Source: Contra Costa Times

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/email/news/15374292.htm

On August 27, 2006 the Contra Costa Times reported, "A Contra Costa Sikh leader is denouncing a pamphlet from an El Sobrante church that tells Sikhs their holy book is wrong and warns them they face eternal hell unless they receive Jesus as their savior.

'Please Consider These Words of Love My SIKH Friend,' by Pastor Kent Brandenburg of Bethel Baptist Church, combines faith-based arguments with the logic that because its prophecies 'come true 100 percent,' the Bible can be nothing else but the absolute truth.

The 10 gurus who are the pillars of Sikhism 'died and stayed dead,' whereas Jesus Christ defeated death, Brandenburg wrote. 'His resurrection, witnessed by over 500 people, sealed the fact that Jesus Christ is God.'

'Without believing in Jesus Christ, you, my Sikh friend, will die in your sins, and in so doing, will be condemned to Hell forever,' reads the pamphlet, which church members distributed last month at a Sikh Spiritual Peace March through El Sobrante in memory of the fifth guru, Arjan Dev, who was martyred 400 years ago.

The pamphlet calls on Sikhs to repudiate their religion. 'First, admit you are a sinner. Second, admit you deserve Hell for your sin. Third, call on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your sin while giving your life to him.'

J.P. Singh, president of El Sobrante Gurdwara Sahib, the Sikh Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, said the pamphlet is objectionable because 'it belittles another religion.'

'To coexist in this country in love and peace, I think there has to be an acceptance of other people's religions,' Singh said."