Whoever first defines the conflict for these young people will win lifelong allies........
The year 2010 was one of dramatic escalation in the efforts to drive a wedge between American evangelicals and Israel using the medium of film. In the span of that one year, no less than three major documentaries were released attacking Christian support for Israel. These were hardly the first anti-Israel movies to be produced. What made these films special was that they were focused on discrediting Christian support for Israel.
While First Run Features'
Waiting for Armageddon was produced and directed by a team of secular documentarians, two other films—
With God on Our Side (Rooftop Productions, 2010) and
Little Town of Bethlehem (EthnoGraphic Media, 2010)—were made by Christians specifically for Christians.
With God on Our Side was produced by Porter Speakman, a former Youth with a Mission
[2](YWAM) activist while
Little Town of Bethlehem was funded and produced by Mart Green, chairman of the board of trustees of Oral Roberts University and heir to the Hobby Lobby arts and crafts stores fortune.
These two Christian-made films are masterpieces of deception. They feature compelling protagonists wandering earnestly through a Middle Eastern landscape in which all Arab violence, aggression, and rejectionism have been magically erased. Thus the Israeli security measures they encounter along the way—from the security fence to Israel's ongoing presence in the West Bank—are experienced as baffling persecutions, which any decent person would condemn.
More recently, in November 2013, another anti-Israel documentary—
The Stones Cry Out—was released. Like its 2010 predecessors, this documentary specifically tailors its anti-Israel message to a Christian audience. The film's website laments: "All too often, media coverage of the conflict in Palestine has framed it as a fight between Muslims and Jews." The not-too subtle goal of
The Stones Cry Out is to reframe the conflict as a fight between Christians and Jews.....
........Since its founding in 1979, Bethlehem Bible College in the West Bank has been a leading source of the anti-Israel Christian narrative. In 2010, it launched a biennial conference called "Christ at the Checkpoint." The name of the conference along with a photo of the Israel security fence that forms its logo invoke the increasingly popular meme that Jesus was a Palestinian who would be suffering under Israeli occupation today much as he suffered under Roman occupation millennia ago.
In 2010, the conference brought 250 Christian leaders and activists to Bethlehem; in 2012, that number was more than 600 including such mainstream evangelical leaders as mega-church pastor Joel Hunter and Lynne Hybels, wife of mega-church pastor Bill Hybels, who has since become a key evangelical critic of Israel.
The days when one had to travel to Bethlehem to hear such anti-Israel voices are now over. The anti-Israel narrative of "Christ at the Checkpoint" is now being shared at major Christian conferences in the United States including those organized by Empowered21 and Catalyst.
If you are receiving this email, I trust that you know the truth about God's heart for His people, Israel, the people He chose to reveal His glory. To read the Word of the Lord and not understand that this is His choice is incomprehensible. From Genesis to Revelation He unveils His plan - it is the foundation of His redemption story - and we are actually living today right in the midst of His prophetic Word - as He brings His people from all over the world back to the Land He promised them.
This is the absolute culmination of His plan - that Israel will possess the Land He gave them. And Messiah Yeshua will return to Jerusalem, the King of the Jews, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Lord of all, to rule and reign in Zion.
"This is what the Lord Almighty says: I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her. This is what the Lord says: I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth...." Zech. 8:2-3
Do not be deceived by those who want to pull you into a debate about "loving all people", insinuating that if you believe the Word of the Lord concerning Israel that you are against Palestinians. Their goal is to deceive you into believing that those who stand with Israel hate Palestinians.
This is deception of the highest order and a totally unethical attempt to sidetrack the real issue - the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people. No amount of "social activism" is going to change the Word of the Living God. Their view is political and socially based, not biblically based. These folks for the most part do not believe that modern day Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
Friends, we have a command from the Lord to speak the truth. Take your stand. Do not be swayed or deceived. And proclaim the truth:
"Sing with joy for Jacob. Shout for the foremost of the nations....." Jer. 31:7
"O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them. I will bring you back to the Land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own Land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoke, and I have done it, declares the Lord." Ezekiel 37:12-14
"For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in His glory". Ps. 102:16
"Hear the Word of the Lord, O nations (Gentiles); proclaim it....." Jer. 31:10
"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your righteousness and all kings your glory.....You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand..." Isa. 62: 13
The spiritual warfare is intense as the Lord prepares to take up His throne in Zion. We are blessed to be called to serve Him in these days.
Blessings and love over you in the Name of Yeshua ha Mashiach,
Cathy
Cathy Hargett
Highway to Zion Ministries, Inc.
To the Prayer Warriors for the Restoration of Israel -
Below is a letter I received today (Feb. 26, 2014) from friends in Israel requesting prayer for the impact that the upcoming "Christ at the Checkpoint" Conference in Bethlehem is having on the body of believers in Israel.
I feel so much love, affection and unity with these friends, our mishpocha (family), and all true believers in the Land. My heart desires for all of us to cover them in prayer and protection and encouragement as they walk out these days when the enemy so wants to destroy the Truth in their midst. And we must pray for those walking in deception that the Lord's mercy would prevail and His Truth would go forth in their hearts.
Please pray as you read.
Prayer bulletin, 26 February 2014
Our hearts are heavy over some events happening in Israel and the Body of Believers and we would like you to join us in praying for the situation. The third "Christ at the Checkpoint" conference is scheduled for March 10th through 14th.
It is advertised as an international and local forum for promoting peace and reconciliation in the Middle East, specifically between Palestinians and Israelis. This year's theme is "Your Kingdom Come."
On the surface this sounds good, however, in the past two conferences there have been
overtones of anti-Semitism and Israel bashing, which have caused many in the Israeli believing community to be concerned about the true motives of the organizers. Having said that, at every conference there has also been a token number is Israeli and international Messianic Jewish speakers (not keynote of course), as well as a few Israeli believers in attendance, all hoping to foster true reconciliation.
The point of this bulletin is neither to promote nor condemn the upcoming conference, but rather to ask for prayer for the Israeli and international Messianic believing communities which are currently torn asunder over this conference. There are those who ardently seek reconciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian believers and see this as a viable opportunity.
There are others who see this conference as anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, and undermining the plans of the LORD for the nation and the end-times. We have, in essence, a civil war, where brothers are vehemently at odds with brothers and families are torn asunder ideologically.
It is only the grace of the LORD that will restore brothers and families to one another. In reality, it is only the grace of the LORD that will bring peace and reconciliation to this Land and to the Middle East. Please, over the next number of weeks, lift up the conference before the LORD, that His will would be accomplished regardless of human agendas.
Lift up the Palestinian Christians that are suffering, and not only because of struggles with Israel. Also, pray for the Israeli and international Messianic believers that unity in love and focus might be restored even if diversity in ideology remains.
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