Showing posts with label 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. Show all posts

Monday, June 23, 2014

The Presbyterians and Anti-Christ

The Presbyterians and Anti-Christ

Monday, June 23, 2014 |  Tsvi Sadan  ISRAEL TODAY
The Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) continues its spiritual and social war against the people of Israel.
In my article "The Impossible People and PCUSA" (subscribe now to read it in the next Israel Today Magazine), I talk about this Church's new educational resource called "Zionism Unsettled: A Congregational Study Guide." This booklet should have created a loud Christian protest, particularly after the praise it received from White Supremacist leader David Duke.
I do not know if there were institutional Christian protests against PCUSA, but even if there were, the Presbyterians remained resolute in sticking to their defiled theology that denies not only the existence of Israel, but the existence of the people of Israel.
The 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church that was held from June 14-21, 2014 at the COBO Center in downtown Detroit, Michigan, generated a lot of Twitter posts that protested its resolution "to divest from three corporations – Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Motorola Solutions."
Though this resolution clarifies that it does not constitute divestment from Israel itself, the justification for boycotting specifically these three corporations seemed to be a bit evasive.
The explanation that these specific corporations are supporting "non-peaceful pursuits" is hardly satisfying, and raises suspicion that, for example, Caterpillar is not being targeted because its bulldozers are moving earth in Syria, but because they are used by the IDF. Likewise, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard are targets not because they sell cellphones and printers to Iran, but because they have large operations in Israel.
The problematic element is, therefore, not what the PCUSA calls "non-peaceful pursuits." The problematic element is Israel.
That Israel itself is the target can be seen in another resolution, brought to my attention by the "Elder of Zion" blog. Though voted down, the suggestion and the reaction to it can teach us what's happening within the Presbytery's bowels.
The item under discussion, submitted by the Presbytery of Chicago, was "On Distinguishing Between Biblical Terms for Israel and Those Applied to the Modern Political State of Israel in Christian Liturgy." Though no resolution was reached, the General Assembly nevertheless recommended distinguishing between ancient Israel and the modern political State of Israel.
The General Assembly suggests that its new hymnal replace "the unfortunate heading: 'God's covenant with Israel'" with "God's Covenant with Ancient Israel," or even with "Our Covenant with the Oppressed." 
It further instructs the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Mission Agency as follow:
"Note that in using these texts that the biblical and liturgical 'land of Israel' is not the same as the State of Israel established in 1948, which is a contemporary nation state. The Bible contains differing descriptions of the parameters of Israel. Promises of land generally come with obligations to God for justice to be practiced with all inhabitants. Later in Scripture, the Gospel is to be preached to 'all nations'; in Jesus Christ all peoples are included in God's promise. Similarly, 'Zion' is frequently used in the Bible as a reference to the city of Jerusalem, but in Christian tradition this does not refer primarily to a specific geographical location or political entity but to 'the city of God' found throughout history and to the completion of God's purpose in the age to come."
Let no one be fooled. The motion to erase Israel from the Presbyterian vocabulary is a motion to erase Israel, and boycotting Caterpillar is one way to achieve this anti-Christ goal.
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