unbelievable. Standing in front of shell-shocked Christians after 9/11, and Caner betrays their confidence by lying about where he was raised, where he learned English, and when he came to America. That is deception. A man that is misusing the pulpit to purposely mislead people about who he is and were he is from has no business being in the pulpit.

"English was not my first language....and I walked into that little church, my English was very poor...they didn't make fun of my accent, they didn't make fun of the clothes that I wore, or make fun of the fact that I wore a turbin, they didn't call me a 'towel-head'....a year later, still young in Christ, still with very bad English, I came forward in my little country church that loved me, and I surrendered to preach."

Notice, he wants people to think he was an immigrant as a teenager that could not speak English...when the fact is he was raised in America and spoke perfect English.

"I am not, um, I am not just a Muslim, I am not just a Sunni, and I wasn't just, um, involved in Islamic Jihad. I was the son of a Muasin, that's the cleric, the one who does the call to prayer, the beginning of the prayer time..."

Holy Cow!!! The man is telling people that he was raised in Turkey and was in Islamic Jihad! He wants people to think he was a trained terrorist. He did the same at FBC Jax on 11/20/01.

"I spent the first 17 years of my life assuming that you as Christians hated me. I mean I had never been in a church, I had never really been around too many Christians, there's not that many of them in Turkey or in Sweden..."

More outright deception. The man is saying that he grew up in Turkey, and thus was not exposed to Christians. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio. I assume he grew up with plenty of Christian friends.

"And coming to America I had lived under the misconception that you hated me, as a Muslim. That really affected a lot of what I did in my younger years. I'm not really proud of the fact that I am part of, was part of Islamic Jihad. I'm not proud of the fact that it actually was my people who were involved in what took place in the horror."

Now he is really laying it on thick. He is saying that as a youth he was part of the terrorists, that in his "younger years" he was involved with "his people" that committed the terror of 9/11. Creates a great story line: youth trained in terrorist Jihad came to America and found Jesus, else he would have been one of the 9/11 terrorists. Please. Why can't Caner just tell the truth about his youth?

"Do you know that most of the people, most of the Muslims, who were here on the bombing day, were shocked and horrified by what took place. Most Muslims were shocked by the bombing. Do you know why? Because here in America, Jihad is theory. But from where I come from, in Europe and the Middle East, Jihad is sadly, a fact of life. I was raised in it."

Again, purposeful deception to paint himself as an expert of Jihad, that he experienced it in Europe and the Middle East.

"Five times a day, even when I was in high school, even in Brooklyn, New York, I would get my prayer rug out of my closet, out of my locker, and roll it out in the, in the bathroom, and do my prayer."

OK, so he was in high school in Brooklyn, New York? I thought it was in Columbus, Ohio...when did he move to Brooklyn from Columbus?

Unbelievable. The more that comes out about the deceptions, and the more his peers defend him and don't call for him to publicly confess and repent, the harder the eventual fall will be.

And the more embarrassing it will be to us in the Southern Baptist Convention, that we didn't do our due diligence, and we bought his deception hook, line, and sinker.