Standing in support of Israel, Jews, and believers in all the nations, in the name of Jesus (Yeshua). Sharing biblical truth, encouragement, news and prophecy.
The Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum on Thursday came out swinging against yet another malicious propaganda campaign targeting Israel on the popular social network Facebook.
The campaign appears to center around a composite picture of six dilapidated local churches that are presented as false evidence that the Jewish state discriminates against and seeks to remove Christians from the Holy Land.
Such notions have undergirded a new Evangelical Christian movement that paints Palestinian Christians as the suffering Jesus to Israel’s strong-armed Romanesque oppressor.
The first lie the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum (a growing movement of Arabic-speaking Christian natives) takes on is that in 1948, Jewish forces swept through the land with the aim of eradicating all Christians, along with the Muslims.
“To our great disappointment, in 1948 David Ben Gurion wanted the Christians to stay and join the defense of the State of Israel, but the Christians failed to be forward-thinking and instead cowered in fear behind the Arab militias or tried to stay out of the conflict all together,” the group wrote on its own Facebook page.
The forum noted that the local Druze residents “initially fought against Israel, but ultimately switched sides, saving their villages and their people.”
Among the other fallacies listed is the idea that surrounding Arab nations are “paradise” for Christians compared to the “hell” of living in what many try to portray as the “apartheid state” of Israel.
To this, the forum responded:
“If Israel is hell and the Arab state are paradise, then we as Christians with Aramean roots say that our religion is actually rooted in Judaism, [so] we prefer to remain in the ‘hellfire of the State of Israel.’ We invite the rest of you to take a one way trip to Syria or Iraq where you will be warmly welcomed as Arab Christians by [various terror groups], or to Gaza where Hamas will surely love you well.”
The group also addressed the ongoing spate of Jewish vandalism against primarily Christian targets, calling it the actions of a small group of racists who first and foremost are harming Israel’s image, and reminding everyone that the so-called “price tag” attackers have yet to kill or injure a single person.
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The idea that God is finished with the Jewish people as a nation and that the church has replaced Israel in God’s plan is not only a serious theological error. It is a deadly one as well.
It was this false theology that helped fuel the fires of Jew hatred in one of the early church’s most respected leaders, John Chrysostom (347-407), who once said, “God hates the Jews, and on Judgment Day will say to those who sympathize with them: ‘Depart from Me, for you have had intercourse with My murderers!’ Flee, then, from their assemblies, fly from their houses, and hold their synagogue in hatred and aversion.”
Without this erroneous theology, the Crusades would never have taken place 700 years later.
It was this false theology that helped fuel the fires of Jew hatred in the great reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546), who gave this counsel to the German princes of his day: “First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools. ... Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. ... Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. ... Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb.” (For many more examples, see my book Our Hands Are Stained With Blood.)
Luther’s murderous words were put into action by none other than Adolph Hitler, beginning the night of Nov. 9, 1938, which is called Krystallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, when, according to Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, “815 [Jewish] shops [were] destroyed, 171 dwelling houses set on fire or destroyed ... 119 synagogues were set on fire, and another 76 completely destroyed ... 20,000 Jews were arrested, 36 deaths were reported and those seriously injured were also numbered at 36.”
This is a direct result of a theology that was dead wrong helping to justify deadly actions. (The Nazis were obviously not true Christians, but it was centuries of “Christian” anti-Semitism in Europe that helped make the Holocaust possible.)
To be sure, there are fine Christians today who embrace this same theological error (called replacement theology or supersessionism, meaning that the church has replaced or superseded Israel), and they are absolutely not anti-Semites and they would never sanction the persecution of the Jewish people in Jesus’ name. And they totally repudiate hateful quotes like these just cited.
But the sad fact of history is that it is this very theology that opened up the door to centuries of “Christian” anti-Semitism in the past, and it is threatening to open up that ugly door once again in the present.
In light of the third “Christ at the Checkpoint” conference that just took place in the ancient city of Bethlehem, where issues like these were anything but theological abstractions, it’s important to remember how wrong theology leads to wrong actions.
According to Acts 1, after the disciples had spent 40 days with Jesus after His resurrection, speaking to them “about the kingdom of God” (v. 3), His devoted followers wanted to ask Him one question before He ascended to heaven.
They inquired, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (vv. 6-8).
In other words, that’s a good question, and it certainly makes sense in light of everything we’ve been talking about, but the timing of when that will happen—when God will “restore the kingdom to Israel”—is not of your concern right now. You must concentrate on fulfilling the Great Commission with the help of the Spirit’s power.
But that’s not how John Calvin interpreted Jesus’ reply. As noted by Dr. Paul R. Wilkinson in his book Understanding Christian Zionism, Calvin stated that there “‘were “as many errors ... as words’ in the disciples’ question concerning Israel’s restoration. This, he believed, showed ‘how bad scholars they were under so good a Master,’ and therefore ‘when he [Jesus] saith, you shall receive power, he admonisheth them of their imbecility.’”
Wilkinson also notes, “At the 5th International Sabeel Conference in 2004 [this is an anti-Zionist conference], Mitri Raheb denounced the disciples as ‘very narrow-minded,’ ‘nationalistic,’ and ‘blinded’ for asking such a question.”
To be candid, interpretations like these are nothing more than exegetical nonsense, standing the biblical text on its head.
For example, if the disciples had said to Jesus, “Lord, is this the time for us to take up swords and behead our enemies?” He would not have replied, “It’s not for you to know the time for beheading that the Father has determined. You just concentrate on preaching the gospel.”
Hardly! Instead, He would have rebuked them in no uncertain terms.
But that’s not what He did here, despite the fact that His words are constantly interpreted as if He had said, “You idiots! Don’t you know that I’m through with Israel? Don’t you know that the church has replaced Israel? Have I been with you so long and you still don’t get it?”
Instead, He simply told them it was not for them to know exactly when the Father would restore the kingdom to Israel (something that Jesus and Peter and Paul affirmed; see Matthew 19:28; Acts 3:19-21; Romans 11:28-29; 15:8); their mission was to be His witnesses.
Unfortunately, in our day, as we are seeing an increasing number of Christians turning against the modern state of Israel—and I don’t simply mean that they are criticizing Israel when Israel deserves criticism but that they are rejecting it as a prophetic fulfillment in any sense of the word, also embracing the Palestinian narrative of Israel as an evil occupier and claiming that no prophetic promises remain to the Jewish people as a nation—we are seeing the seeds of Jew hatred being planted again in the hearts of many of these believers. Their hostility to Israel is hardly a secret.
Be careful, people of God!
History could well repeat itself—to the reproach of the name of Jesus, to the disgrace of the church, and to the spiritual and physical harm of the Jewish people—unless we get our theology right.
Senior members of the Presbyterian Church (USA) last week pushed back against a study guide recently published by one of its subsidiaries that attacks Zionism (both Christian and Jewish) as the source of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Last month, the Israel Palestine Mission Network, an affiliated non-profit that falls under the PC(USA)'s umbrella, published the study guide "Zionism Unsettled," along with a companion DVD documentary.
The guide attacks Zionism as a supremacist interpretation of the Bible, and accuses mainstream Jewish groups of a conspiracy to silence criticism of Israel. It also chastises Christians for supporting a theology that it says is akin to the Christian beliefs that "contributed to the Nazi Holocaust, the genocide of Native Americans, and countless other instances of tragic brutality."
Needless to say, the publication of "Zionism Unsettled" was deeply concerning for the many Jews who had begun to see Christians as genuine and natural allies, following centuries of overt Christian anti-Semitism.
In a statement released to the media, the leadership of the PC(USA) sought to put those concerns to rest by distancing itself from "Zionism Unsettled," if not from the authors.
"The Israel Palestine Mission Network booklet was neither paid for nor published by the Presbyterian Church (USA)," the statement read.
For some Jewish leaders, that wasn't good enough, since the Israel Palestine Mission Network falls fully under the administrative umbrella of the PC(USA).
But other Presbyterian leaders stepped in to clarify that "Zionism Unsettled" not only doesn't reflect the views of the Church's mainstream membership, it is strongly rejected by those who truly love the Jewish people.
"My first response to my friends in the Jewish community with whom I associate on a monthly basis in a Jewish-Presbyterian dialogue group is to assure them that this does not represent even close to a majority opinion," Rev. Mike Cole, a Houston-area Presbyterian leader, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Rev. Katharine Rhodes Henderson, president of New York's Auburn Theological Seminary, added that "this document purports to be about love, but it actually expresses demonization, distortion and imbalance."
In related news, a delegation of 14 Presbyterian leaders from America were in Israel last week to get to know the Jewish state so as to better relate to the arguments and propaganda surrounding her.
Of note, the Presbyterian delegation visited the SodaStream factory in the Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim that was the focus of so much media attention prior to the Super Bowl.
When SodaStream contracted Hollywood super star Scarlett Johansson as its new spokesperson, anti-Israel groups looking to boycott the Jewish state threw a fit, prompting Johansson to stop her work with one such group in particular - Oxfam.
According to Israel National News, the Presbyterian leaders couldn't see what all the fuss was about, and agreed with Johansson that SodaStream's location in the so-called "West Bank" as an Israeli business providing jobs to hundreds of Palestinians is actually good for peace.
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The fact is very clear, anti-Israel/BDS activities are clear forms of anti-Semitism!
After Actress Scarlett Johansson stepped down as Oxfam's ambassador over her advertisement with Israeli company SodaStream, a company Oxfam boycotts, Canadian Employment Minister Jason Kenney said their move spurred him to buy from SodaStream. Appearing on Canadian Sun News last week, Kenney quipped "I've given money to Oxfam in the past because I thought they were there to help poor people, not to marginalize Israelis and make Palestinians unemployed." He added that "all the nutters at Oxfam" also marginalize "Palestinian people" who get paid four times more at SodaStream than they would within Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.
Kenney bashed the "anti-Israel obsession" with which leftist groups pursue Israel, even while they ignore countries like Iran which executes political dissidents and homosexuals. Remarking on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent visit to Israel, Kenny remarked "we felt at home in Israel" due to the shared values of freedom and democracy between Israel and Canada.
The number of terrorist attacks targeting Jews in Judea and Samaria increased significantly in 2013 over the previous year. That according to a report published this week by Israel's domestic security agency, the Shin Bet.
Overall, 1,271 terrorist attacks were reported in 2013, up from just 578 in 2012. However, fatalities were down: six Israelis were killed in terror attacks in 2013, compared to 10 the previous year.
Forty-four people were injured in terror incidents in 2013, three-fourths of them from stoning attacks, the kind of activity many in the international community refer to as "peaceful resistance."
Three of those killed over the last year were the victims of knife attacks, two were shot by Palestinian snipers, and one was executed after being abducted by Arab terrorists.
In addition to the far larger number of overall attacks, the Shin Bet noted a worrying increase in the number of "serious incidents," those involving the use of firearms, incendiary bombs and mortar shells.
One bright point in the report was the massive decrease in the number of rocket attacks from Gaza. In 2012, Gaza-based terrorists attacked southern Israel no fewer than 1,085 times. Israel responded with "Operation Pillar of Cloud," and, as a result, 2013 saw just 55 rocket attacks.
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Love For His People Blog Editor's Note: I will always contend that Israel is a very safe place to go, as I have been there 11 times, and counting. We support our friends, the Jews, in Israel!
